PROPOSAL FOR CONSIDERATION OF THE MORNINGTON PENINSULA SHIRE – 2018 EVENT

Applicant Association Details

Tennis Limited

ABN: 61 006 281 125

Fiona Luscombe: Manager Pro Tour - Australia

Event Details

Name of event Mornington Peninsula Tennis International 2018

Description of event

Professional Tennis Players head to Mornington for one of the highlight stops on the Australian Pro Tour Calendar of Events. Mornington is one of 17 venues chosen to host an international Tennis Event. The Proposed event in Mornington is a back-to- back Women’s event offering a total USD$50,000 in prize money and world ranking points. The event would be iconic as it is one of just two opportunities in Australia for players to compete at this level on clay.

2014 was the first year this event was hosted in Mornington and the projected opportunity is for it to be an annual event. The Pro Tour Clay event held in Mornington has a strong connection for the .

Further, the Mornington Pro Tour is a major part of the strategic player pathway that maps out. The success of the players’ sequential performances at Grand Slams endorses the success of the Pro Tour as the critical element of the pathway for the transition of the athlete. For example, at Mornington 2017, champion Destanee Aiava, earned 50 WTA points and with the confidence and match play from this title went on 3 months later to qualify for Wimbledon.

Each of the events are 8 days in duration and will attract up to 128 players (qualifying) plus 56 additional players for the Main Draw. Approx 65% of players are from outside the region / interstate or international players.

The event is not just about tennis, but also about community activation opportunities such as Hot Shots (5-12 year olds) tennis clinics; officiating courses; possibility for the club to host a corporate luncheon; schools program, community small business engagement and media exposure.

The regional events are staged in some eminent areas in Australia providing players an opportunity to take some time in between event swings to either travel and see some iconic parts of Australia or take a training block before moving to the next swing of events.

Where will the event take place? Mornington Tennis centre, Civic Reserve, Dunns Road, Mornington

When will the event take place? March 17th – April 1st, 2018

Will there be a cost to enter the event? No cost to spectate, however the club can decide to charge Gold Coin donation (subject to the approval of the Shire)

How many people do you estimate will attend this event 1500-3000. It is anticipated that 60 – 65% of the estimated attendance will be 'visitors' to Mornington.

Total Funding Requested to enable this back-to –back Pro Tour event to happen $25,000

Total contribution from National Sporting Organisation Budget: $140,000 + Human Resource commitment to the event.

Total assistance year round (maintenance levy) from National Sporting Organisation Up to $20,000 **

** to qualify to apply for this assistance the venue must host events.

Ancillary contribution Club / Centre involvement: provision of volunteers, such as Transport, canteen (profits retained), ballkids

Benefits to the Community

A. Community Involvement

The community of Mornington has the following opportunities:

• Participation opportunities for those currently not engaged in our sport through watching and playing. School groups, marginalised youth, indigenous, people with disabilities, elderly all have the opportunity to attend and spectate this international event. • interact and have photos with the Pro Tour players • chat / autograph with the players • play tennis in tennis clinics alongside the Pro Tour players (opportunity for this to be arranged by the club) • participate in the hot shots activities (5-12 year olds) and other community activation initiatives • Be a ballkid (age appropriate). Ballkids supplied with a top and a cap and training. • be an event volunteer • Be a linesperson. Course conducted onsite for likely involvement as a linesperson at the event

This event provides access to all cross-sections of the community to attend, including:

 Culturally & Linguistically Diverse  Youth  People with a Disability  Volunteers: The entire community is encouraged to get involved as a volunteer; Volunteers will be sourced for the required areas to support the event: Ballpersons; Court services; officiating course volunteers; club volunteers  Specific target groups: such as School groups, tennis / sport enthusiasts / volunteer groups (linespersons) / business community. Business Community through corporate sponsorship and need for event infrastructure items to be purchased. Also, the Media within the community will be heavily engaged

B. Events Potential and Sustainability

As the growth of the event develops over the years, the awareness of the event continues to increase and attract more and more players and people from within the community to get involved. Many Pro Tour venues have hosted for 10 to 20 plus years in succession. * If a venue is hosting a Pro Tour Event the chances for consideration of hosting other significant events are increased due to the established exposure and competencies - ie. Junior ITF’s, junior Masters championships, Australian Money Tournaments (AMT’s), etc. * The event also has the sustainable growth for the facility as the minimum requirements of international standard courts and facilities and clay court venues hosting Pro Tour events can apply through a court maintenance scheme with Tennis Australia to assist with surface maintenance. * Growth from the event is often reflected by increased numbers of members at the Club and also an increase in the number of people within the community getting involved in the sport of tennis. * Tennis Australia and the competitors and the club inject a significant spend into the community during the week/s of the event. * Opportunity be recognised at the annual Awards Night in the category of best tournament. (venue needs to apply). * Higher prizemoney category of event which will attract higher ranked players. (this would mean a higher level of sponsorship). * Opportunity for a locally nominated singles male and female qualifying wildcard provides opportunity to an aspiring pro quality player from the Mornington region – good media angle.

CORPORATE CHALLENGE * The club / centre / council has the opportunity to promote and manage (through the assistance / guidance of the TD). corporate and local business Corporate challenge or Pro/Am or Business Community Luncheon, etc.

LINESPERSONS * The Pro Tour Event requires a squad of Lines people of approx. 20. Tennis Australia would like to assist the club and the Mornington Community to acquire a group of interested persons within the Mornington Community to be a linesperson for the event. Tennis Australia will train the linespersons and provide the knowledge and experience needed to feel confident about being a linesperson. The journey could see some of the Mornington linespersons selected for the AO Series or AO events. A precedent was set with this scenario at the Alice Springs Pro Tour event where a number of local linespersons were selected for the AO.

QUALIES PLAY OFF * Opportunity for the club to hold a wildcard Play off so the club can determine the local wildcard into the Pro Tour Qualifying event

Evolve the sustainability?

* encourage the club / centre to continue to work with the venue to explore opportunities for local sponsorship. * Tennis Australia will continue to invest in these events as it is the backbone of the pathway for our players. * We need to ensure that the Mornington Tennis centre remain motivated with enough volunteers to share the workload. * TA/TV will work with Mornington on a recruitment plan of volunteers, linespersons and ballpersons. TA/TV will commit to train the linespersons and ballpersons as well as thank the volunteers at the end of the event. We have introduced a thank you BBQ which TA/TV will invest in as we have identified that this is a critical area to entice the volunteers to come back next year as well as genuinely thanking them for a job well done. * The linespersons recruitment and training is critical for the sustainability as this is the biggest cost for the event and if we can minimise this cost then the opportunities to take this event to an even greater level become open for exploration. * Linespersons training, ballpersons training and continual working relations between Tennis Australia, Tennis and the Mornington TC / Club will develop the skills of the people in and around the club which will in turn ensure they continually run a premier event, such as this one.

C. ECONOMIC IMPACT

Pro Tour event (12 days of competition):

 Over the two weeks, Opportunity for 128 (Quals) + 52 Main Draw + 10 doubles only + 60 staff (umpires, physios, contractors & staff, TA squad coaches & TV community and tennis & PR department staff)  Accompanying partner rate; 1.6:1 per player  $50,000 prizemoney with players having the opportunity to spend it in the region  Accommodation  Food and recreation activities for the number of participants from outside Mornington  The infrastructure/ operational requirements for the event require money to be spent in Mornington  Flights and transport to and from (, then onto Mornington); petrol / car hire, etc  Media coverage has a significant impact  Unique visitors who will return to the region

D. PROFILE PROMOTION / MARKETING / MEDIA

Marketing and promotional activities

MEDIA COVERAGE / WEB SITE / MARKETING

TA / TVic co-ordinated and executed a media/PR campaign for the event;

• A media announcement conducted in the lead up to the event to spark a great deal of interest in the upcoming event. * Pen Wide feature article on community involvement story – ie. Local ballkid to get into the event. • Lead up media distribution listing the players who have entered and the event facts, sponsors, and community activities on offer for the week. • Each day of Main Draw media wrap up / result updates – circulated to national media and uploaded on the TA website • Feature media releases throughout the week sent to media distribution list and featured on the TA website. • Dedicated Mornington Tennis International Pro Tour website page: target stats based on real stats from an alternate similar event: 10,834 Page views / 4,526 Unique Page Views * Newspaper editorial and advertising of the event and the Ladies Luncheon on the Friday of the event * Media partnership with Sunraysia Daily and Prime TV * Daily Media Liaison throughout the event * website presence - TA Website / ITF Website * Posters - Mornington Event specific * Promotional DVD of the Mornington event - TV ad placements * E-brochure - on line players guide featuring each Pro Tour venue * e-banner for the bottom of emails * Hot Shots Clinics / schools program - on site * opportunity to conduct an Officiating course in Mornington for those people to potentially work as a linesperson at the event