ROGERS CUP
Date: 2008-07-20

ROGERS CUP

July 20, 2008

Michael DowneyRoger FedererStephen Graham
TORONTO, ONTARIO
The Moderator At this time, I would like to introduce the three gentlemen to the front. To my lead left is Michael S. Downey, president and chief executive officer of Tennis Canada. Of course, in the middle, the gentlemen that needs to introduction, but I'll do it anyway, number one player in the world, Roger Federer. To my far left is Stephen Graham. He is the executive vice president, corporate marketing and convergence officer for Rogers Communications, Inc.
At this time, we will turn things over to Michael Downey.
MICHAEL DOWNEY: Thank you. Good afternoon. First of all, I would like to thank Stephen and Roger for taking time from their busy schedules to be here today. Today is a very special day for tennis, for Tennis Canada, for tennis in Canada and for the Rogers Cup because I'm pleased to announce that Rogers Communication has decided to renew their title sponsorship of both the Rogers Cup and Coupe Rogers in Montreal for another three years starting in 2009.
There are many advantages of having a marquis tennis title sponsor. The first is, obviously, the check that they'll give us that will help sustain this great tournament. But it is really not just about sustaining it, it's about taking it to another level. And through the 130-odd years of this tournament, I think we've continually made a better tournament and it is a better tournament when you've got a great title sponsor behind you and we have that with Rogers Communications.
There are also other advantages of having a major title sponsor. Second is about activation. One thing is about the money you get from the title sponsor, but equally important is the title sponsor that knows how to activate. And our friends at Rogers do it as well as anyone in the world. They also -- it is not all about just activation; it is about generating new ideas.
And Stephen himself has come forward with many new ideas that we have implemented including the Rogers Cup Hall of Fame that will induct Boris Becker tomorrow night into that Hall of Fame.
The other advantage of having Rogers on-site is they believe in tennis development. They have seen firsthand the advantages of the sport growing in this country and the advantage it has on the Rogers Cup itself. We saw that firsthand last year when Frank Dancevic (indiscernible) as top player made the quarterfinals in Montreal and was electric in his match against Rafael Nadal.
Rogers has been with us since 2000. They started as the co-sponsor of the WTA event. In 2004, they took full ownership from a title position of our WTA tournament and they also acquired title to our Masters Series events.
Their title sponsorship continues to grow, and we're pleased to have them. It is great news for tennis in Canada. On that note, I will turn it over to Steve Graham. Thank you.
STEPHEN GRAHAM: Thank you, Michael. You know, on behalf of Ted Rogers and the Rogers family and Nadir Mohamed and all of our colleagues at Rogers, we're thrilled to sign on for another three years, through 2011. We have -- I don't know if you know this, but this tournament is one of the oldest in the world behind Wimbledon and the U.S. Open.
And since we've partnered with Tennis Canada since 2000, we've really committed in partnership with Michael's great team to try to make this event better and better every year, both for fans and for the players.
And I don't know if you also know that this tournament has become now one of the most successful and best-attended in the world next to the four Majors. Thank you for the fans and great players like Roger Federer.
In addition to that, we really are committed to supporting tennis at a grassroots level. There is three things we're doing. We're recommitting to supporting a program called Building Tennis Communities, which promotes benefits of tennis across Canada.
The second is as of 2009, next year, we will be taking title and supporting the national ranking of players across Canada. It will be known as the Rogers Rankings.
And the third is we'll be supporting the under 12, under 14 and under 18 championships next year, which will become known as the Rogers Cup for the National Championships.
Lastly, I want to say that -- I want to thank Roger Federer for being part of this. Roger, our 2004 and 2006 champion, probably the greatest tennis player in the world and probably ever, his support for both the tournament and for this renewal announcement is absolutely fantastic. And if the last couple weeks are any indication of the type of tennis we're going to see this week, everybody in for another great treat. Thanks, Roger.
Roger Federer: No problem. On behalf of the players and also myself, I am very happy to hear always when a sponsor has been part of tennis for a long time and they re-sign again, it is great news for tennis. It is good to have sponsors on board. I always enjoy coming to Toronto. I missed Montreal a couple times. Basically since I have been coming here, it is the Rogers Cup. I don't know if it is because of me or whatever.
It is great news and, anyway, very excited to be back and I really hope I can play great tennis this week. Very excited.