Larry Scott (sports administrator)

Last updated

Larry Scott
Country (sports)United States
Born (1964-11-21) November 21, 1964 (age 59)
New York City, New York
Height6 ft 2 in (1.88 m)
PlaysRight-handed
Prize money US$ 69,740
Singles
Career record1–18
Career titles0
Highest rankingNo. 210 (November 30, 1987)
Grand Slam singles results
Australian Open 1R (1988)
Wimbledon 2R (1987)
Doubles
Career record20–39
Career titles1
Highest rankingNo. 69 (March 30, 1987)
Grand Slam doubles results
Australian Open 1R (1988)
French Open 1R (1987)
Wimbledon 2R (1988)
US Open 2R (1987)

Larry Scott (born November 21, 1964 [1] [2] ) is an American sports administrator and former professional tennis player who was the commissioner of the collegiate Pac-12 Conference until 2021. He has also served as chairman and CEO of the Women's Tennis Association and as president and COO of ATP Properties, a division of the Association of Tennis Professionals.

Contents

Early life and education

Scott was born in New York City. [1] [2] A speaker of French, Scott graduated in 1986 from Harvard University with a B.A. in European History. [3] While at Harvard, he was captain of the tennis team and named an All-American. [3] [4]

Professional tennis player

As a professional tennis player, Scott reached a career-high singles ranking of No. 210 and doubles ranking of No. 69 in the world. [1] [2] [5] He also won one doubles title. [1] [2]

ATP Properties

Following his retirement as a pro tennis player, Scott spent a decade serving as president and COO of ATP Properties, a division of the Association of Tennis Professionals. [3]

During his time in ATP management, Scott put together a lucrative partnership between the ATP and the Swiss marketing company ISL. [5]

Women's Tennis Association

Scott became chairman and CEO of the Women's Tennis Association on April 16, 2003. [3]

While at the WTA, Scott oversaw a fivefold increase in sponsorship money and a 250% increase in total revenue. [5] [6] This included the largest sponsorship in the history of women's athletics, a six-year, $88-million deal with Sony Ericsson. [3] [4] [7] Scott also successfully formed sponsorships with Whirlpool, Gatorade, and Bed Bath & Beyond. [3]

Prize money increased 40% during Scott's time with the WTA. [6] Scott was an advocate for equal pay. Before Scott's tenure, two of the four Grand Slam tournaments, Wimbledon and the French Open, awarded less prize money to women than to men. Scott successfully lobbied for the increase of women's prize money at Wimbledon and the French Open to be equal to that of men's prize money, so that men's and women's prize money are now equal at all Grand Slam events. [6]

Among Scott's other achievements was the securing of a contract with Eurosport to broadcast WTA tennis in 54 countries. [3] Scott also oversaw new investments of $710 million in tennis stadiums. [5] [6]

Pac-12 Conference

On March 24, 2009, Scott announced that he was resigning as chairman and CEO of the Women's Tennis Association in order to take a new position as the commissioner of the collegiate Pacific-10 Conference on July 1, 2009. [4] [6] [7] [8] He succeeded the retiring Tom Hansen. [6]

On January 20, 2021, the Pac-12 Conference announced that Larry Scott's tenure as commissioner would end on June 30. [9] Scott received criticism during his tenure for overspending, including his controversial decision to shift the Pac-12 offices into a multi-story building in San Francisco that cost conference members a total of $92 million in rent over 11 years - a rate significantly higher than that of other Power 5 conference headquarters. [10] [11] [12]

Commentators assess Scott's tenure as a failure that led to the effective dissolution of the conference under successor George Kliavkoff two years later. A major issue was the decision to launch the Pac-12 Network without a broadcast partner, and then fail to negotiate carriage rights with DirecTV. Access issues bedeviled the network throughout Scott's tenure, reducing the visibility of the conference. [13] [14]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Player Profile: Larry Scott (USA)". Association of Tennis Professionals . Retrieved March 31, 2009.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Scott, Larry (USA)". International Tennis Federation . Retrieved March 31, 2009.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Management Bios: Larry Scott - Chairman & CEO". Women's Tennis Association. Archived from the original on October 19, 2008. Retrieved March 31, 2009.
  4. 1 2 3 Condotta, Bob (March 24, 2009). "Larry Scott named Pac-10 commissioner". The Seattle Times . Retrieved March 31, 2009.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Dodd, Dennis (March 31, 2009). "Word is, new leader of Pac could be agent of change". CBS Sports . Retrieved March 31, 2009.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Fendrich, Howard (March 24, 2009). "Scott leaves WTA to become Pac-10 commissioner". Associated Press . Retrieved March 31, 2009.[ dead link ]
  7. 1 2 Dufresne, Chris (March 25, 2009). "Larry Scott to head Pac-10 Conference". Los Angeles Times . Retrieved March 31, 2009.
  8. ↑ "Scott leaves WTA role to be Pac-10 commish". The San Diego Union-Tribune . March 25, 2009. Retrieved March 31, 2009.
  9. ↑ "Larry Scott to Step Down as Pac-12 Commissioner". January 21, 2021. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  10. ↑ "Larry Scott's 11-year run as Pac-12 commissioner to end in June". January 21, 2021. Retrieved May 23, 2023.
  11. ↑ "Canzano: Thanks for nothing, Larry Scott" . Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  12. ↑ "Coronavirus makes now-empty Pac-12 Conference headquarters an expensive problem". March 27, 2020. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  13. ↑ Mandel, Stewart (August 4, 2023). "Mandel: Pac-12's demise is story of 12 years of hubris, apathy, astounding mismanagement". The Athletic . Retrieved September 1, 2024.
  14. ↑ Wilner, Jon (August 4, 2023). "Pac-12 survival: Oregon, Washington deliver death blow, leave for Big Ten; Arizona, ASU, Utah defect to Big 12". The Mercury News . Retrieved September 1, 2024.
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