Ian Mallon: Can Quinn end the uncivil war in Irish tennis?
IN OFFICE: New Tennis Ireland CEO Kevin Quinn. Pic: Tennis Ireland
FOR a sporting organisation which has admitted to being run by ‘loose’ factions from Munster and Leinster, the search for a new CEO of Tennis Ireland was bound to be fraught.
The position had been vacant for more than one year, after the previous chief executive left the NGB when he discovered and then highlighted false payments approved by certain board members for work which never happened.
In keeping with the often chaotic disorder at Tennis Ireland, the recruitment process was never going to be an easy one, particularly after a preferred candidate was identified and recommended by the interview panel, but then rejected by the board.
Insiders have told that Matt McKerrow – the former chief executive at Cycling Ireland – was the recommendation made by the appointment committee, which included representation from Sport Ireland.
However, Tennis Ireland immediately disregarded this advice – even though it was coming, in part, from the oversight body which issues the cheques and funding.
We can speculate why McKerrow was rejected and this may be down to his highlighting of false payments at Cycling Ireland, which led to a criminal investigation by An Garda Siochana.
Whatever the reasons, the board instead settled on Kevin Quinn, who will take over the hottest executive position in Irish sport next month.
To be fair to Tennis Ireland they have got themselves a commercial powerhouse in Quinn, who comes armed with a stellar business record in elite sport having transformed Leinster Rugby’s revenue streams over a five-year stint.
Mind you, Richard Fahey - the previous CEO - also came with a glowing reputation and oversaw five successful years of participation growth and facilities improvements across Tennis Ireland, but even he couldn’t change the dysfunctional governance structure.
Certainly Fahey had the political nous to deal with difficult boards - he had survived the FAI for many years - but there are red lines, and once he discovered the false payment controversy at TI, he’d had enough.
So what does Kevin Quinn bring to an organisation which one senior sporting influencer described as "about as bad as it gets in Irish sporting administration”?
Certainly as a revenue driver Quinn is value for money - a 25-year veteran in sports management, having worked across ticketing, media rights and business development in various organisations, before overseeing sponsorship and marketing at Leinster.
So why would he leave the stability of Leinster Rugby for an entirely unpredictable NGB, and why now?
The arrival of a new CEO Shane Nolan may lend a clue, with the former Google managing director entering the pitch with a much more tech-focused way of doing business, and perhaps Quinn saw this as the right time for a new challenge.
And what a challenge it is.
If Quinn thought things could get spicy between Leinster and Munster in rugby, then Tennis Ireland will offer a whole new level of rivalry and resentment.
To succeed he will have to introduce a harmonious board structure in an environment which the NGB admitted more than a year ago is one that is governed “around two loose camps, one from the Leinster branch and the other from Munster”.
He will need to establish a clear boundary between the board and executive, where a culture of interference by directors must end and can only be cleanly achieved with the resignation of the current administration.
The number of directors must be reduced from the current 15 to 10 – the last financial report named 16 directors for 2021, with an extraordinary seven resignations.
A more equal representative group needs to include one member from each of the four provinces, five wholly independent directors (including Chairman) and Quinn himself.
This will negate the current Leinster dominance that exists, and the sometimes lack of independence demonstrated by non-branch affiliated directors.
He will also need to align the organisation more closely to Sport Ireland, where that relationship can be suspicious from the tennis side of the net.
One area Quinn will immediately improve is commercial revenue – currently the organisation earns approximately €150k per annum from sponsors, including Wilson and AIG, which contributes to a last recorded income of €2.4m, leaving a €47k surplus (2021).
In rugby, Quinn identified a need to develop the Leinster rugby brand outside of the leafy environs of Ballsbridge and Donnybrook, and while Irish tennis does not have as significant a fan base, he will look at ways of growing this audience and increasing visibility of its competitions.
In its welcome statement announcing Kevin Quinn to the CEO role, Tennis Ireland certainly sounded like it was an organisation seeking direction and would be “working with him to meet the goals and ambitions of Tennis Ireland”.
What those goals and ambitions really are will be the make-or-break point for Irish tennis.
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IT’S been an uncertain week in shirt sponsorship for sport’s biggest brands.
First, reports that Chelsea owner Todd Boehly is set to scrap the club’s sponsorship with ‘Three’ at the end of the season emerged, then Manchester United sponsor TeamViewer AG announced it was reducing its role with the club.
While the Three deal with Chelsea was always likely to come to a close at the end of this season, the news that TeamViewer wants to “transition out of this role as soon as practicably possible” is perhaps not quite as sudden.
The German software company had already agreed to shorten its current contract with Manchester United, one which had originally been due to run until 2026.
It pays around £47m for its sponsorship of United, while Three forks out approximately £40m for its relationship with the Stamford Bridge outfit.
In a statement to Bloomberg, TeamViewer AG said that if United brings to an end the sponsorship deal, the firm will see a “significant upside” to its margin beyond 2023, even though the club had already agreed to shorten the current contract prematurely.
The Three Chelsea story which broke in states that Todd Boehly wants Three gone from the club, but the reality is more likely that Three wants out themselves.
Three – run by Irishman Robert Finnegan - was never likely to extend the current contract beyond its term, after initial attempts to wriggle out ended disastrously following Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, when the club was under the ownership of Roman Abramovich.
Chelsea continued to wear the company logo on their shirts after the deal was suspended, due to supply issues. Three then re-entered the stage this season, but it is likely that it had no option due to contractual obligations for a deal which had another season left to run.
The big question now is that with two major shirt sponsors leaving the pitch does Premier League football have a bigger commercial issue coming down the tracks?
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HAVE you ever wondered why there is no exciting content emerging from Irish amateur golf, given the calibre of players and courses on the roster?
Production costs are obviously a factor, but a lack of innovation is also key in a sport desperate for greater visibility outside of the leading professional tours.
That could all be about to change thanks to a major overhaul of Golf Ireland’s commercial activities under sweeping reforms of how the sport does business and achieves revenues.
Starting with a root and branch interrogation of its current content, Golf Ireland has appointed the services of 1920 Worldwide, a global sports marketing and innovations business, headquartered in London with offices in London, Dublin, Dubai and San Francisco.
The firm has announced it will “undertake a review of the organisation’s commercial activities with the aim of developing new commercial opportunities to support the continued development of the sport in Ireland”.
The project is being led by Gavin McAllister of 1920 Worldwide who has vast experience in sports business, having managed Three Ireland’s contract with the Republic of Ireland Men’s National Team, through a 10-year sponsorship association.
The strategic development follows the rebranding of Golf Ireland from the old Golfing Union of Ireland organisation and aims to tap into the huge amount of active participants, both club members (200,000) and those who are not attached to clubs (300,000), but who play a number of times per year.
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TG4 and the FAI have announced an extension of their broadcast rights deal for coverage of Women’s football for a third consecutive season, with an initial four-game roster.
In total, TG4 will show 12 matches in the SSE Airtricity Women’s Premier Division, a new record in coverage of the female game in Ireland.
The deal will likely not see any payment in fees from the broadcaster to the FAI, rather its value will be in the amplification and increased visibility of the game as part of the association’s and Uefa’s ongoing strategic goal for women’s football.
The Sacar Beo programme will be shown on TG4’s broadcast channel and globally on the TG4 Player App, with detailed analysis and live interviews complementing the match coverage.
TG4’s Head of Sport, Rónán Ó Coisdealbha said: “TG4 are looking forward to broadcasting the SSE Airtricity Women's Premier Division on free-to-air television again for the coming season and this live coverage strengthens the station’s commitment to women’s football.”
