The Stockholm-based Spring Media agency is to distribute international broadcast rights to the 2020 edition of tennis’ Tie Break Tens.
Spring Media has been appointed to distribute the worldwide television, internet and mobile rights to the knock-out style competition, which includes matches consisting of super tie-breaks to 10 points.
Three Tie Break Tens events are scheduled for 2020, beginning with the event in Indian Wells on March 10, before moving on to two further locations later on in the year. Spring Media’s mandate does not include the domestic markets in which the events are held.
Spring Media is offering the coverage with English non-branded graphics, international sound and English-language commentary.
Ahead of the 2018 Tie Break Tens, the international rights distribution role was awarded to RDA, the sports media rights agency, and Zeus Sports Marketing Group, the boutique sports marketing agency set up by media-rights consultant Nick Haigh. That agreement covered 2018 and 2019.
Each event includes eight players competing in a knockout format, with confirmed participants at Indian Wells including Rafael Nadal (Spain), Dominic Thiem (Austria), Stan Wawrinka (Switzerland), Milos Raonic (Canada), Daniil Medvedev (Russia), Matteo Berrettini (Italy) and Taylor Fritz (USA). The players will compete for a winner-takes-all prize of $150,000 (€137,690)
The first-ever Tie Break Tens tournament was staged in London in 2015 in conjunction with the IMG-owned Champions Tennis. In April 2017, the Sunset+Vine production company announced a three-year host broadcast contract for the Tie Break Tens series.
Spring Media was founded just under nine years ago by former members of the media rights sales team at IEC in Sports, an agency that previously was heavily involved in selling rights to ATP Tour events. Spring Media last year recruited Carly O’Hara, manager of media production and operations at the International Tennis Federation, as commercial manager for the UK and Ireland.