Most of ATP's record $100 million in partnership money flows to tournaments

Men's professional tennis just had its biggest sponsorship year. The ATP said on November 12 that its central partnership revenue rose 49% in 2026, passing $100 million for the first time. Reuters, in a report by Paras J. Haji that Sports Business Journal also carried, tied the growth to a run of new sponsorship agreements during Andrea Gaudenzi's time as chairman. Gaudenzi was re-elected in February to a third term that runs through 2028.

For anyone who buys or sells sponsorship, the headline number matters less than where the money goes. Chief Business Officer Daniele Sano said the success "is providing benefits across the Tour." He added that more than 70% of partnership revenue is paid to tournaments for the rights and activation they give the ATP's partners, and many central deals include on-site rights at ATP events.

That split changes what a tour-level contract is. A brand partnerships director weighing tennis is buying event inventory across several markets through a single counterparty, and the tournaments carry much of the delivery. For a tournament director, the tour's central sales operation is a revenue line in its own right.

Where the $100 million lands

Put the two disclosed figures together and the arithmetic says more than $70 million of this year's central partnership money goes to events. The ATP's own press release adds a wider measure of how the commercial gains spread: a quarter of a billion dollars invested in the sport through tournaments and players since 2022.

The structure suggests that a large part of what the ATP's commercial team sells is access to tournaments it does not itself operate day to day. That makes the center's growth dependent on whether each event can deliver the on-site promises written into a partner's contract. When more than 70% of the money is paid out to tournaments, a central ATP deal is only as good as the events that carry it.

It also explains why the ATP's account of its own growth leans so heavily on the events themselves. The release credits investment in premium events, better tournament infrastructure, improved fan experiences and greater collaboration across the sport, under the banner the tour calls OneVision, with creating new commercial openings. Those are the things a sponsor's activation team actually walks into on site.

What the newest contracts bundle

The latest signing shows the package in detail. Earlier this week the ATP named Swiss private bank Julius Baer its first Official Wealth Management Partner and the first Official Partner of the ATP Coaches Programme, which Reuters reported supports about 230 coaches. The multi-year deal includes activation across five ATP tournaments on three continents, starting in 2027.

Two things in that deal travel beyond banking. The tour created a category that no one held before, and it attached a program that sits away from the match court. For brands in sectors without a current ATP partner, the Julius Baer deal indicates that the tour is willing to create new categories rather than only resell existing ones.

K-Swiss shows the other route. The footwear brand's new partnership includes a collection of five ATP-branded tennis shoes, sold globally through K-Swiss and through the ATP's online and in-person stores. The investment firm EQT also signed a new agreement this year, though the announcements give fewer details on its scope.

The shoe line came out of a dedicated Licensing and Retail team the ATP set up inside its central business division in 2025, which the tour says has strengthened its brand equity and opened the door to new licensing agreements. Another example sits alongside the release on the ATP's site: a capsule collection with Palmes and Pro Shop NYC inspired by the tour's visual heritage. For apparel and lifestyle brands, that points to a door into tennis that runs through product rather than courtside signage.

The rest of the pitch is about reach and proof. The ATP frames the record as a sign of growing demand from brands that want to reach tennis fans around the world through its global footprint. It says growing audiences on its digital and social platforms have raised the value of a partnership, and that it can now report better on the reach and impact of the deals it sells.

Brands can scale a partnership across several markets and tailor activations by region. The tour's Athlete Marketing team gives partners player-led content and storytelling to work with. TennisUpToDate's Cristhián Avila argues those elements have become more important as sports properties compete for investment from international companies, which would make measurement a selling point rather than a courtesy.

None of this replaced the old roster. Emirates, Infosys, Nitto, Lexus, Haier and Yokohama all expanded their investment, and some have worked with the ATP for more than a decade. The tour credits this year's jump to those longstanding partners spending more, alongside the EQT and K-Swiss signings.

How much the 49% can tell a buyer

Less than it seems at first glance. The ATP names its growth drivers but doesn't break the 49% into new contracts versus bigger renewals, so a buyer can't tell from the release how much came from higher fees, new categories or extra inventory.

The pass-through reading also has a real limit. Licensed shoes, player-led content and the Coaches Programme are assets the center runs directly rather than tournament inventory. If those lines grow faster than on-site rights, the share paid to tournaments could fall even as total revenue climbs.

Independent coverage points the same way. TennisUpToDate describes an ATP increasingly focused on building its commercial portfolio beyond traditional tournament sponsorships, with licensing, retail and player-led marketing now part of the strategy. For now, though, Sano's figure puts most of the money with the events.

Three questions for a tour-level buy

For sponsorship teams pricing a central ATP deal against buying tournaments one at a time, the disclosed structure points to a short due-diligence list. These are editorial suggestions drawn from what the ATP has described, not tour requirements.

1. Which tournaments, in which markets, carry the on-site rights, and from what date? The Julius Baer package names five events on three continents starting in 2027, a useful benchmark for how specific that answer can be.
2. What reach and impact reporting comes with the deal across those events, given the ATP's statement that it can now measure partnerships better?
3. Which assets sit outside the venues, such as licensed product, athlete-led content or a program like the Coaches Programme, and how are they priced against the on-site rights?

For scale, the release landed a week before the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, where TennisUpToDate reported a record prize pool of $15.75 million, up 2.11% on last year. Set beside a 49% jump in central partnership revenue, that suggests the tour's commercial income is growing far faster than the prize money at its own year-end flagship event.

Sano said the ATP is targeting another double-digit increase in partnership revenue in 2027, the same year Julius Baer's tournament activations begin, and said the bank's deal "adds further momentum." Next year's partner announcements will show whether that growth keeps flowing to events. If new deals name more tournaments, the pass-through model is holding. If they lean on shoes, content and programs, the money is shifting toward the center.