PILOT PEN INTERNATIONAL

August 23, 1998

Butch Buchholz

Mike Davies

Ron Shaw

MIKE DAVIES: This is a state of the union situation, a wrap-up of the end of the tournament. Maybe I will just start it off for a couple of things that we noted about the event this year. As you know, we lost -- we had one less session this year than last year. We decided to play the one session on Saturday instead of two sessions on Saturday. We thought this would -- could be a better situation for the players. We found out that players playing in and winning on Saturday night rarely, rarely win the final, sort of -- it is not as fair for the guy playing late Saturday night. So we decided to go with one session on Saturday afternoon, so therefore we had one less session than last year. We also obviously lost three out of the four first sessions as far as the rain was concerned so we got hurt there. Overall, the ticket sales were 15.5% up over last year. Retail was up and program sales were up, et cetera and concessions were up correspondingly, which is natural. I see that we have got a note here from Lauren that says that only two tournaments in 55 tournaments so far this year got the No. 1 and 2 seeds into the final, so I guess we certainly didn't break that record. And that there were two World Series events -- two of them were a 32-player draw, Split and Croatia. The three other championship events in the US, of the three of the championship series events, we have outdrawn them from an attendance point of view, we outdrew all three of those. We don't have the results in Indianapolis at this stage. I just want to emphasize obviously that we are looking forward to next week to a women's event. We have got a 4 p.m. start. We have got a great draw card, but I guess this is a wrap-up of this event. We are obviously a little disappointed that we lost three seeds in one day. But as I said before, this isn't a movie script. This isn't a novel. This is live. This is real stuff. And we can't write the scripts for these guys. That is what makes sport so intriguing and fascinating is that there are upsets. I wish the upsets had come at some other guy's tournament rather than ours, but there you are. So Butch, anything to add.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: Nothing, Mike you said it all very well. Any questions and we will try to answer them the best we can.

RON SHAW: I will just say as title sponsor that we thought that we would be working with two great champions and great businessmen when we convinced Butch and Mike to come here, we have absolutely no regrets. This has truly been everything that they have promised, plus. These guys deliver and they mean business with what they say. I have joked with some of you during the week, we were trying to relay to you about when I had asked Butch at one point, you know, why can't we get somebody like Pete Sampras and I was telling Brian earlier that that might be the same as saying: Why can't we get Barbra Streisand to come and sing at the Schubert theater Downtown. It seems so unlikely that that would happen and yet Butch went to work and he made that happen. I figured I had nothing to lose; let us talk about the ladies. Then they made the ladies happy. My attitude representing my company is that we have our name on that which is a very prestigious event and we are very proud that we did. Do we feel the disappointment about what happened the other day? Of course. I think I would have bet my home at some point that you wouldn't lose the top three seeds in a 7-hour period in one day. But it is business. This is a business that Butch is running here. Our investment in this was a business investment and I would love to tell you that every investment, both corporately and personally, that I have ever made was a winner. That is not in the cards. It was just a stroke of bad luck. We are not running away. And as long as Butch and Mike want to be here, we'd like to help keep the Pilot name right up on top along with them.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: Thank you.

MIKE DAVIES: Thanks, Ron.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: That is good for tennis what Ron just said. We can't function without title sponsors and there are title sponsors and there are title sponsors. We have one very special title sponsor. He is obviously, from his corporation point of view, is committed, but also personally. He is here everyday. He got couple of shades darker sitting in that sun, but it is a pleasure to work with Ron and his people, believe us.

RON SHAW: Some of the explanation for that, by the way, I think most of you people know that the typical fan outside really doesn't understand what it is that Butch and Mike do as the owners of this tournament versus what we do as the sponsor. They get it all mixed up because fortunately for us, the Pilot name is every time you turn around out here on these grounds you see the name of our company, so they think that we own it all. I have had some serious suggestions and recommendations this week I have had some of the funniest things come my way, but things that just, you know, we have nothing to do with. But because of that, that is one of the reasons when Butch says I am here, we feel an obligation to be here. If our name is up there and because of that confusion if somebody wants to talk, I'd like to make myself available and be accessible to them. So it is just nice to walk around and have these people say thank you as we -- when we all walked off the court today there was a little bunch of people right there over the tunnel, as we were walking through they said Mr. Shaw, Mr. Shaw. I looked up, they were all going like this (indicating thumbs up) saying: Thank you, thank you for bringing this to Connecticut. That is all they wanted to say. There wasn't a human being in that bunch that I know. It is just people who appreciate what we were doing. That is one of the reasons that we come out here everyday. I think we have that obligation to represent our company that way. Any questions at all?

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: Actually he went up there while it was going on, you know, you know - Goran.

MIKE DAVIES: It is innocent.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: He wasn't making fun or anything like that.

MIKE DAVIES: It is nice. It is nice to see the human touch and, you know, I think the fans liked it. Everybody wants to -- I think the point was let me see the line calls from up here. I think the fans like that. It is the usual thing. If we didn't have umpires in all sports to get at, there wouldn't be any fun in sports. Would there? So....

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: I have seen some ceremonies where the guys didn't stay. They walked out. So I don't think this was -- I think this was a positive after they have lost.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: I thought we would have -- were a little unlucky first three days or first two days we had rain. Obviously I think Pete and Pat and Korda make a difference. It is one of those -- you don't know how many people you would have had Friday night if you had the repeat of the Wimbledon final between Goran and Sampras. So I mean, that is every tournament director's dream to have something like that. So you can sit there and say "what if", but as Mike said, this is life and that is the risk that you take in doing this. We know this when we go in. We know we are going to have some rain; you know you are going to have some upsets. You know that.

BUTCH BUCCHOLZ: Perception for sure. You can clearly tell when you walk out there and talk to people that they are happier and that they feel good about it. That there is -- they are regaining or -- regaining is the wrong word. Gaining some trust in the event. I think it is going to take some time still in terms of sponsorships. I think that this year there will a good feeling, there will be a lot of talk about it in the community. We lost, believe it or not, after last year's tournament 240 boxes did not renew and we have got all those back. In a two year period we lost over 500 boxes. I do not know of any tournament that has ever done that. Now we have got to go back and get those. So I think we still have a lot of work to do. But I think -- I think that there has been great progress in terms of the perception and yes, we did get some more sponsors. We picked up and what I am hearing is everybody has had a good time. So it takes a few years for these things to catch up. Good telecast today. Tennis was good. I think one of the decisions we made not to play Saturday night helped in the -- and the decision was that we believe there would be a better product out there if those guys had a good night sleep as opposed to having them play a long match on a Saturday night, come back, you know, less than 12 hours in some cases and try to play tennis. You end up with a flat final. So I think that decision was good. I think that Goran got back into it in the second set and if he had finished a late match last night, might not have been able to dig deep enough. I think that is a decision that long-term will help us. I think it also, the word will get in the locker room, these guys aren't just, you know, out grabbing the money that they thought about what our finals going to be like.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: It is hard to say. People have come on -- you never know what the walkup is going to be. You have got your advance ticket sales which are your boxes and series tickets and that depends a great deal on who played. But from what we did a year ago, it wasn't a lot.

MIKE DAVIES: Don't forget the Champ Beenie Bear, I know more about Beenie Bears than I have ever wanted to know about them in the last couple of days. Champ is going to be given out to the first 2,500 that come through the gate on Monday for the opening ceremony of the women's event.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: What time is the opening ceremony?

MIKE DAVIES: Approximately 6:45, 7 o'clock after the second match.

RON SHAW: Question for you because it was asked of me in the stands. Somebody came and said, about the Beenie Bear, is it going to be given out at the turnstile versus those people who have gold parking, do they have a chance to get one? I couldn't answer the question.

JACKIE BACA: Giving it out in two locations at -- after the Gold Lot.

RON SHAW: As well as up -- okay.

MIKE DAVIES: We have got a good draw tomorrow, Butch.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: I think we have done well with the women's field. We have really have.

MIKE DAVIES: Done very well. This is not a Tier II event, women's event. This is like a Tier I event with the women's draw. When we had the 38th woman in the world qualifying up there, you figured that if you got to be 38th player in the world you could probably get into a tournament, right? Not at the Pilot Pen, Ron. Can't do that.

MIKE DAVIES: There are two sides to it. One, whether you go into a completely electronics situation and 25 years ago in the WCT Finals in Dallas I put electronic lines on all the courts and after an hour when we had a thunderstorm and the lightning struck, all those lines were acting up so that nobody knew what the hell was happening. And we had to switch them all off and put linesmen back there. And since then, they have worked on, you know, various systems to try to get it to be perfect. They may have got to a point where they have perfected it to, you know, a pretty good degree. But the expense and the cost of building into tennis courts and the balls and whether there be sensors in the balls and all that sort of thing is not the cheapest thing in the world for every tournament in the world. And then the other thing you get down to is: Do you really want to have it like that? Do you really want to get rid of all the linesmen and the umpires and the human element there? I would venture to guess that out of the number of bad calls, quote, that are bad calls out there today, I would say that probably half of them were not bad calls if you could put a television camera, slow-mo on every one of those lines and check that ball out. It is quite amazing what the difference looking from a different angle makes to a tennis ball. If you look at it from down-the-line, you see -- the only way that you can really see it accurately; if you look at it from this side, it is totally different. You could put a ball four, five inches away from the line and just leave it on the line and go over there and ask somebody whether that ball is on the line or out. They think it was on the line from over there. So the perception from people, especially if they are not sitting on that line, is generally wrong. So yes there are bad calls. There are bad calls, there are good calls. But a lot of the time the player obviously wants the ball to be in or wants the ball to be good more than it actually is. So, I mean, it is -- It hasn't changed in 100 years. And it will just go on. I am not sure whether I am that interested in having perfect line calls, frankly. Butch feels differently because he smashes rackets when he used to play he used to really --

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: In the old days they used to get the linesmen out of the stands. They were not professionals. Now we have professional people. But I do think that when we added the profession people to the Tour and it is great. I think we should have given gotten rid of the overrule rule. And they did it. That rule was put in when you had amateur people doing this. And I think it is not good for tennis because I think what it has done it has made the player start to question line calls all the time, going to the umpire, and appealing. Did you say that; did you say this; why didn't you do this - I think it just hurts the presentation of the sport. And I am not sure -- But I mean, I saw a call today that got overruled. And I am not sure it was in the best position to call it. And the idea of the overrule was that this is a glaring error where one is just so obvious. That is what the overrule is for. I was part of the committee that did that. Now, they are getting down to the point where Rafter serves a serve on matchpoint in Cincinnati, linesman calls it out, Pete doesn't play the ball, and the umpire calls it good- game set and match. As long as I have been in this game I have never heard of that happening. So are they going a little too far? When Mike and I were playing, what the chair used to we the chair umpire would go to the lines person and say: Would you yield to the chair. That was a signal to that guy that he screwed up. He would say: I yield to the chair.

MIKE DAVIES: The old rule was that the umpire could not overrule a linesman. Could not overrule a linesman.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: I think it is very important. I think it was critical that we had a strong men's field. I think it is critical that we have a strong women's field. What we are trying to do here is really change the perception of this event. And the more marquis names you have clearly is going to attract more attention, you know, locally, statewide, and hopefully nationally an internationally.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: I believe that the perception is the ship is starting to turn. I saw a lot of people in the box holder's tent and saying, you know, this is really fun; we are having a good time. Matches were good. They talked about Friday night. Friday night was a great match. I think people had a good time. That is -- we are in the entertainment business. That is what we are supposed to do - entertain people and treat them well.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: I am very excited about the women. All of you have told us how good the SNET was, the exhibition thing with Martina, so we are optimistic. I heard there were great crowds and I know they weren't charging a lot, and I know that Connecticut responds to women's sports, especially through the basketball, so yeah, I think any of the seeds get through I think people will respond.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: Yeah. But things go like this. (Indicating up and down) It went right up.

MIKE DAVIES: I thought it was very interesting because I talked to a friend of mine in London, and the match had been played and they were tape-delaying it over there on Eurosport. She told me that she was getting ready to watch the Henman match at five o'clock. It was coming on at five o'clock there. So I said: Oh, well, you want me to tell you the result and she said: Well, did he get to the semifinal. I said: Well do you want me to tell you the result or not. Well, I don't know. So anyway, I didn't. I got a call back the next morning saying what an unbelievable match. I mean, obviously for the British it was watching Henman play that and having eight matchpoints, they thought it was a fabulous match. They sort of appreciated that kind of tennis and that kind of intensity that those two guys played with.

RON SHAW: A lot of these typical fans who will stop us said to me people who had been coming here since this stadium was built that that was no doubt the best, the best tennis that has ever been played on this court. That is the way the local people feel about it. They really do.

MIKE DAVIES: Terrific match.

RON SHAW: It was exciting.

MIKE DAVIES: It takes British people to bring -- (laughter).

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: Unless I heard him wrong, he said he was coming back.

RON SHAW: He said it.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: I heard that. Did you guys hear that?

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: To play golf? I think Pete will be back. He is an athlete. He is a competitor. He doesn't want to leave that -- doesn't want to leave New Haven that way.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: I don't think Pete did that. My analysis of it is that when you tank a match and I know when somebody is tanking a match because they have got an airplane that they have already made reservations and they have got plans the next day and they are gone. And he did not do that. Did he have anything -- any gas in the tank to get him out of the trouble he was in? No. And -- But I think that is more of a middle state that he is in about his career and tennis and what he is doing and Cincinnati and he just -- he is in a funk. I think he is tired. He has been doing this for ten years. He just -- it just reminds me of a tennis player that is tired. Chris Evert went through it. McEnroe went through it. Doing this for ten years, it is hard. It is not that easy.

BUTCH BUCHHOLZ: That will help, but again -- I can honestly say this with credibility that the tennis that was played today, person buys a ticket and comes to a tennis tournament the product that they see today is the best our sport has ever produced. And there is just so many good tennis players which is really why you have to look at what Pete has accomplished and knowing that that even ten years ago guys were really looking at what was going on in the quarterfinals, who was in their half, you know, maybe start to look at the 16s. I mean, you have to look in the first round now and be scared to death that somebody is going to knock you off. They are just sitting there waiting for a Sampras scalp, an Agassi scalp. That is how these young guys make their reputations. Would anybody have thought that Karol Kucera would win this tennis tournament? Most of us probably haven't heard of him. He is a really good tennis player. He is going to do well at the US Open. He is going to do really well at the US Open. He is going to do big damage to somebody because he is a good tennis player.

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