CHASE CHAMPIONSHIPS OF THE WTA TOUR

November 17, 1999

Bart McGuire

Frank Meysman

JIM FUHSE: I'd like to thank everyone today for coming to Madison Square Garden, which sometimes I think was based on the Egyptian pyramids with all the ins and outs here. Last night, we saw the end of another era and today we see the beginning of a new one. To start off, I wanted to state at the end, we will have a question and answer session when the remarks are finished, but right now, I'd like to introduce the CEO of the WTA Tour, Bart McGuire.

BART McGUIRE: Thank you, Jim. It's a pleasure to be here and share this day with Frank Meysman of Sara Lee, whom I'll introduce more formally later. I've come to know him across the negotiating table, and I know him as an astute businessman with a strong interest in women's tennis and a clear view of the future. I look forward from now on to working with him on the same side of the table. I'd also like to welcome the players here, including Martina Hingis, and I see Barbara Schett and Dominique Van Roost and Anke Huber and Mary Joe Fernandez. Those are the ones I see now. I think there are a couple more coming later. Thank you very much for joining us. This is an important occasion. And thanks, also, to Billie Jean King representing people almost as old as I am. We're here today to announce a five-year, worldwide title sponsorship for the Sanex WTA Tour, and a five-year partnership between the Tour and Sara Lee. This is the biggest sponsorship in the history of women's sports. Sanex is produced by Sara Lee. It's a terrific line of body care products used by men and women, and there are samples over there on the side of the room, as well as a bunch of other gifts for everyone here this in this room. Please take one on your way out and use them with pleasure and continue to be users for the rest of your lives. Sanex is a growing brand that is now distributed in over 20 countries in the world. The Tour, at present, is even more international than Sanex. We have tournaments next year in 29 different countries, and we have players from far more than that. With our worldwide scope and recognition, we believe that we can bring to Sanex, as well as Sanex brings to us; and that is the essence of a good partnership. So this is the beginning of a good partnership. And it's a great day for women's tennis. A great day for these reasons: Sanex brings to us a sponsorship and a sponsorship fee that is substantially greater than the Tour has ever had in the history of it's existence. Sanex brings a commitment to provide major advertising and promotional support for women's tennis. We haven't had that kind of support since Billie Jean and Virginia Slims, and, in fact, Virginia Slims was much more domestic. We have never had this kind of advertising and promotional support from a sponsor worldwide internationally. Sanex also brings us a partnership with a company that has rewarded the accomplishments of outstanding women and has recently given very solid support to women's tennis. I hope that Frank will talk to you about Sanex and Sara Lee and their involvement with women's tennis, and, in particular, what they have done for women. The story is a very impressive one. One example, Sara Lee has for many years given it's front-runner awards to women who have been leaders and role models in social issues, in politics and in the arts. The winners have included people like Maya Angelu, Madeline Albright, Lena Horn, Loretta Scott King, Beverly Sills, leaders nationally and internationally. With the financial and advertising support that Sanex bring, the Tour will continue to increase our television coverage and will increase our prize money, not just this year, but year after year. We'll also increase our staffing, to work with Sanex on the marketing of women's tennis and to provide enhanced services for the players, the tournament, and for you in the media. I've said that Sanex will be the worldwide title sponsor. They will also have signage and hospitality at tournaments throughout the world, except in North America for the first two years. The reason for that exception, and again, Mr. Meysman may talk to you more about this, but the reason is that Sanex does not as yet have a presence in North America, but they do have an option to buy the North American benefits for the last three years of the contract. And as a special courtesy to Sanex, to show them how much fun it would be to have all of the North American benefits, as well, starting this evening, we'll have the Sanex name on the net posts here at Madison Square Garden for the rest of the week. One more word about the title sponsorship. It takes a lot of work to create a deal of this magnitude. IMG has been our marketing agent during the entire effort to put this deal together, and they have worked with Sanex on other projects in women's tennis, and I believe they have helped to make -- for Sanex, the association with women's tennis become a very positive one. I think Peter Johnson and Stephanie Tolleson and Leslie McCormack are all here. I just want to thank them and all of their colleagues at IMG for helping put this together. It's been a great team effort and we're grateful. This sponsorship is the latest in a series of very positive steps for the Tour, the Sanex WTA Tour. Because we're always used to being pretty self-critical in the game of tennis, let me mention just a couple of the positive factors. First of all, the main reason that Sanex is here, is that we have such a large and growing group of talented, charismatic players. They are recognized by their first names worldwide. They generate record crowds and outstanding television coverage. As Billie Jean says and as John McEnroe says, "Women's tennis is the best that it's ever been." And we hope to keep it at that level, and even higher levels over the term of the Sanex sponsorship. Second, we've restructured our organization to include the players as key participants in the Tour, rather than having them just members of an organization that's separate from the Tour. Third, we've negotiated television contracts with New Regency and with Eurosport that have substantially increased our television coverage and doubled our television revenues worldwide. These are long-term contracts that get better year by year. And now, today, we have formed a partnership with a great company, and a great developing brand. I'd like to introduce the man who made this possible. He has brought Sanex and Sara Lee into women's tennis. First, with a couple of smaller projects, and now with the title sponsorship of the Sanex WTA Tour. He's a member of the board of the Sara Lee Corporation and the chairman of the board of management Sara Lee DE, Mr. Frank Meysman. (Applause).

FRANK MEYSMAN: Ladies and gentlemen, people from the press, players, because those are the ones for whom this is really meant to be, thank you, Bart. It is true that the table was square when we started negotiating. It got rounder and rounder, and I guess now there is no more table, but it's a one and the same. Because we think this is, indeed, a perfect fit, and I would call it a healthy fit, because Sanex, and I'll talk about it later, stands for a healthy body; women's tennis stands for the same. And it's a such a real pleasure for me to be here at Madison Square Garden. I think today's location the world's most famous arena, certainly this week and in other weeks is the perfect setting for the announcement of the marriage between the WTA Tour and Sanex. A healthy alliance, and I'm proud to be here and proud to be present representing the Sara Lee Corporation. I know many of you, if not all of you are using one of the many products, brands of the Sara Lee Corporation. It is well-known in this part of the world, based in Chicago. We have operations in more than 50 countries of the world, sell our products in more than 140 nations, and as such, are covering the whole world. But at the same time, we are not selling all of the brands in all of the countries that we operate in. In total, the corporation has annual sales of about $20 billion, and we have five lines of businesses, and then you have those successful brands that you know, like Sara Lee Cakes, Douwe Coffee. We just were joined two months ago by the No. 1 selling coffee in this city, Chock Full O' Nuts, which is now part of the Sara Lee Corporation. We have Superior, we have Brian Hot Dogs Foods; we have Hillshire Farm, Hanes, Champion, L'eggs, Coach, Playtex, Kiwi, and then Pikwik and Sanex. Quite a few, and I've just named the ones that have sales of more than $200 million. They are brands that ultimately what we believe we can do as a corporation is building leadership brands. And that's, in fact, the second theme of my talk today that what we think that we can bring to this party together in a perfect association is building brands. Building on one side Sanex, but equally so, building the brand called women's tennis, through the association of the Sanex WTA Tour. Sanex is one of those brands that, indeed, started not so long ago. Sanex is not known in the United States at this point in time, but it started about 15 years ago in Spain as a brand that was then already on the image, on the idea, on the focus of healthy skin. Within a year after its introduction, Sanex shower gel achieved the market-leading position in the Spanish market. And stimulated by that success, we've been rolling out that brand into different countries across Europe. And at this point in time, we are at present in all of the countries in Europe. We are entering Asia, and yes, we do havee other continent on our map. And at the same time, the product line of Sanex, which is shower gel, but also was extended with products like deodorants, body milk, shampoos, conditioners, shaving products. Sanex is not a product for women only. It is a product which is for women and for men, and despite the fact that we are focused, or maybe thanks to the fact that we are focused now, on supporting women's tennis, we do hope that Sanex continues to maintain its role as a healthy body care product for men and women. The leadership that we have today in the European market in bath and shower, as a total corporation, is in a degree also due to Sanex. It is also linked to the fact that we have other brands, they are called in German Badschuhm (phonetic) in the U.K., and we have Raydox (phonetic) in the U.K. as brands, but Sanex is the spearheading point. At this point in time, not yet in the United States. However, we do have for you a small gift bag that will contain some of those products that you can enjoy, and once you've tried it, you will remain addicted to them. If you don't want to order them in the U.S., it's going to take a while before we are physically here, but there is something called "The Web." So it's WWW.SANEX.NET and they will take any order for you at this moment. But Sanex does not end in Europe or the Internet. We want this to be a worldwide success story. That's why we have committed a five-year long program with the WTA Tour. That's why this is going to be the Sanex WTA Tour. We want to be playing a leading role in the brand-market leadership marketing of women's tennis -- women's tennis, which is on the rise, and there is no reason why it should not continue on the rise. However, that's the most difficult thing, which is when you're successful, keep on being successful, stretching yourself further and further. Sara Lee Corporation is one of those companies over the past 15 years has consistently grown their earnings per share by double-digit numbers year after year. That means that today, we are now a $20 billion company, but that means we want to be a $30 billion company within a reasonable number of time. Sanex is a similar story; that we want to be a success story. Yes, we do conduct market research for Sanex brands on a regular basis. And then you get some key words back that talk about how the consumer sees the Sanex brands, And they are: Healthy, sporty, fresh young and dynamic. From there we started the discussion and you can see why we end with women's tennis today because women's tennis today certainly shares the same key words if they were a brand. In addition, international women's tennis is extremely popular. With millions of consumers, viewers worldwide, both male and female, and no doubt, that we want to profit from that effect that the Sanex WTA Tour is going to be. Sanex's commitment, in fact, began in 1997 with the sponsoring of the Belgian tennis talent Justine Henin. You may see some tennis players like Hannah Collin who just became the champion of Britain wearing a Sanex patch, and Justine Henin is something like No. 64 on the rank. We started that because basically of not so much of the belief of women's tennis but about our belief of giving young players the chance to make a career in tennis. And at that point in time, not so long ago, both Justin Henin and Hannah Collin did not have the financial means that they needed to make their career happen, both because of their family situation and their environment. We provided them with the financial means, and we are proud that they are where they are today. We then moved on from Sanex to having this European tennis team, which we still have today and the Sanex team consists of a group of today seven female tennis players, young, coming athletes from Belgium, France, Netherlands, Germany, United Kingdom, Italy and Spain. And in the summer of 1999, this summer ago, Sanex's involvement in tennis reached another level and we got our toes into the water with women's tennis by having a WTA Tour four-tier tournament in Belgium which was organized to give those young talents the chance to play. And we are proud, indeed, that from there we increased our confidence. We had gotten as a corporation some experience ten years ago as some of the tennis players here may know when we had the Egberts Open in Belgium organized. But we've moved in Sanex in that whole aspect of female tennis and we are pleased that we got further negotiated and today we are proud that the WTA Tour will, as Bart said, will be named the Sanex WTA Tour for five years as of January 2000, and that the official weekly women's tennis rankings will be called the Sanex WTA Tour rankings. And yes, the brands will get exposure by branding on the net poles, and starting yes, thank you, with tonight's games. Sanex brand has been one and all together with WTA Tour creating probably, and hopefully, a new brand called Sanex WTA Tour. We are looking forward to it, and it's going to be a great brand-building event. One that we cannot do just by ourselves. In the first place, we are very dependent on the players, and I'm very pleased that they have taken their time, with the queen of the previous generation, Ms. King, being present here, and then the current No. 1 Martina Hingis also being present here and so many other players. They are the one and the famous ingredient for making this brand a strong brand across the word. I do need and I really sincerely want to thank Bart McGuire for his sincereness, his toughness, but also his openness in the negotiations together with Liz Garger. They really have done a tremendous, good negotiation for the WTA. Yes, they were supported by people of IMG, but ultimately Bart made the call. A particular welcome from my side to Leslie McCormack who made my toes wet into the water of women's tennis. And if we are making this commitment here today, we owe it to Leslie McCormack in the first place as an individual, and in the second place as part of IMG and thank you very much Leslie, for getting the enthusiasm professionally coached and guided to where we now have this five-year term. Because ultimately, that's why we are here; it's this five-year term. We are going to have our own people placed on board to announce that Ingrid Bergen, Swedish talent has just yesterday joined Sara Lee, and we asked her, "Well, welcome to Sara Lee, here is your ticket to New York." And so here she is, and she is going to be our anchor woman, talking to many of you in the coming months to make sure that the Sanex WTA Tour is going to be one of the greatest brands of the next century because Sanex and the WTA Tour is a perfectly healthy combination. Thank you very much, and now we are open for questions.

(Applause).

BART McGUIRE: The answer to that question is no, it's not -- either Sanex's policy or ours to release figures. You do know what we were out on the marketplace asking, and I think it's fair to say that we are very comfortable with the sponsorship numbers here. We are very comfortable with the support that Sanex will be giving, and this is a very attractive deal for the WTA Tour.

BART McGUIRE: The answer to the last part of the question is: Yes, absolutely. We're out on the marketplace for a North American sponsor with the benefits of the net posts and the banners on the walls and hospitality and other vendors at the tournaments. Let me correct a couple of things. Sanex will indeed be the Tour-wide title sponsor and have the title and the patch worldwide, and it's only the first two years that they will certainly not be in the United States. They have an option for the last three years to come into the United States and the rest of North America.

FRANK MEYSMAN: Not at this point in time. We have deliberately a policy that every brand has to stand by itself, and this is a Sanex-branding partnership. There are talks inside of Sara Lee Corporation that possibly other brands that we have, and I think mentioned, could be interested in a later phase.

FRANK MEYSMAN: Sara Lee Corporation has five lines of businesses. One is the personal products which include products like Coach and Hanes and Champion; that is one line of business. The second line of business is meat and bakery, which includes Sara Lee Cakes, Hillshire Farms and the meat products. Those two businesses are managed worldwide out of Chicago. And there are two other lines of businesses, one which is called coffee and tea, which includes brands like Superior in the U.S. or Chock Full O'Nuts, Douwe, Mauerci (phonetic) in Spain or Pikwik Tea worldwide. And the other one is household and body care, which is the division that we are talking about today. That division, which includes the brands like Kiwi or Sanex, those two additions and coffee and tea and household and body care are being managed worldwide out of Sara Lee/DE, of which I am the chairman, but then ultimately reports to Chicago.

VENUS WILLIAMS: Sorry for being late. In general, I have a difficulty understanding time. I'm always late. So one day, I'm going to miss a match. But the Tour, we're really happy, all of us, all the players. We're happy to get a sponsor. And we, as women tennis players, we work hard. And we really -- we feel we deserve this. We're really out there in the world marketplace. We're out there giving everyone a great show; everyone is really interested; everyone is involved. And we are so happy to have Sanex here as a Tour sponsor. And I was actually excited, myself, I was sitting at home reading on the Internet that the WTA Tour was really close and ready to close out on a sponsor that was so exciting because players place like myself and younger players like Martina and Anna and Steffi -- unfortunately, we lost her. I guess it would be nice if she would come back, but I don't think she'll change her mind. We're just doing so much right now. We're the premiere women's sports, and we're really doing a lot for -- not only for women's sports, women's tennis, but also for just women in general all over the world, and in the world marketplace and business and everything, because people are seeing us, that we're intelligent, we're athletic, and we're ladies. So I think this is a good opportunity for Sanex, the company and WTA Tour and we're joined together. And another thing, at Sanex, we've heard that they are involved with a lot of other women's activities and participation, politically all over the world; so that's something that we support something, we're a part of, because women have come a long way in the United States, and a lot of countries, doing what we're doing, moving head, pushing forward, what we're doing right here on the Tour. So this is exciting. And what can I say? We're going to play well, start a new millennium, 2000 with Sanex, Sanex WTA Tour right here, all the players. We're just ready to get started because we really deserve it, and I think that the Tour and the company, we just deserve each other. (Applause).

FRANK MEYSMAN: That's going to continue. It is part of the total picture. We do have those seven tennis ladies that are part of the -- what we would like to call "the Sanex Team," and we're going to look at that on a year-by-year basis. But as it stands now, we like the fact that they are becoming part of the Top 100, and we achieved part of our goal, which was giving them a chance of getting into the circuit, which, I guess, it may be pride, but also shows that they would not have gotten that chance if they had not gotten that financial support earlier in their career. I'm pleased to hear the words of Ms. Williams. One thing that Sara Lee stands for, probably the only large corporations in the world that is named after a woman, but also that we do realize that our products are, most of the time, bought and used by women. And we have had a deliberate vision throughout to select, promote internally and externally, and recognize women and recognize them as a growing part of our society, that reflects what society is all about. And the front-runners award that Bart made allusion to that we've had for the last 14 years now, why we recognized outside of the U.S. as a leading brand. We're fortunate to have the last event so far hosted by Ms. Clinton in the White House, which was a nice reward for what Sara Lee was doing.

FRANK MEYSMAN: Not in terms of owning one individual tournament, except the one that we today have in Belgium, which is Belgium which is the 41. We do hope our presence on those courts are indeed the result of the partnership that we're having, but we are not going to go further and have one more particular tournament being called the Sanex tournament.

FRANK MEYSMAN: Yes, to both of those. It's definitely our vision that we would like to have a worldwide brand called Sanex. At this point in time, Sanex is not on the U.S. market. And we are continuing to looking at what is the best way to enter into the U.S. market. And when we find that platform, we will gladly make use of the option that we have with the WTA to also have our Sanex WTA package fully leveraged in the U.S. Until that time, it is unwise to do that, because it would not be the right thing to do, but as one of -- in answer to one of the other questions, I think to the degree that we get more comfortable with Sanex in the whole WTA organization, the multitude of brands that Sara Lee Corporation has does not exclude at any point in time one of the other brands steps in to fill what I would call a vacuum if and when Sanex takes the chapter.

BART McGUIRE: Players will certainly be wearing a patch. There's a complicated answer to that question because there may be contracts that preclude wearing the patch on the shirt, in which case the players will be wearing the patch on hats or head bands or visors. And ultimately, if they don't consistently wear the patch, then we will have them doing something special and very important for Sanex in the Tour, such as appearing in Sanex ads or spending a couple of days with Sanex people in Pro-Ams and clinics and so on, something what we call the aces commitments of the players, really in lieu of wearing the patch. But we certainly hope that the vast majority of the players will be wearing the Sanex patch. Virtually nobody -- I'm not sure that anybody on the Tour currently has an endorsement with a conflicting company to Sanex. So this is a very important part of the deal.

FRANK MEYSMAN: It is an important part to us, and at the same time, we have always had in our contractual negotiations, have respect for exiting contracts. So to the extent that there are existing contracts, it may be a conflict and may not be possible. But as soon as those conflicts do not exist, then yes, we do expect the players to wear the patch.

BART McGUIRE: Then it's up to the Tour to enforce its rules and we'll have to be rewriting our rules to take account of this whole procedure, but we will -- I think because this is such an important part, the patch, we will have to be quite firm about that.

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