Tennis Australia is reportedly being investigated by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC) over the sale of the current broadcast rights for the Australian Open.
Fairfax Media is reporting ASIC is looking into Tennis Australia’s decision to sell the TV rights to the 2015-19 Australian Open to Channel Seven without opening up competitive negotiations and bidding with other broadcasters.
The 2015-19 deal, believed to be worth in the region of $200 million, was significantly larger than the previous $105 million deal, however it still cost Tennis Australia an estimated $50 million compared to what would have been the case had an open bidding process been undertaken.
Prior to the announcement of the current agreement with Seven, it was reported that Channel Ten was prepared to pay somewhere between $45-50 million per year for the broadcast rights, and the company’s chief executive was quoted as saying Tennis Australia would be “mad” to not put the rights to the market.
ASIC has neither confirmed nor denied the reports of the investigation, however Seven’s commercial director, Bruce McWilliam, denied the reports and defended the deal.
“A disaffected former board director has made the allegation notwithstanding they voted for the deal,” McWilliam told Fairfax. “The deal was a fantastic deal unanimously approved by the Board.”
The report is a blow for Tennis Australia, and not the only one in recent months. Late last year it emerged that the organisation’s president, Steve Healy, had requested an independent review into allegations a board member did not reveal a conflict of interest during the broadcast negotiations in 2013.
The outcome of that investigation has not been announced.
The reputation of the sport suffered a further blow earlier this year when the now-retired Australian player Nick Lindahl was handed a seven-year ban for match-fixing.
The current Australian Open is drawing to a close with no Australian left in the draw and the top two men’s seeds, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic, knocked out of the tournament last week. The women’s final is scheduled for Saturday night, with the men’s to follow a day later.
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