Williams: Skepticism grows about keeping Western & Southern Open in Greater Cincinnati
Editor's note: Enquirer sports columnist Jason Williams is a fill-in host on WLW-AM (700).
You continue to embrace my viewpoints. (Thank you!) I believe it’s important to hear yours. Here’s a small sampling of subscriber emails I’ve received on recent columns.
Subject: Western & Southern Open’s future
Message: “Sadly, I think it will move unless the new owner can be convinced to keep the event where it is. I have to blame the USTA, which did not require a commitment to keep the event where it is. I wish there was something the public could do to force him to keep the event in Mason. But I can't think of anything. Suggestions?”
Reply: South Carolina billionaire Ben Navarro bought the Western & Southern Open from the USTA last summer, and the event is his to do as he pleases. The tournament is a private business. Navarro can’t be forced to keep it at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Navarro and Western & Southern CEO John Barrett recently met as part of Greater Cincinnati’s efforts to keep the tournament. A move to Charlotte isn’t imminent, I’m told, but Cincinnati can’t afford any hiccups in the effort to fund a $150 million expansion to the Lindner Family Tennis Center. Even still, we could lose out to a new, $400 million tennis center Charlotte.
Message: “The decision to locate the W&S Open was made a year ago. That was the time to fight. The disorganized area leaders are now trying to save face. The players will follow Navarro's money."
RE: No final decision has been made, but certainly Navarro started exploring other locations soon after purchasing the W&S Open for $300 million last summer.
Greater Cincinnati political and business leaders are making a serious push to keep the tournament in Mason. Leaders, however, didn’t immediately have a plan in place when Navarro took over.
It’s a good example of Greater Cincinnati being behind the times on not having an active sports commission. I’m generally not in favor of creating another layer of bureaucracy, but all the cities you see landing major sporting events have robust sports commissions.
A sports commission acts as a sports-only version of a convention and visitors’ bureau, with its staff aggressively recruiting new events and working to retain others.
Subject: Bob Huggins’ homophobic, anti-Catholic radio comments
Message: “Does it make sense to you that Xavier would break all relationship with 700 WLW?”
RE: Should the NFL cut ties with Fox because a guest on a Fox News talk show said something insensitive and stupid? Of course not.
It makes no sense for Xavier to end its partnership with 700 WLW and its parent company, iHeart Media, to broadcast Musketeers basketball games over what was said by a guest on a news talk show.
Think of it as separation of church and state. Opinion content is separate from a network’s deal with a school or team to exclusively broadcast games.
Further, where else would Xavier go for airing its games? There’s a reason iHeart has deals with all the major teams in town – Reds, Bengals, FC Cincinnati, Xavier and UC. iHeart is the largest radio corporation in the U.S., and 700 WLW is one of the company’s strongest brands.
Subject: FC Cincinnati coverage
Message: “The Reds lost again (Tuesday) night yet their articles are all over The Enquirer! Why no love for FCC? They are in first place and getting little to no attention.”
RE: I don’t speak for The Enquirer, but we’re the only media organization that has a full-time beat reporter covering FC Cincinnati. Our beat guy Pat Brennan provides blanket coverage of the club throughout the week. He covers most road games, something no other media outlet does.
As of Thursday, Pat’s written 19 stories this month on FC Cincinnati. That’s a lot. Pat is also one of our most active beat reporters on social media, regularly providing news, updates and insight on Twitter. It’s simply not true that FC Cincinnati is “getting little to no attention” from The Enquirer.
Subject: Political commentary
Message: “Try doing political commentary again.”
RE: I’ve been sports columnist for 10 months, and each week readers still mention on email and in person that they miss my Enquirer political columns. I’ve maintained many contacts in politics and business while building new relationships in sports. My editors have given me the freedom to write what I want – which is an honor – and I’ll look to weigh in on non-sports news and issues as things come up. Please know, when I do that, it’ll continue to be from a public accountability perspective – and not with partisan agenda.
Keep the emails coming. Contact columnist Jason Williams at jwilliams@enquirer.com or on Twitter @jwilliamscincy.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Skepticism grows about keeping Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati
