

By Chris Oddo | Tuesday, December 9, 2014

The WTA and Perform have agreed to a $525 million deal, which becomes the largest live media rights and production deal in the history of women's sports.



Photo Source: Matthew Stockman/Getty

The WTA and Perform announced a ten-year, $525 million deal on Tuesday, saying that they plan to produce all of the tour's 2,000 main draw singles matches by 2017.



More: Allaster Says WTA "Ready, Willing and Able" to Play Best-of-Five at Majors



“In July we were talking about doing 1,000 matches, and I said ‘Why not do all of them?’” WTA CEO Stacey Allaster told the New York Times in an interview.



According to Richard Sandomir of the Times, the $50 million that the WTA tournaments will eventually collectively receive annually more than doubles the $21 million that Allaster estimates the tournaments currently pull in.



The agreement also introduces an entity to be known as WTA Media, which is a joint endeavor between the WTA and Perform, and will produce all main draw singles matches as well as all 300 singles and doubles semifinals and finals matches from 2017 on.



WTA Media also plans to increase its overall news content by 40 percent.



"The remarkable growth by PERFORM in less than 10 years, as well as the company's ambitious direction, provides a perfect framework for our invaluable partnership," Allaster said on the WTA’s website. "We are extremely excited by a shared vision of delivering the quality and quantity content our fans deserve. PERFORM's unprecedented investment in the WTA signals a new era - not only for women's tennis but also for women's professional sports the world around."

