The partnership between ITF and Gerard Pique’s Kosmos Investment group has come to an abrupt end after just 5 years
The International Tennis Federation has officially declared it has terminated its contract with Kosmos, an investment group led by footballer Gerard Pique. In 2018, both ITF and Kosmos had agreed on a 25-year partnership, amounting to a total of US$3 billion. The agreement with Kosmos had led to the revamp of the men’s team competition – the prestigious Davis Cup, which was founded in 1900.
In its official statement, the ITF said: “The ITF can confirm that its partnership with Kosmos Tennis for Davis Cup is ending in its fifth year. The ITF negotiated a strong deal for tennis in 2018. The partnership increased participation, prize money and interest in Davis Cup and produced funding to support the global development of our sport.” The Kosmos group of companies founded by Gerard Pique has a number of branches under its umbrella and the Barcelona star has also ventured into athlete management through this company. However, it is indeed bad news for the group that ITF has decided to terminate the deal just five years into their contract.
Fans react to the ITF terminating contract with Pique-led Kosmos
Let us take a look at some of the reactions from fans on social media.
“What a joke. The ITF ruined an event with great tradition and sold out, granting a Spanish footballer the chance to host a time-honoured event so that his mate could win on home soil before retirement.Scandalous”, tweeted a fan.
“Enters, ruins a century old event, leaves”, wrote another fan.
“Please now rebuild the Davis Cup as it was! Please don’t experiment anymore! Davis Cup was absolutely perfect and awesome the way it was before this whole Piqué bullshit happened”, read a tweet.
“Just change it back to how it was and we can forget this ever happened”, tweeted another fan, echoing similar sentiments.
Another fan wrote: “Great news although this great competition was ruined by the partnership.”
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