The company, owned by billionaire Ben Navarro, purchased the tournament rights for the Western & Southern Open for $300 million from the U.S. Tennis Association, according to media reports. Beemok Capital said it was seeking one-third of the project costs from public funding sources — about $130 million.
The city council also authorized the start of negotiations to move the tournament with Beemok Capital, according to news reports. The company is seeking the Masters 1000 tennis tournament, the professional tennis tier under the Grand Slam series. If the public funding is allocated, the Western & Southern Open could begin play in Charlotte in 2026.
The tournament is scheduled to become a two-week men’s and women’s event in 2025
The Western & Southern Open began in 1899 as the Cincinnati Open and is the oldest pro tennis tournament still being played in its original city. It has been played in Mason at the Lindner Family Tennis Center since 1979. The one-week tournament has an $80 million economic impact in Warren County and in 2025, when the tournament expands to two weeks, the economic impact to Warren County is projected to increase to $200 million, according to county officials.
As of Tuesday afternoon, the state of North Carolina or Mecklenburg County has yet to participate in pledging any tax funds toward the project.
Last week, the state of Ohio announced that it was creating a $1 billion super-capital improvement fund for special economic development projects in the next biennium budget along with an earmark of $22.5 million from the Ohio House of Representatives budget proposal toward keeping the tournament in Mason. Both items are in the state budget being completed, according to officials.
Also kicking in funding to renovate the facility and retain the tournament in Mason are Warren County with $10.5 million and the city of Mason with $15 million.
Credit: Aaron Doster
Credit: Aaron Doster
“Officially the match is underway,” said Warren County Commissioner David Young, adding that he was “not surprised” that Charlotte council set aside the funding to snag the tournament to North Carolina. He also said the one-week tournament for 2023 in Mason is already sold out two months early.
Young said Navarro and his company “know what’s here and know what he has here can only get better... We want to be his best option.”
However, while Young conceded the county is in danger of losing the tournament and that the new owner will make the choice, he also thinks “it’s a jump ball situation.” Young said he likes Warren County’s position because the tournament is well established in the community and has more than 500 volunteers who help out each year.
“We knew this would be a competitive situation,” Young said. “But Warren County and Mason already compete on a global scale bringing in new companies.”
Phil Smith, president & CEO of the Warren County Convention & Visitors Bureau, said the issue is personal to him as he worked seven years as a consultant for the Western & Southern Open and worked 15 years full time on the tournament’s staff and eventually becoming the chief marketing and communications director for the tournament. He has been a volunteer at the tournament for four decades.
“The effort to keep the tournament in its Cincinnati home, where it’s been for 125 years, has the united support of leaders from the State of Ohio, Warren County, the City of Mason, the City of Cincinnati and other regional entities,” Smith said. “This united effort will produce a $50 million retention commitment, which is one-third of a proposed $150 million reconstruction project to enhance the current facility. That was the request from Beemok, and we’re working to meet that request.
But in addition to that commitment, Smith said there are other funds available to this project as well, as was discussed with a Beemok official at a recent Mason City Council meeting.
“It isn’t a question of whether the region feels it can compete with another city to retain the tournament: we can,” Smith said. “Everything Beemok wants to accomplish with this tournament -- an enhanced campus, a world-class tennis experience, and an expanded slate of activities and events beyond the week or weeks of the tournament -- can be done right here, and at the highest level. We’re ready and able to partner with Beemok to make it happen and keep the tournament right here.”
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