In 2021 WTT will be taking the lead on elevating table tennis to new heights through the management of the commercial and events business of international table tennis, applying a fresh approach to the way the sport is run and presented.

Originally scheduled to take place at the since postponed World Championships in Busan, Korea Republic, Thursday’s webinar for 215 registered members of the ITTF Family formed part of the ongoing updates on WTT since last year and ongoing discussions with Continental and National Association members on the planned changes from 2021.

Whilst COVID-19 has impacted on many operations and events, the use of online technology has enabled WTT and ITTF team members to have multiple one-to-one video conference calls with many National Association members around the world over the last two months to go through the detail of the new event structure and to discuss the opportunities for National Associations to host events across the different tiers of the new WTT event structure.

Crucially, with bid submissions for the new WTT events from 2021 expected by 6 June 2020, this webinar session was focused on updating on key elements of the WTT programme and to allow National Association members to ask further questions on the details of the WTT programme, particularly around the hosting of events.

In June 2020 there will be a webinar for the players, who are at the core of everything WTT plans on doing.

ITTF President, Thomas Weikert, welcomed participants onto the webinar and then there were a number of update presentations before the Q&A session at the end:

WTT Origins (presented by ITTF CEO, Steve Dainton)

Since the ITTF took back its commercial rights in-house in 2017, the ITTF management team has been planning on how to ensure the best possible platform for table tennis when the new rights cycle would begin in 2021.

Despite being one of the most practiced sports in the world, prize money at ITTF events was not high enough, events outside the World Championships received little attention and, compared to other sports, the gap in commercial growth was becoming larger and larger. This in turn affected the ITTF membership also in a negative way as prospective young people surrounded by media would be more likely to choose another sport that it found excited by in the market.

Therefore, the ITTF leadership decided it was the time to take action, to seek external expertise, to carefully analyse and eventually to figure out how to change for good our position. On the base of the work carried out with professional consultants, Withers and Deloitte Sports Group, the ITTF set up WTT, whose core responsibility is to create a professional platform of table tennis events for the players and fans. An organisation that will grow the sport to be so much more popular to the market that it will encourage more people to love and play the sport of table tennis.

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WTT Vision and Mission and where are we now (presented by ITTF Marketing Director, Matt Pound)

The key benefits of WTT are far-reaching:

• Increased prize money
• New professional event series with blockbuster marquee events
• Globally renowned commercial partners and investors
• Exclusive women’s tour to further promote the women’s game
• Unrivalled development / high performance opportunities for all future stars
• Robust commercial platform enabling table tennis to catch up with other sports
• Enhanced TV production to showcase the stars from a fresh angle
• Investment into a new social and digital strategy to further promote players and events

The business model, whereby WTT operates as the separate commercial entity to the ITTF under a Master License Agreement, and supported by external investment, has its blueprint already in several leading sports properties, but the ITTF would be the first International Federation to fully embrace this path.

The success of WTT centres around the hiring of high-level professional staff, Senior Commercial Strategy Consultant, Philippe Le Floc’h (formerly the Chief Commercial Officer at FIFA, and the Marketing Director at UEFA), and WTT Event Strategy Director, Stephen Duckitt (formerly Senior Manager and Consultant with ATP and WTA, and WTA Tournament Director), working alongside existing ITTF professional staff and with professional companies to provide excellence in specific fields

ITTF Institutional Benefits (presented by ITTF Secretary General, Raul Calin)

WTT will provide benefits to the ITTF in some of the following ways:

• Focus attention on state-of-the-art governance
• Ensure the development and monitoring of a set of rights and obligations for members
• Adapt the ITTF Constitution to modern day demands
• Boost education programmes for the future table tennis generations
• Focus in developing the sport worldwide
• Ensure integrity across all ITTF activities

WTT from an external viewpoint (presented by WTT Commercial Strategy Consultant, Philippe Le Floc’h)

With a new structure, external investors, supporting agencies, new competition, new commercial strategy, dedicated and professional staff, WTT is well equipped to tackle as well as possible the challenge of a very difficult sport business market, caused by COVID-19.

If successful, WTT’s forward thinking and innovative approach will be an example and benchmark for many International Federations and win industry accolades.

WTT Events (presented by WTT Event Strategy Director, Stephen Duckitt)

Having analysed the global entertainment market and liaised with all stakeholders, World Table Tennis is introducing a brand new event structure, which will provide a much more modern experience for the professional table tennis players, fans, broadcasters, cities and sponsors.

Many major, globally recognised cities have bid to host the Grand Smashes and other WTT Series events from 2021 and host cities will be announced later this year.

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The webinar concluded with a Q&A session, allowing for webinar participants to put forward their questions to the team of speakers. Webinar material and a full FAQ summary on questions will also be shared, and of course ongoing discussions will continue to take place to ensure all ITTF National Association members are fully briefed and engaged in this exciting new chapter for table tennis.

A successful information session for all involved, the webinar also provided a timely opportunity for all members of the ITTF Family to unite online and share their thoughts during the COVID-19 pandemic.