USTA: WELL FUNDED, NON-PROFIT, AND STILL FAILING?

By Javier Palenque

Why is this combination possible is the question that I always ask USTA personnel? How can you be so well funded and still be failing tennis in the United States? There are many theories around this, but I have studied in many flights across the world (read lots of sitting time) for some of the reasons why well-funded nonprofits fail. Here are some of the reasons in my view, you are welcome to disagree with me, everyone is entitled to their opinion, but no one is entitled to their facts. So, let us go over some of the main reasons nonprofits as the USTA fail and see if we can change this failed state of tennis with some credible professional advice for the benefit of the sport.

1) Mission confusion — USTA’s mission is stated as “to grow the game of tennis,” yet when one goes over the financials, their investment and numbers state a different mission: “to grow the US Open.” This deliberate confusion has employees believing one thing and acting to do quite another thing. Of course, this means that since the mission is not clear and the numbers do not support the mission, employees will defend what they believe and not what is. This is a cultural bomb to the detriment of the mission and the organization.