Tennis CL: The entrepreneurship that led to the creation of the largest amateur league in the country
Francisco Fuentealba, coming from a background of working in schools, got into tennis through his hobby in streaming. He now leads the amateur league with the most tournaments in Santiago and other regions, and hopes to open the door to traditional clubs.
Santiago, July 2024. ""Tennis is the king of racket sports, it's true, but at the club level it's in danger. If we don't do something about it, paddle or pickleball are going to turn tennis clubs into paddle or pickleball, simply because it's more economical."" With that phrase, Novak Djokovic, one of the greatest tennis players of all time (if not, the best), warned about the danger that the sport was in. However, his words were not aimed at the professional level, whose television broadcasts are ranked among the most watched alongside football and basketball; instead they targeted the amateur level and projections, in clubs and sports facilities.
And yes, many attribute the reduction of spaces for tennis practice to the conversion of courts to padel, which is more profitable per square meter, or to the insolvency of the clubs themselves. There are several examples, with dozens of closures of historical sites throughout the country or conversions such as the Swiss Club of Ñuñoa, which reduced its tennis courts to just one, to make room for padel. However, other figures also attribute part of the decline of amateur tennis to the operation and structure of the traditional tennis clubs, almost impenetrable for most of society. One of them is Francisco Fuentealba.
Beginnings
Francisco, who only took up a racquet in 2018, tells EntNerd.com that he came to tennis almost by chance, moving from a UTP position at a school to participating in streamings and organizing competitions on tennis pages. However, in a few years, he became the leader of one of the largest massification organizations of the sport, and ultimately the largest amateur league in the country: Tennis CL.
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"I never played tennis. Many people think I played from a young age or that I was a future promise, but I am terrible. I first picked up a racket in 2018 and accidentally found myself in the world of tennis. During the pandemic, I worked as a UTP assistant at a school. I had a lot of free time. Right at that time, I had set up a system for streaming video games. That's when I saw a posting looking for people to stream tennis on social media. I applied and was accepted," Fuentealba recalls.
He dedicated so much time to the broadcasts, that in 2020 the idea of monetizing his new passion in some way began to take hold. He proposed organizing tournaments and managed to execute his first championship at the Raquetazo Club in Buin, in September 2021. "I remember we barely got 30 players, but then we almost reached 50 at the Ivan Zamorano Sports City, and at the Bellavista Club we once reached over 100 players".
After that first experience, Fuentealba decided to form his own sports community and founded Tenis CL. His first key step was to secure an alliance with Club de Campo Entel, in order to use their facilities for the championships. " That's where the boom came ", he assures.
To date, Tenis CL has organized more than 30 tournaments, including several editions in the Quinta Region, the North of the country, and the central zone, and more than a thousand players have participated, of which 600 are already involved in the National Amateur Ranking, established by the league itself.
-But, what is the most complex aspect of advancing a sports enterprise and setting up a tennis league?
- I have it very clear, it's the clubs. Tennis is a very closed sport and where little space is generated for investment by the club. What I'm getting at: getting to do external tournaments is extremely complex. Here in Santiago, there are few clubs that are open to someone from outside coming to do competitions. In the south it is impossible, we have tried it in several places (...) We are the biggest league, there are no one who surpasses 300 players per month, only us. We offer the club exposure on social networks and the amount of new people who will come to their club, either for courts, to take classes, refer people, etc., but I don't know if the clubs are not interested or they don't see it as an opportunity. Obviously, to make the deal we agree on a preferential rate, because there are about 500 to 600 court hours per tournament, but the rest runs on our part. However, the clubs willing to talk, negotiate, or open up to the possibility of people outside their circle coming in, are very few.
- And financially, what is your pillar to make the project sustainable over time? Is it the players, the sponsors...?
-The popularity, 100%. When I started this, I knew it was a long-term investment. To find the breakeven point, I knew I had to make sure the league had at least 150 registered participants monthly, and then I would just about cover the costs, without considering unforeseen circumstances. It was all a gamble, I quit my job at the school to devote myself 100% to this, knowing that the first few years were going to be complex. In Club Entel, where we are now, we started with 60 players per tournament for several months. But knowing that popularity was key, we put a lot of emphasis on promotion and four or five months ago, we already surpassed the barrier of 200 players per tournament. The issue of sponsors also contributes, obviously. Each sponsor that comes in, offsets fixed costs, which you're always going to have in every tournament.
Future
On the horizon, Fuentealba points out that he has a clear goal for his league: "Our long-term goal is to become Chile's league. While there is currently a competition that is, in quotes, the official one, and that holds the national unique ranking, we want tenis cl to aim for that process of becoming the national league. Along with this, we will continue working with the clubs to hopefully be able to have competitions every week and that in three to five years we will achieve to have competitions every day throughout the country".
As of now, Tenis CL is comprised of Francisco and his wife, Danitza Malhue, along with a communications manager and a team of about 10 collaborators who are also players in the league. He also shares that for the past four months, he has formalized the structure of contracts with clubs, of which agreements have already been closed with Club Campo Entel and Bom Bom Club de Talagante. That being said, he has also secured partnerships with Club Rancho Paraíso de Algarrobo, Monte Blanco Club de San Carlos, and Arica Tennis School Club.
Another distinguishing point, says the CEO of Tenis CL, is that they have an agreement with the Grand Slam League of Colombia. This allows for an International Masters to be held every January, in which the top eight in the ranking can compete internationally. "Last year it was in Chile, 2023 was in Palmira and in 2025 we will go to Buenos Aires", Fuentealba affirms.
But, who can compete in tennis tournaments? From the organization, they highlight that "anyone" can, as the tournaments range from the "beginner" category, aimed at people who have only been playing for a few months, to the "First" category for more competitive profiles. Currently, tournaments are typically held monthly, and are announced both on their Instagram account, and on the official site Teniscl.com, and their registrations are open to everyone.
"It's understandable that people may still think that tennis is an elite sport, which only a certain type of people can play. My call would be to shift that paradigm a bit, because there are many people who may have skills for the sport and we do not know it, because perhaps they do not have access. Regardless, we have our audience very well defined, which is much more popular than other leagues or club circuits. We are targeting that audience and I believe we have done well there," adds Fuentealba.