John Nimick, Pro Squash Promoter, interviewed by Martin Bronstein

JOHN NIMICK SPOKE TO MARTIN BRONSTEIN AT THE TOC IN NEW YORK LAST MONTH.

John Nimick played squash for Princeton, played the old hard ball WPSA circuit and then ran it. When that combined with ISPA to become the PSA, Nimick ran that. So he knows squash – US and international, through and through. He left the PSA in 1999 to pursue a career as a promoter and his EventEngine became the biggest in the sport, staging three major tournaments a year. His flagship event, The Tournament of Champions, has now become a yardstick by which other tournaments are judged. The Canadian Classic in Toronto and the US Open in Boston were starting to follow suit, but this year were cancelled because of lack of sponsorship. During a very rare lull in the hectic seven days at the Grand Central Terminal in New York, Nimick found time to answer questions from Squashtalk’s Martin Bronstein.

HOW DID YOU REACT WHEN BEARS STEARNS COLLAPSED LAST YEAR?
Ironically the best thing that happened to us was that Bear Stearns, the old sponsor, collapsed on March 17 (2008) and it put Event Engine out into the marketing mode early on So we knew in March we needed a new title sponsor.

Nimick has grown the TOC

So we could focus on April, May and June to focus on a new title sponsor and also go out a little more aggressively in the category of co-sponsor. We were fortunate to add American Express, Lexington Partners, Frank Crystal and Market Access. So we were not only able to entice their toe into the squash world but support that with some good sponsors underneath.

WHAT PERCENTAGE OF THE COST DOES THE TITLE SPONSOR SUPPLY?
About 25%. Secondary sponsorship is 25%, corporate boxes 25%, tickets sales 25%. A corporate box cost $9,500 for four seats including hospitality. We have a total of 35 significant relationships. It is a lot of selling and it’s all on my plate.

DESPIT THE ECONOMY IT SEEMED THAT YOUR WERE SOLD OUT FROM THE FIRST DAY.
I think the tournament has great momentum. I think it has grown every year so there is a great anticipation that the Tournament of Champions is coming. The dates work in our favor being the last week in January. I like this period - it is away from Christmas and New Year’s. People have forgotten about that. They’re coming back to being convivial and social. And I like the event being the first major tournament for the PSA World Tour. I think the name, Tournament of Champions, is significant because they are the top players from the previous year.

He hopes to reinvigorate his Boston event

In terms of tickets sales we have a good system, we have a good communication plan with our database and newsletters. We get out early in September and Fall and generate interest. We open up the box office on October 1st and continually remind people that the tickets are going fast. We have 493 seats. And between New Jersey, New York and Connecticut we have between 25 and 30 thousand squash players and squash friendly people. So to attract 20 percent to come, fills up our seats for every session.

WHAT IS YOUR REACTION TO LOSING BOTH THE TORONTO AND BOSTON EVENTS?
I am very disappointed that both of those events will take a break for a year. I am confident that Toronto will come back in February 2010. Boston is a great market and I think there is an opportunity to do an event there. The right event and the right location will create the momentum to bring an event back to the market.
Playing the Players Cup at the Murr Centre at Harvard was fine but it was not the type of event that EventEngine wants to get involved in. We want to promote the sport, we want it to be out front and saying to the public that squash is a fantastic sport - let’s get new and fresh eyeballs on the game and we have done that in Toronto for five years.

So I’m looking in Boston for the next Symphony Hall – the place where we can attract a buzz.

[NOTE: Nimick ran the US Open successfully for many years in Boston. US Squash took it away from him in 2007 and gave it to another promoter with increased prize money. That promoter could not come up with the sponsorship in 2008 and so the tournament never took place. There is no indication that it will happen this year either.]

IF YOU HAD THE US OPEN WOULD YOU HAVE FOUND A SPONSOR?

An upbeat Nimick

Depends on the timing. If we had a brief to run the US Open anywhere in January 2008. I think we would have been able to run it. Had we been given that in June when it collapsed I think the economy would have worked against us and we would not have been able to stage it. The question now is what does the US Squash Association want to do in 2009 and I’m interested in knowing what they want to do and if they are interested in having a partnership with Event Engine.

HAVE YOU BEEN SPEAKING TO THEM?
No…(laughs). Nor vice versa.

HOW DO YOU VIEW THE FUTURE OF SQUASH ?
I think there is a lot of hope particularly at the family and junior level. I’m launching camps with Peter Nicol, I think there is a great market for well-run training camps in the summer. I think there is a wonderful appetite from parents to see their kids get into the game and play in school teams and then college teams. That is still very much a growth component of the game. The inner city urban youth programs are the other side of that and those are doing well. But I am also excited by what is happening in the pro game; there is new enthusiasm for marketing at PSA. My meetings with them show that what that we have much in common. They are going to have some success in trying to organize the tour in a better way. Everybody in squash want to know what the vision is what is the one-year, three-year and five-year goals. I think the PSA is really starting to set some goals. That’s exciting.

THE TROUBLING POINT IS THAT ALTHOUGH THE PSA AND WISPA HAVE BEEN AROUND FOR NEARLY 20 YEARS, I CANNOT NAME FIVE EXPERIENCED PROMOTERS. THERE’S YOU AND EVENTIS IN ENGLAND. WHY IS THAT?

That’s a good question. Hong Kong has been consistent, having Cathay Pacific as a sponsor. But you are right, there are only three or four squash promoters in the world.

Whenever I have these conversations the issue for me is value: how do you create value out of a squash tournament that people want to pay for? We achieve it here at Grand Central because of the venue. If we moved it out of here to a ballroom there wouldn’t nearly be the sense of excitement and buzz that we get because we are in Grand Central.

I think one of the failures of the promoters is that they haven’t been as aggressive or creative as they can be about where the court should go and what the whole concept of the event should be. I was enthused by the Pyramids. We were all enthused by the Pyramids – now we’re talking! That was the most significant thing that squash has ever achieved and there has been no follow up on that, to pick out 12 iconic locations around and try and hold squash tournaments at them That would be an absolutely dazzling thing for the sport to have as a calling card. Squash is its own unique thing in its self-contained box. You can’t do it with badminton or table tennis.

WHY HAVEN’T WE GONE GLOBAL TO SELL AN INTERNATIONAL SPONSOR?
I think squash on a global basis is really tricky because the demographics are different in different places. Once you get one of these international brands involved in the game you have to justify their expense. You can’t justify the same in every market because not the same type of people turn out. You can’t deliver all the same things.

The best learning experience I had was going into Cadbury Schweppes trying to sell them on a $500,000 sponsorship of the [PSA] world tour. I made the presentation and the person I presented to said: “John, I need to achieve three things: Excite the customer at the point of sale; I have to excite the wholesalers, and I have to be able to excite my boss and colleagues on this hallway. We are also evaluating a half-million dollar sponsorship of Nigel Mansell’s Formula one team and for that money we will get a patch this big on his firesuit and on the car. But John when I tell people that we’re sponsoring Nigel Mansel, we’ll sell more product than sponsoring squash.”

That’s how they make the decisions. The days of the CEO saying ‘I’m a golfer I want to sponsor the PGA tour’ are long gone.

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