Why streamers should be the next frontier for Davis Cup and BJK Cup

(Getty/Massimo Insabato)

The Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup were among the first events that made me fall in love with tennis. From Australia coming back from two rubbers down against Kazakhstan on grass in Darwin in the Davis Cup to the epic Billie Jean King Cup win against a full-strength Belarus side in the semi-finals in 2019, some of my favourite tennis memories are from the team competitions. 

Since the formats of both events have changed to a centralised location for the final, it saddens me that future tennis fans will not be able to experience this in the same way.

But for Australians, at least we have the Australian Open and the summer of tennis. Yes, it may not be the same, but it is still a special part of the year where Australians can go and watch tennis. The same cannot be said for parochial tennis nations like Czechia, Peru and Ecuador, to name a few, let alone countries like Argentina, Belgium and Brazil, who are increasingly looking like they are going to have their precious real estate on the ATP calendar snaffled up at any moment. 

Recently, there has been pushback against the centralised location format, with influential figures like Tony Godsick telling the media that he believes the format should be reinstated to its original form. 

"You know, the Davis Cup has moved around. I think it's changed, like, three times its format in the seven editions that we've had. That's a lot of change, when I'm not sure it actually should have changed," he explained.

"I have a whole theory that Davis Cup was actually pretty good the way it was. You had some major global superstars that dominated the game for a very long period of time, and each of them prioritised the Davis Cup at different times. Then they wanted to stay out on tour a lot longer. They maybe didn't play as much because they wanted to extend their careers, and it worked.

"Novak is still playing today. Rafa just retired last year. Roger went to almost 40. So it worked, their strategy. But the fact that they were taking up so much oxygen of success for such a long period of time, people are like, 'Oh, all the top players aren't playing the Davis Cup, we've got to change it'."

"Well, that was those three players. I think now you've got two other guys that are coming in to do well, but you have more parity, a little bit more parity now. Maybe not in the Slams, but you have young stars that are emerging. I kind of feel like if you just kind of went back and did the home and away stuff, two-out-of-three sets maybe until you get to the Finals, and you kept it how it was, it might work."

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During his ATP Finals presser last year, even Jannik Sinner has advocated for a return to the original format despite Italy hosting the Final 8, after pulling out of the Davis Cup Finals in Bologna.

"What I would like, what I could see potentially in the future, is having Davis Cup throughout two years, so you can also set up the semi-finals in the beginning of the year and the final in the end of the year somewhere. It's also nice where you can choose, make the coin toss, whatever, and you play in this stadium, and you sell tickets," he said.

"Like this, if you play in Bologna, there is the matchup Australia against US, of course there are going to be spectators. I'm not saying that. But in the same time, why not make it a real Davis Cup competition?

"I never unfortunately played the Davis Cup, the real Davis Cup, where it's away, playing in Argentina or in Brazil, where you have the whole stadium not against you but for the other team. I think this is Davis Cup.

"In the same time, as I said, it can happen that Australia plays against US next year, maybe in Bologna. You don't have this Davis Cup feeling."

After reading this, I came across an interesting article in the AFR discussing Netflix's appetite for live sports. The article states essentially that Netflix is focused on one-off "buzzy" events as opposed to entire seasons of sports and is pitching more to viewers who have never watched a sport than to the sport's fan base. 

This struck me as being particularly interesting in the context of Davis Cup and BJK Cup. Of course, Netflix will not have the appetite for a whole year-round tour like the ATP or the WTA Tour (which means they will continue to be stuck in streaming limbo in Australia for the foreseeable future, unfortunately), but for BJK Cup and Davis Cup, this works quite well. A return to the old format would mean ties take place three to four times a year in blocks and feature home and away ties. 

If a major streamer such as Netflix took on these team competitions, people all around the world would likely tune in to watch their country play. Even if it were a Division Two tie, if it were streamed on Netflix, it would likely garner interest in the country. Immediately, the visibility of storylines seldom picked up in tennis media, like Pakistan with two players in their 40s upsetting Lithuania on grass, would reach people that they otherwise wouldn't, bringing new people into tennis and getting them hooked.

There are very few sports that could broadcast ties from all around the world in a single week. The closest equivalent I can think of is the FIFA Series in soccer, but the difference here is that this would not be a 'friendly' but rather a fully-fledged tournament, with much at stake. It would attract eyeballs around the world, regardless of whether the big stars are playing.

From an aesthetic point of view, big crowds mean that the product looks a lot better on TV which would be a further selling point of returning to the old format. Additionally, while it would not matter as much whether the big stars were playing, if this were to elevate the presence and significance of the competitions on the calendar again, it would likely be prioritised by the stars again organically. 

The hurdles are twofold. First, would Netflix have an appetite for something like the Davis Cup? In tennis, they have mainly looked to exhibition events featuring the top players and even in other sports they have prioritised one-off events. Whether they would consider the Davis Cup or the BJK Cup is an open question, but if presented in the manner above, with the opportunity to touch most countries in the world, it surely is an argument that one could make. 

The second hurdle is of course, money. If Netflix or an equivalent streamer were to come to the table, it would likely be for a product that is not valued where the ITF would want it to be. But this is the very point. Davis Cup and BJK Cup at present do not have the value that they should or could. This is a way to bring that value to the table. Whether the proposal is fanciful or not is another question.

But something has to be done. The Davis Cup and the BJK Cup are too precious to lose. 

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