Sports stats

WTT Orange County Breakers

Newport Beach Breakers announce new management, venue and beneficiary

February 12, 2007 - World TeamTennis (WTT)
Orange County Breakers News Release


The Newport Beach Breakers have contracted with Newport Beach-based Hoag Hospital Foundation to manage the World TeamTennis Pro League team and be its beneficiary in 2007.

In addition to new management, the Breakers will play in a new venue. The Breakers' new tennis stadium will be erected in the parking lot of the Newport Beach Country Club, located along Pacific Coast Highway and overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Seating capacity is for 2,200.

Pete Sampras will return in 2007 to play for the Breakers, who lost the 2006 WTT Finals to the Philadelphia Freedoms. Marquee players scheduled to visit Newport Beach include Anna Kournikova, John McEnroe and Venus Williams.

"We're thrilled to have Hoag Hospital involved with the Breakers," said WTT CEO/Commissioner Ilana Kloss. "Community involvement is very important to WTT and Hoag Hospital does a tremendous job of integrating sports into their community programs. They share our vision and we're excited to work with them to raise funds for their foundation and showcase the WTT brand of tennis."

The editorial staff of the Breakers seem to think the partnership is the perfect match. Saturday's Daily Pilot ran an editorial on the deal.

DAILY PILOT EDITORIAL - Feb. 10, 2007: We're game; Hoag's set; perfect match

The decision by Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian to join up with World TeamTennis and the Newport Beach Breakers professional tennis team sure sounds like a grand slam from the start.

Dr. Alan Beyers probably put it best as to why.

"Not everyone likes golf," he said.

Of course, Beyers was referring to the enormous success of the Toshiba Classic senior golf tournament that each year nets the hospital some $1 million in charity.

This newest venture into tennis is the brainchild of Beyers, a Hoag-based orthopedic surgeon, and Jeff Purser, the tournament director for Toshiba, who along with World TeamTennis Commissioner Ilana Kloss decided to go into business together.

While the summer tennis matches, which will take place in a portable stadium built in the Newport Beach Country Club's parking lot, don't promise to be nearly as lucrative as Toshiba, they offer other community benefits and the ability to promote Hoag Hospital's name into the world of tennis.

We'd be remiss to not mention the star power of the Breakers.

Breakers team member Pete Sampras is slated for a return this summer, and blond bombshell Anna Kournikova is expected to arrive with her Sacramento Capitals team for a match that is sure to draw more than a few spectators.

There are also the youth outreach programs that are part of World TeamTennis, some of which include giving away brand new rackets to kids who can't afford them.

And the financial return to the hospital itself won't be nominal, with Purser predicting it should get into the six-figure level.

But more than anything, it is the belief of Beyer that tennis, like golf, is a sport that Hoag Hospital should be affiliated with.

So what came out of this decision is a first - a charity running a professional tennis team.

We're confident it will be match worth watching.

For more on the Newport Beach Breakers, visit www.newportbeachbreakers.com



World TeamTennis Stories from February 12, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Orange County Breakers Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central