For the ones who have not been up-to-date with tennis industry news, back on May 1st the Wall Street Journal announced that tennis giant Prince Sports filed for bankruptcy. Why is this news important to the platform tennis world? Viking was acquired by Prince Sports in April 2008 and a lot of paddle enthusiast were worried about the future of Viking after Prince filed for Chapter 11.
A few days ago a new deal was announced when Battle Sports Science and Waitt Company formed Active Brands Company and acquired the operating assets and excluisive license to the Prince, Ektelon, and Viking brands.
“This is a very significant event in the growth of our company, as the Prince, Ektelon, and Viking brands are prominent and highly regarded properties with tremendous potential for growth,” said Chris Circo, “If not for the vision, drive and leadership of the Waitt Company, we would not have been able to capture such an extraordinary opportunity.”
Circo added “We are excited to grow our relationships with our retail and manufacturing partners as we look to deepen and expand the Prince, Ektelon and Viking Brands through delivering quality products, accessories and service.”
Here is a little trivia that shows how important this deal is to platform tennis: At the 2012 APTA Nationals, 70% of male players played with Viking paddles.
