The Women's Tennis Association announced on Sept. 16 that its season-ending tournament will be played for the next three years in Charlotte, North Carolina, where the WTA is also moving its global headquarters.
The WTA Finals, which features the top eight singles players and the top eight doubles teams, has been hosted in 17 different cities around the world since its inception in 1972. The three-year partnership with Charlotte is the tournament's longest since its five-year residency in Singapore from 2014-2018.
The 2027, 2028 and 2029 WTA Finals in Charlotte will be held at the Spectrum Center, home to the NBA's Charlotte Hornets. In order to avoid conflicts with the NBA schedule, WTA Chair Valerie Camillo said the WTA will shorten the tournament
from eight public competition days to five and is working on finalizing the format with input from players.
"The finals are the crown jewel of the WTA Tour," Camillo told reporters on a Sept. 15 call. "Our ambition is for the WTA Finals to be not only the premier championship in women's tennis, but one of the defining global events in women's sports, and there has never been a more exciting time to build toward that vision. We want to create the Super Bowl of women's sports, and not just the competition, but an event that is the convening annual gathering for women's tennis, women's sports and women's sports business."
The announcement comes as the WTA faces a financial crisis, with the Telegraph reporting this month that the organization is projecting operational losses of $23 million in 2026. On Sept. 15, Camillo said the WTA is going through, “normal belt tightening” while absorbing the unexpected cost of moving the 2026 WTA Finals from Saudi Arabia to Indian Wells, California.
The Nov. 8-15 event was originally scheduled to be held for a third consecutive year in the Saudi Arabian capital of Riyadh. But the WTA requested to end the contract early and in July announced it was moving the tournament to California, reportedly because of concerns over the Iran-United States war affecting the Middle East.
"We have a clear path to deliver consistent, sustainable financial performance in 2027 and beyond, supported by strong revenue and audience growth," Camillo said on Sept. 15. "We are continuing to invest in the opportunities we believe will create long-term value."
The WTA Finals are a major revenue driver for the WTA. The long-term agreement with Charlotte gives the WTA an opportunity to regain financial stability and utilizes a different funding structure, moving away from the licensing fee model used in previous years.
"The WTA has always owned the WTA Finals but now going forward, we're going to operate it, too, and we have great partners to do that with," Camillo said. "We're not going to do everything ourselves, but we're taking control of this event. We're taking control of the creation of the revenues and the controlling of the expenses and the delivery of the entire thing, and that allows us to control our own destiny."
Why WTA chose Charlotte for new HQ, WTA Finals
The WTA needing a presence in Charlotte for the finals was part of the impetus for relocating the organization's headquarters there from St. Petersburg, Florida, Camillo said. She said she is in the process of looking at real estate in Charlotte but did not say when the move would be complete.
Camillo said the WTA Finals deal with Charlotte came together in less than six months and could be extended beyond the initial three-year term.
According to Camillo, Charlotte has more tennis courts per capita than any other city in the U.S. and is a top market for USTA play. In 2024 and 2025, Spectrum Center hosted a tennis exhibition called the Charlotte Invitational featuring high-profile stars like Frances Tiafoe, Venus Williams and Taylor Fritz.
Will Pitts, CEO of the Charlotte Sports Foundation, added that Charlotte is excited at the prospect of someday hosting a WTA 500 tournament (the second-highest tier of tour events) but said that is contingent on the development of a new tennis-specific facility in Charlotte and additional capital support.
"We've continued to want to grow professional tennis in our community," Pitts said. "We believe this is a stepping stone to do that in a much broader and more impactful way."
WTA Finals prize money to be determined
The WTA Finals and ATP Finals at the end of the calendar year can be more lucrative for players than the marquee Grand Slam tournaments. In 2025, each tournament had a total purse of $15.5 million; the WTA Finals gave winner Elena Rybakina a record $5.3 million in prize money, while ATP Finals champion Jannik Sinner received $5.1 million.
It is unclear what prize money will be offered at the 2026 WTA Finals in Indian Wells after the termination of the Saudi contract.
Camillo said that prize money for the 2027 WTA Finals in Charlotte has not yet been determined.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Women's Tennis Association moves HQ, picks WTA finals host. Here's where
