The executive who put Brazil on the tennis calendar with the Rio Open

Marcia Casz had just sold her sports marketing company to one of the largest in the Brazilian market, IMM Esportes & Entretenimento – becoming its sports director – when one of those once-in-a-lifetime opportunities arose.

“The ATP 500 opened a ‘date’ – that is, one of the cities hosting a stage dropped out – something that hadn’t happened for 10 years,” she says.

Casz was faced with the possibility of helping to put Brazil on the world tennis circuit.

“It was crazy, I worked 20 hours a day, but the following year we held the first Rio Open,” says the executive.

The championship’s debut was in 2013.

Ten years later, the event injects R$130 million into the economy of the city of Rio de Janeiro during the week it is held.

Also, it involves 3,000 direct and indirect jobs and attracts about 60,000 people to the nine clay courts set up at the Jockey Club in Rio de Janeiro.

It includes a 10,000 square meter area with a food court and relationship for the sponsoring companies.

“We only had that one chance to convince the organizers that we were capable. I knew the ruler was high.”

The Rio Open 2023, which cost about R$35 million, starts this Saturday (18) and runs through Sunday (26).

EXPERIENCE IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP

The venture was possible because, despite debuting in major sports events with the Rio Open, Casz already had years of experience in the business.

The company she founded was responsible for creating, in 1999, the beach volleyball event that chose the King and Queen of the Beach and brought together some of the best Brazilian athletes.

“All the important names in beach volleyball wanted this title on their resumes,” says Casz, who played volleyball as a teenager but never turned professional.

Casz also promoted the XGames, an extreme sports tournament, for three years, and the Red Bull Skate Pro On, a sport in which her company became a reference.

During her years as an entrepreneur, she also organized the Megarampa competition, in partnership with world-famous skateboarder Bob Burnquist, which brought together some of the biggest names in skateboarding in the world to Brazil.

SMALLER CARBON FOOTPRINT

One of the executive’s objectives for this year ahead of the Rio Open is to reduce the event’s environmental impact with waste management and using recyclable material.

“It’s a carbon-neutral event since 2020,” says Casz.

Still, within the ESG hat, there is support for young sportsmen and sportswomen living in Rio’s slums with the setting up of competition inside the Rio Open with their exclusive participation.

And, continuing with the actions linked to the “S” (ESG stands for Environment, Social, and Governance), the event will have a hotline for complaints of harassment or racism.

“We have a majority female staff, with 55% of the composition being women, and we want to bring that awareness to the event.”

Now, the executive is also creating actions to increase diversity in the team.

“We are running literacy actions to make room for new profiles,” she says.

“The first year will have a focus on the racial issue.”

With information from Forbes