Good call: How Wimbledon’s comms help it to avoid break points
Wimbledon’s success lies in heritage, prestige and scale but its disciplined communications also give it a competitive advantage, writes Jess Chan.
Wimbledon is one of the most commercially successful institutions in global sport. I won’t dispute that its heritage is to be credited for its prestigious reputation. But its biggest competitive advantage is how it communicates under pressure.
As The Championships this year begin on Monday, the grass courts come under their annual spotlight. While external communications is often perceived as just a tool to build profile and visibility, Wimbledon’s disciplined approach illustrates its most powerful use: protecting reputation and commercial value while under pressure.
The commercial stakes are increasingly high in the business of sport. Wimbledon continues to sit at the top end of the sector, with £64.2m in prize money and more than half a million spectators over the fortnight. Combined with global broadcast and sponsorship revenues, it is one of the most valuable sporting assets globally. But an asset’s value is tested in how it performs under pressure.
Wimbledon’s controlled messaging
While other organisations may respond to scrutiny through multiple voices and fragmented stakeholder messaging, Wimbledon has maintained a tightly controlled institutional voice, delivered through formal channels and a limited set of authorised spokespeople.
Wimbledon has faced persistent recent debate around player remuneration and revenue distribution, as athletes push for a greater share of commercial returns. The All England Club has responded publicly through formal statements and structured briefings, consistently reinforcing its not-for-profit model, reinvestment into tennis and ongoing engagement with player representatives.
Technology versus tradition has been another recent pressure point, and the shift to electronic line calling is a case in point. Technical issues during last year’s Championships, alongside player criticism, added to scrutiny of the move.
Wimbledon responded with a public apology and action plan through official channels. Its external messaging kept highlighting a consistent position that innovation must complement tradition, not replace it.
Even Wimbledon’s routine operational issues, such as weather delays, scheduling changes and ticketing pressure, are managed through centralised communication. This limits the space for competing narratives to emerge. The consistent pattern across these examples is controlled messaging through fewer voices, without any escalation in reactivity.
Lessons from the European Super League collapse
Although the European Super League ambitiously set out to rival the Uefa Champions League five years ago, this message was quickly overtaken by competing narratives from clubs and governing bodies. Each of these voices was responding in real time to fan and political backlash.
Within days, the competing narratives had amplified rather than contained the crisis, prompting all six of the Premier League clubs to withdraw. This crisis eventually evolved into a long-running legal and governance dispute.
It will be interesting to see how the situation with LIV Golf unfolds, with the current uncertainty in messaging around its direction and future.
A competitive necessity
That dynamic applies to the wider sport ecosystem, including to sport sponsors, professional services, wealth managers, and investors, where decisions and disputes can quickly affect their reputation once they go public.
We know Wimbledon’s success is not just in its communications. Heritage, prestige and scale are still its core pillars. But disciplined communications is akin to saving break points – a competitive advantage when everything else comes under pressure.
Most organisations do not have Wimbledon’s heritage buffer, nor can they rely on scale or prestige to absorb scrutiny. For most, communication discipline is less a stylistic choice and more a competitive necessity. In the business of sport, this is what wins the biggest points.
Jess Chan is a reputation consultant at Infinite, advising leading international corporates, technology companies, C-suite executives and professional services firms on strategic, litigation and crisis communications.