Five Questions: Paul Nahon Jr.

The Springfield Lasers Mylan World TeamTennis franchise promoted Paul Nahon Jr. to general manager a few months before the 2014 season starts in July. Succeeding interim GM Larry Haughness, Nahon served as director of sales and marketing last year and boosted sponsorship and ticket revenue by 40 percent. A former collegiate tennis player with a career in telecommunications sales and management, Nahon said the team sold nearly 500 of its box seats to season ticket holders, 75 percent of the total.

After Andy Roddick
“I started working with the team last year in a sales position bringing on sponsors and working with ticket sales. Then, it evolved into the general manager’s position over the last several months of me working with the [Springfield-Greene County] Park Board and the tennis community, in general. We had a significant increase in sponsor participation as well as in attendance last year, but I wouldn’t give myself all of the credit for that. We had some great talent that we brought in, also, in Andy Roddick and some of the other marquee players. … He is actually going to play against us this year. Last year, he played for us, but this year he has been involved in helping to start a team in Austin, Texas. Our marquee player that we have this year is James Blake – he’s been very successful, also.”

Center Court
“We have 20-plus sponsors. Most of those are local, but some are national sponsors. With ticket sales, we’ve done well this year. We have shifted strategies and are promoting season ticket sales on the front end. We have a lot of premium seats, and with some of the marquee players we are bringing in, it has afforded us the opportunity to increase season ticket sales as opposed to just single-match sales. … With our premium seating, between what we’ve sold and what we give to our sponsors, we have already sold about 75 percent of those seats. And with box seats, we are approaching 75 percent of those sold. We have 630 box seats, including premium seats for sponsors, and a total of 2,500 when we include general admission. My goal is to sell every box seat as a season ticket.”

To Sales and Back
“I played for Missouri State (University). I played for four years (until 1984). We had a very good Division II team. We were top 10 in the country, and then we moved into Division I. … [Former Parks Director] Jodie Adams was there right before I played. I actually grew up playing her brother, Tom, who was general manager with the Lasers for quite a few years. Tom was the first person to teach me how to play. … I graduated with a degree in accounting from Missouri State (and) moved to southern California. I took a job in accounting and quickly realized I wanted to be in sales. So I have been involved in sales since 1985. Most recently, I was involved in sales and management in the telecommunications’ industry. I worked for MCI for years, and that turned into Verizon. … As I was getting older, I started looking for things that aligned more with things I enjoyed doing, and tennis was one of them. I’ve been involved on the backside for many years. … I had talked with the ownership of the team, and when an opportunity became available, I jumped in.”

Growing the Game
“As general manager, I’m stepping back and looking at the operations as a whole. It has been very exciting and a lot of responsibility. I’m really trying to dig into every component of operations. … And then, there’s promoting tennis. I’ve been involved in the United States Tennis Association, which rolls down to the Missouri Valley Tennis Association, the Missouri District and the Springfield Tennis Association. So not only am I focused on the Lasers, but also I’m focused on growing tennis as a whole within the community. That’s our fan base, and increasing the number of players playing is one way to increase our fan base.”

Players to Watch
“We have a phenomenal women’s player: Alisa Kleybanova. She was top 20 in the world three-and-a-half or four years ago. Then she was diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. She is now back to the top 100. She was around No. 85 last week in the world. She’s beaten the No. 6 player in the world, and she is very capable of being a top 20 player again. … We also have Michael Russell. He’s ranked in the top 100 in the world right now. … The next player is Anna-lena Groenfeld. She is very strong on the tour in doubles as well as singles. Coming back from last year is Jean Julien Rojer. He is one of the top doubles players in the world. … (Andy Roddick) has brought in a lot of people, and he’s definitely a big name, but I feel like with the players we have – James Blake and Mike Russell – we’ll be able to give them a good match.”