Because Porte d’Auteuil, growth is not built on one-upmanship. Here, no uncontrolled multiplication of partners, no permanent commercial inflation, no dilution of the brand. Roland-Garros is progressing differently. Slower perhaps. But with a consistency that now intrigues the entire sports business ecosystem.
In this new file of Sports Strategieswe delve behind the scenes of a tournament that has become a true cultural, premium and international territory. An event capable of bringing together clay courts, contemporary art, gastronomic experiences, luxury, new technologies and the global issues of sports entertainment.
Why does Roland-Garros attract so many big brands? How does the FFT protect the scarcity of its partnerships in a saturated market? Why does the tournament refuse certain extremely lucrative opportunities? And how does the Parisian Grand Slam manage to grow without losing its historical identity?
The report also looks at the tournament’s new growth levers: the rise of Opening Week, increasingly ambitious merchandising strategy, development of premium experiences, acceleration in China, new audiovisual formats and evolution of the hospitality model. Behind each decision, the same logic: making Roland-Garros a global brand without trivializing what makes it unique.
You will also discover how the historic partners – Lacoste, BNP Paribas, Renault, Lavazza and Mastercard – are part of this long-term strategy, why Schweppes is joining the adventure today, and how the tournament is now building a lifestyle universe capable of existing well beyond tennis.
This issue also explores the way in which Roland-Garros becomes a cultural object in its own right. The 2026 poster signed JR, the collaborations with Devialet or Lancel, the new experiential spaces and the assumed desire to magnify Paris in audiovisual production all speak of the same ambition: to transform the tournament into a global brand of desirability.
And while Roland-Garros consolidates its model, other lines are moving in the sports and entertainment industry. Panini prepares the greatest World Cup album in its history… before losing FIFA. French video games are growing again and confirm their status as the country’s leading cultural industry. The 24 Hours of Le Mans are rethinking their identity to expand their brand territory. As for Roland-Garros eSeries by Renault, the event seriously begins to establish eTennis in the esports landscape.
The playing field is changing. Sports brands too.
To read in Sports Strategies #865.
A.J.
PakarPBN
A Private Blog Network (PBN) is a collection of websites that are controlled by a single individual or organization and used primarily to build backlinks to a “money site” in order to influence its ranking in search engines such as Google. The core idea behind a PBN is based on the importance of backlinks in Google’s ranking algorithm. Since Google views backlinks as signals of authority and trust, some website owners attempt to artificially create these signals through a controlled network of sites.
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The purpose of a PBN is to give the impression that the target website is naturally earning links from multiple independent sources. If done effectively, this can temporarily improve keyword rankings, increase organic visibility, and drive more traffic from search results.
