t-season. Kentucky basketball fans have turned the annual campout for tickets to Big Blue Madness into a science.?As soon as tents were allowed at 5 a.m. ET Wednesday, fans r

Launched with plenty of fanfare three years ago, the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) has run into some rough weather this season. Financial constraints have forced the tournament to be reduced from five cities to three, and big name players who appeared in previous seasons have not participated this year. In an extensive interview with ESPN on the eve of the final, the founder of the league, former Indian doubles star Mahesh Bhupathi, concedes that this year has been challenging but believes the IPTL will bounce back strongly next season.Have the last three weeks been tough?Doing the production we do in multiple countries is hectic for the entire team. But we are used to it now, it is the third year so two more days to go so happy to be almost through.What has this season been like? Youve obviously had some well-documented challenges..It was just about getting through those challenges and making sure we get through the season. There were a lot of people close to the process who were trying to advise us to suspend season three and do it next year but in sport once you do that, it is difficult to bounce back. In general, we are just happy we kept it afloat. The quality of tennis has been amazing and the final will be great. We will bounce back next year.What were your biggest challenges at the start of the season? You had to remove one city at the start of the season for instance. The biggest problem we had was the owner who owned the Japanese Franchise ran into financial issues and he wasnt able to keep his commitments to us. Obviously for a two-year old league to deal with that kind of hole was difficult and unlike the other big leagues in India we didnt have the muscle power to get the bank guarantees and so on and so forth because we were still in the building phase.When we were about to get through those challenges and some of the current owners were happy to help us get through it, this whole November 8 thing happened (Government announcing demonetisation). Ticket sales have been really upsetting and embarrassing for us in India but it is what it is and like I said we hope to bounce back next year.What have you learned from this? Do you believe the league needs to go to a minimum number of cities for it to be credible?The learning has been that the players loved it, all of them were happy to come back and the ones we requested not to come were upset that they couldnt make it. We dont know the right answer to your question. Ideally from my perspective, the more cities, more matches, more content and more money.Obviously we have to keep in mind the players who have a long season. It is going to evolve. We have to sit down over the next two days and decide if we are going to do three cities in rotation or pick the three biggest markets and have the teams play there. We havent decided that yet.Obviously the IPTL would work a lot better if the star players played. You announced Roger Federer and Serena Williams would play and then they pulled out. Was that a blow because there was an anticipation of these big names travelling to India and suddenly they werent coming?Just to be clear, they didnt pull out. We had to request them not to come. The revenues on this side werent matching the expenses. If we went ahead with it we would have dug ourselves in a big hole and they were very understanding about it. Obviously if Roger was here I am sure we would have probably sold out the stadium. When we announced ticket sales, 15 days into it with Roger and Serenas names on the ticket we sold about 18 Lakhs of tickets. So that wasnt the case, thats why we panicked.One of the things that is often said about the tennis circuit is that it is too long. So what can the IPTL add to an already packed calendar?I think it is the format. A few of the players have said it too that it is always the dream of an athlete to play in a team competition, to play for their team members and to play for the fans. Tennis is a very individual sport and we have created that concept that you belong to a team. If you see the highlights of any of our matches, the intensity from the bench is quite outstanding. I think thats what makes the players want to play and enjoy it. Thats half the battle won.There has been talk outside about payments to players not going through. Is that talk outside or are there real problems at the managerial level?Like I said, we had that challenge with one owner last year and we were in a financial hole. We ended up paying all the players probably seven month late last year and we paid them all with interest. Yes, there were late payments but my job having been a player and a colleague to most of them, they know that I am never going to stiff them and the fact that they all came back was testimony to that.How do you respond to criticism that sometimes these tournaments are a little bit of an exhibition, that what you are seeing out there is not really a fully intense competition that you would see on the circuit?That is an opinion. You will see in the final the intensity and how badly both the teams want to win. I think special events have a place in tennis. The Hopman cup has been there for 20 plus years, the world team cup in Dusseldorf was there for 15 years and tennis needs to evolve.The current format has no room for movement because of the way it is structured, it is owned half by the players and half by the tournaments so theres never going to be change. We are able to experiment a lot, by playing no lets, shorter points and shorter format. It is made for TV and content made for TV is what will sell over time.So you are confident that the IPTL will be back in 2017 bigger and better?I am feeling pretty good about it. Jace Sternberger Super Bowl Jersey . The news was first reported on Gonzalezs Twitter account and confirmed by the Rockies. Gonzalez has a six-week window before position players have their first workout at spring training in Arizona. Tony Brown Super Bowl Jersey . 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Kentucky basketball fans have turned the annual campout for tickets to Big Blue Madness into a science.?As soon as tents were allowed at 5 a.m. ET Wednesday, fans rushed to find their spots for the Friday evening ticket release, setting up a Big Blue tent city in a matter of minutes. ?Some fans started lining up as early as this past weekend, Kentucky Sports Radio reported. The campout will feature events over the next three days,??including music, food and entertainment.ddddddddddddThe Oct. 14 event will be Big Blue Nations first opportunity to see Kentuckys 2016-17 mens and womens basketball teams. Fans will be treated to player introductions and scrimmages. It will be televised live on SEC Network at 7 p.m. ET.- John F. Silver ' ' '