WTA moving global headquarters to Charlotte, with Finals at Spectrum Center from 2027

The Women’s Tennis Association is moving the tour’s global headquarters from St. Petersburg, Florida, to Charlotte, and the city will host the WTA Finals at Spectrum Center in Uptown for three years starting in November 2027. The WTA and the Charlotte Sports Foundation announced the deal on September 16, 2026, with Gov. Josh Stein at the announcement, WBTV reported.

Public money is a large part of the package. North Carolina committed $14.4 million to the Finals through the state’s Major Events, Games, and Attractions Fund, and Mecklenburg County and the City of Charlotte each committed $2.5 million toward the headquarters relocation, Axios Charlotte reported. The WTA has not said when the Charlotte office will open, where the office will be or how many people will work there.

The deal at a glance

The announcement and the reporting that followed set out the main terms of the agreement:

• The WTA’s global headquarters moves from St. Petersburg, Florida, to Charlotte, with timing, location and staff numbers still to be decided.
• The WTA Finals are scheduled for Spectrum Center in 2027, 2028 and 2029, and the first Charlotte edition is set for November 10 to 14, 2027.
• The Charlotte Convention Center will hold practice courts, fan events and meeting space during the tournament, according to the N.C. Department of Commerce.
• The state’s $14.4 million award is the largest the MEGA Fund has made, and the city and county are adding $2.5 million each for the headquarters.
• Charlotte has a path to an annual WTA 500 tournament after 2029 if a tennis-specific facility is built.

What the WTA is and what moves here

The WTA is the governing body for women’s professional tennis. Billie Jean King founded the organization in 1973, WBTV noted, and the tour has run from offices in St. Petersburg, Florida.

The move puts the tour’s front office in Charlotte year-round, separate from the week of the Finals. The relocation includes setting up that front office in the city on a permanent basis, according to The IX, a women’s sports newsletter.

WTA Chair Valerie Camillo told reporters the details of the office are still open. She said the “timing, location and number of employees are TBD,” WBTV reported in a follow-up story on the state funding.

The Finals bring the season’s top players to town. The event features the top eight singles players and the top eight doubles teams of the year, according to the state’s announcement, which projects about 80,000 spectators. At the announcement, Stein said the partnership is “going to be a perfect match.”

How the public money works

The MEGA Fund was created by North Carolina’s 2023 law legalizing sports betting. Thirty percent of the state’s annual sports betting tax revenue goes into the fund, which the N.C. Department of Commerce runs, according to Axios.

The state money is tied to spending in North Carolina. The state will reimburse up to $4.8 million a year for three years if organizers spend at least $12 million a year in the state, a figure that includes lodging and dining, WBTV reported. Commerce Secretary Lee Lilley confirmed those figures to reporters, according to WBTV. The state award covers only the Finals. The city and county contributions are for the headquarters.

The fund has grown fast. Axios laid out how MEGA Fund spending has changed in two years:

• In 2025, the fund spent $3.7 million on two events.
• In 2026, the fund spent $16.3 million on 11 events, including the MLS All-Star Game and the U.S. men’s national team World Cup send-off match.
• The $14.4 million WTA award is the fund’s largest commitment and the first announced for 2027, according to WBTV.

The state’s release put the fund’s total awards to events statewide at $39.8 million to date. Other backers of the Charlotte bid include the Charlotte Regional Business Alliance, the Charlotte Regional Visitors Authority and local corporations, Front Office Sports reported.

Why the tour is changing how the Finals run

The WTA is under financial pressure. Front Office Sports, citing The Telegraph, reported that the tour projected $23 million in operating losses for 2026 and expected to have about $15 million in cash by the end of the year. The tour could run out of money by late 2027 if those losses continue, according to the same report.

The Charlotte agreement is set up differently from past Finals deals. The WTA will operate the tournament directly instead of licensing the event to an outside promoter, Sports Illustrated reported. Camillo described the change as the tour “taking control of the creation of the revenues,” according to Sports Illustrated.

The Finals have moved often. The event left Singapore after 2018 and has since been played at six different venues, Sports Illustrated reported. A three-year deal in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, that began in 2024 ended early, and the 2026 Finals are set for Indian Wells, California, on November 8 to 15, according to Front Office Sports. The last U.S. hosts were Fort Worth, Texas, in 2022 and Los Angeles from 2002 to 2005, the outlet reported. Camillo described the event as “the world’s best athletes, competing at the highest level,” in remarks reported by Front Office Sports.

Charlotte’s long try for top-level tennis

The deal follows years of near misses. In 2023, Charlotte competed for the Western and Southern Open and lost out, with developers citing rising facility costs, Axios reported. Since 2024, Spectrum Center has hosted the Charlotte Invitational, an exhibition event.

City Council member Malcolm Graham had been quietly pushing to revive the city’s plans for a tennis stadium, according to WBTV. The WTA 500 option, the tour’s second-highest tournament tier, depends on that kind of facility. None of the reports on the announcement named a site, budget or funding plan for one.

The arena and the neighborhood

The Finals will be played at 333 E. Trade St. in Uptown, in the city-owned arena that opened in 2005. Spectrum Center reopened in October 2025 after a $245 million renovation that added 1,400 lower-level seats and brought capacity to 19,444, according to Axios.

What happens next

Several pieces are still open. Based on the announcements so far, these are the next milestones:

• The WTA has to name an office location, a start date and a staff count for the Charlotte headquarters.
• The 2026 Finals run November 8 to 15 in Indian Wells, the last edition before Charlotte takes over.
• The first Charlotte Finals are scheduled for November 10 to 14, 2027, at Spectrum Center.
• Any WTA 500 event after 2029 depends on a tennis-specific facility being built.

The headquarters joins a run of corporate arrivals in Charlotte this fall. Capital Group opened an East Coast operations hub in Uptown on September 29 with plans for 600 jobs, and Daimler Truck Financial Services is opening a North American headquarters in Ballantyne with 276 jobs, according to the governor’s office.

Know about a business opening, closing, moving or hiring in the Charlotte area? Send a tip through the contact form.