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US Open Tennis 2026: Building a UAE Tennis Events, Sponsorship or Sports-Travel Company
The short answer
A UAE company can run tennis screenings, sponsor hospitality, amateur events or sports travel around the US Open, but it cannot use the tournament's name, marks or footage as if it were official. In Dubai, organising any sports event needs a permit under Executive Council Resolution No. (1) of 2020, and selling tour packages is licensed tourist activity. Official status needs a written agreement with the rights holder.
No single authority decides all of this. In Dubai, Executive Council Resolution No. (1) of 2020 requires a permit before anyone organises a sports event, commercial or not. Inside TECOM free zone areas the Dubai Development Authority (DDA) also issues event permits, at AED 5,000 for a commercial event and AED 500 for a non-commercial one, with an estimated 3 working days. Tour sales fall under tourism licensing, where the 2006 regulation names DTCM, and the UAE Media Council covers promotional content. Each permit is separate from the company licence, and the DDA asks for the organiser's trade licence.
The fact that most often decides the route is whether the business sells something the tournament owns, such as tickets, broadcast rights or branded hospitality. If it does, the contract with the rights holder comes before the company.
What a US Open spike gives a UAE operator, and what it does not
A major tournament gives a window when people are already talking about tennis. A UAE operator can use that attention, but the tournament itself is somebody else's property. The name, logo, draw graphics, footage and match photography all belong to the organisers or their broadcast partners.
That limits what a local business can say. "Watch the final with us" is a factual statement about your own event. "Official US Open viewing party" claims a relationship that does not exist unless a written agreement says otherwise. Venues and sponsors check this, and rights holders enforce it.
The practical consequence is that the product has to stand on its own: the venue, the food, the coaching, the community. The tournament is the reason people turn up this week, not the thing being sold. Businesses that build on that survive the fortnight. Those that depend on the tournament's brand do not.
Four models and the permissions behind each
Screenings and hospitality. A venue, a screen and a guest list. Showing live sport to a paying public usually depends on the licence held by whoever has the broadcast rights for the territory, so check how the broadcaster permits public viewing before selling entry. Alcohol, food and entertainment each have their own approvals and sit with the venue.
Sponsor-funded amateur tennis. Open days, club tournaments and coaching clinics paid for by brands. The company owns the event and sells sponsor inventory. Participant safety, insurance, venue booking and coaching qualifications matter more here than the tournament link.
Sports travel. Selling flights, accommodation and match tickets together creates obligations that a plain events company does not have. Customer money, cancellation terms, supplier contracts and, in some cases, tourism-sector licensing all arise. The safer model is to organise travel only through authorised suppliers and to say plainly what is included.
Media and community. A newsletter, podcast or club platform. It needs no tournament rights if it reports and comments, but it must respect image and footage ownership, and advertising or content rules may apply through the UAE Media Council.
A group may run more than one. Keep them in separate contracts at least, because the risks are different: an injured participant is not a refund dispute.
Rights, tickets and the question of official status
Most disputes in this field start with rights. Before a company sells anything linked to a tournament, it should know who owns the tickets it plans to sell, whether resale is allowed, and whether any hospitality package is genuinely authorised.
Tickets bought from an unauthorised source can be cancelled, leaving your customer without entry and you with a refund liability. A seller of travel packages is the one the customer will blame.
If official status matters to the business model, the route is to approach the rights holder or an authorised agent. If it does not, say so honestly in your marketing and focus on what you actually provide. Either is a legitimate business. Pretending to be the second while operating as the first is where the trouble starts.
Choosing a company structure for an events business
A mainland company suits a business that contracts directly with venues, sponsors and the public across the emirate and wants no limit on who it deals with locally. A free-zone company can suit a media or consulting business with international clients, as long as its licence covers the activity. A free-zone licence does not by itself authorise mainland trade, so a free-zone events company selling to the public across Dubai may need a DET permit or a mainland entity, according to DMCC's guidance. The DDA event permit also covers TECOM areas only.
For an events company, check four things. The licence activity must describe event organisation or sports promotion. Decide where the events will physically take place, because that emirate's rules, or the free zone's, apply there. The entity that signs with venues and sponsors should be the one that holds the permits, and the DDA event permit, for one, asks for the organiser's trade licence. Then confirm what residence visas for the founding team the chosen location supports.
How Velarozone works starts with the licence activity wording, because a licence that does not match the activity has to be amended later, and the permits above are applied for in the organiser's name as licensed.
In short
What to take from this
- A UAE business can reference the tournament factually. It cannot present itself as official without a written agreement.
- Local events, sponsor activations, sports travel and tennis media are four different businesses with different risks.
- Reselling tickets or hospitality needs authority from the rights holder, not just a trading licence.
- Selling travel packages brings customer-money, cancellation and supplier obligations, and in Dubai a tourism licence with an AED 200,000 bank guarantee per activity under the 2006 regulation.
- Event permits, venue approvals and participant safety sit outside the company licence. In Dubai a sports event needs its own permit, commercial or not.
- Sponsors will ask about audience data and measurable return before they sign.
- Can we call our event a US Open viewing party?
- You can state factually that you are showing a match. You should not use the tournament's logo or imply that the event is official or endorsed. If the broadcaster restricts public viewing, check its terms before selling tickets, since a screening to a paying audience may need separate permission.
- Do we need a travel licence to sell tennis trips?
- Probably, in Dubai, if you sell packaged trips. Regulation No. (6) of 2006 says no establishment may conduct a tourist activity in the emirate without a licence from DTCM, and it sets an office, staffing, insurance and AED 200,000 bank guarantee requirement per activity. Confirm the current position with DET before taking payments. Working through an already authorised supplier is the alternative to holding the licence yourself.
- What do sponsors want from a local tennis event?
- A defined audience, a credible venue and a way to measure what they got. Be clear about what attendee data you will collect and how consent is handled, since sponsors will ask. Offering fewer, well-documented packages beats a long list of vague ones.
- Can a foreign founder run this from abroad?
- Parts of company formation may be done remotely, but events need people on the ground. The DDA event permit, for example, asks for a venue layout, an event agenda, an emergency and evacuation plan and NOCs from the master developer and relevant authorities, and day-of operations cannot be run from overseas. Plan for a local operations lead or partner.
Sources
Where this comes from
General information drawn from the CBUAE Rulebook, including the Retail Payment Services and Card Schemes Regulation (C 15/2021), and Cabinet Resolution No. (134) of 2025 as published, not legal or tax advice. Rules and guidance change, so confirm the current text and each institution's own requirements before you submit.