WTA Tour chief Scott resigns to become Pac-10 commish

MIAMI -- Larry Scott will become the Pac-10 Conference commissioner on July 1 after six years as chairman and chief executive officer of the WTA Tour.

Scott will remain with the women's professional tennis circuit into June, the tour said Tuesday. He will work with the tour board to select his successor.

"It was not an easy decision. I've been in tennis my whole life," Scott said in a telephone interview Tuesday night. "I realized after 20 years that I maybe had done the most I could do in this sport."

He became the CEO of the WTA in 2003, after having been ATP chief operating officer and president of ATP Properties. Under his watch, the WTA pushed for -- and got -- equal prize money for women at Wimbledon and the French Open.

"Despite all the financial success and commercial success, by far the achievement I'm most proud of is equal prize money," Scott said.

His biggest disappointment as he prepares to leave?

"I regret that I couldn't convince the men's tour that a merger with the women's tour would make sense by making tennis a bigger, stronger enterprise," Scott said.

He said he was first approached about the Pac-10 job in January.

"He brings a lot of great skills and experience to the job," said Stanford athletic director Bob Bowlsby, who led the Pac-10's search and screening committee.

"He has great experience in branding. He has great experience in sponsorship development and in television negotiations," Bowlsby said in a telephone interview. "He has the right energy to build upon a great foundation with the Pac-10."

Scott will take over for Tom Hansen, who announced his retirement last June after 26 years, making him the longest-tenured Division I conference commissioner in the country.

Bowlsby said his committee began work last August and forwarded the names of four candidates to the conference presidents.

The Pac-10's member schools "are craving different, more media exposure, more commercial success where it's possible, innovative and different ways to promote the conference -- all things I feel I've done before," Scott said.