The Laver Cup, the intercontinental tennis competition that has aspired to be the sport’s version of golf’s Ryder Cup, has traveled through the U.S., Canada and Europe since its inception in 2017.
The event, conceived by Roger Federer and his longtime agent and business partner, Tony Godsick will keep to that formula for 2027. The tenth edition will take place at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, the tech-centric home of the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers and its owner, Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft Corp. chief executive.
In a video interview Tuesday ahead of the announcement, Godsick, the chief executive of Team8, the company behind Federer’s business endeavors, said the move places the Laver Cup amid a flurry of major sports events that are taking place in the region during the next two years.
The World Cup is holding games at SoFi Stadium, just down the street. SoFi will host the Super Bowl next February. In 2028, Los Angeles will host the Olympic Games.
The Laver Cup isn’t on the same level as those events, despite Federer, Godsick and the team’s huge aspirations for its present and future. This year it will be held at London’s O2 Arena for the second time; the first, in 2022, was the scene of Federer’s retirement from tennis.
Los Angeles World Cup 2026 Host City Guide
The tournament, named for Australian tennis legend Rod Laver, encompasses singles and doubles. It takes place over three days, with six players per team. Each team is led by a captain and vice-captain — currently Yannick Noah and Tim Henman for Team Europe and Andre Agassi and Pat Rafter for Team World. The matches are two sets, with a 10-point tiebreak if the score is 1-1, and victories go up in points value over the three days to ensure that the winner can only be decided on the last one.
Stars including Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, and Alexander Zverev have represented Europe. Italy’s Jannik Sinner, the men’s world No. 1, is yet to participate. Godsick and Laver Cup chief executive Steve Zacks said they have tried to convince Sinner to play, but his schedule has not yet aligned with the event.
Notable players on Team World include Félix Auger-Aliassime, Nick Kyrgios, Taylor Fritz, João Fonseca, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Alex de Minaur having represented Team World. When Alexander Bublik, who was born in Russia but represents Kazakhstan, plays for Team World in 2026, he will be the first player from a country in Asia to do so.
Godsick and Zacks said they have explored taking the Laver Cup beyond two continents. Tokyo was on a list of potential destinations, but the Laver Cup’s partnership with the ATP Tour, which holds a regular-season tournament immediately after its slot on the calendar, makes bringing the event there problematic. The Laver Cup is a tour-sanctioned event, but players do not earn rankings points.
Zacks and Godsick didn’t have a destination for 2027 as the 2025 event came to a close at the Chase Center in San Francisco, but on the final day, Zacks said, he received a phone call from the Intuit Dome’s ownership expressing interest.
Like San Francisco, Los Angeles and the surrounding area used to be a major destination on the ATP and WTA Tours, but the only event of significance there now is two hours away in Indian Wells. Tennis fans in San Francisco packed the Chase Center last September. Godsick and Zacks are expecting the same results at the Intuit Dome.
“Sports fans in the U.S. are used to spending for experiences,” Zacks said.
“Roger Federer’s vision was to create an event that honored Rod Laver and celebrated the very best of our sport,” said Godsick in a statement.
“From the beginning, we set out to build a team competition unlike anything else in tennis, bringing the world’s best players together as team-mates. As we prepare for the 10th edition of the Laver Cup, it’s incredibly rewarding to see how that vision has been embraced by fans, players and partners around the world.”
For now, fans outside of Europe and North America will have to wait to see it up close.
