Declining Attendance Threatens Small Tournaments

If pro tennis is so healthy why are the stands often so empty? Outside of the US Open and the highly successful Masters Series tournaments at Indian Wells, Miami and Cincinnati, there are almost no events making money in the US. There are numerous reasons: big sponsors are hard to come by; TV networks either will not pay or pay very little for rights; and attendance has steadily declined across the board. If pro tennis were extreme healthy in the US, tournaments in Los Angeles, San Diego and San Jose would not have recently gone abroad. The ATP tournament in Atlanta wouldn’t be debating its existence annually. And the same group that sold the San Jose event to Brazil would not be discussing selling its Memphis tournament as well. At the 2013 New Haven Open–played a week before the US Open–tournament organizers actually decided to reduce the number of seats available for purchase. The year before only 4,840 showed up for the final. That was less than half the spectators who saw the Venus Williams and Jennifer Capriati final 11 years before. A total of bout 46,000 fans attended the 2013 New Haven tournament overall, down over 10 percent from…