Monday Night US Open?

Matt Cronin

Could tennis compete on Monday night?

Are you ready for some Monday Night Tennisssss? That's been the main catch phrase used to promote Monday Night Football over the past couple of decades, and might be the right promo and recipe to reverse a ratings decline for the US Open men's final.

Moving the US Open men's final from its usual 4 pm EST start on Sunday might seem to be a bit bold to some traditionalists given that it might have to compete with the tried and true institution that's Monday Night football, but there's no question that the late Sunday afternoon spot isn't producing magical numbers anymore and something must be done to stir up a new and wider audience.

The move is not going to happen anytime soon due to current TV contracts, but the idea has been discussed in high USTA circles. Perhaps when the USTA renegotiates its contracts with CBS and ESPN the next time around, it might have to seriously consider it, because TV ratings continue to get worse and worse and the sport can't afford to lose viewership year and after year and hope to remain relevant.

Only a little over two million watched Rafa and Novak in the Open final.

In some ways, decreased television ratings don't matter as much as they used to, because the US Open itself continues to set attendance records and annually sees a big boost in folks tuning into the internet to listen to US Open radio (full disclosure: I've been a US Open radio analysts since it was conceived) and watch live match streaming. But given how much money that the three national rights holders (CBS, ESPN and Tennis Channel) put into the USTA coffers, there is a danger that when their contacts come up again that they might put in lower bids.

Ironically, the last three men's finals have been held on Mondays due to rain to rainouts and unfortunately, the switch in days didn't help.

Rafa Nadal's four set win over Novak Djokovic averaged 2.17 million viewers between CBS and ESPN2, which was down 36 percent from the 3.39 million for 2009 five-set final between Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro.

Federer's three set victory over Andy Murray on a Monday in 2008 averaged 2.32 million viewers. The last Sunday final, in 2007 when Federer bested Djokovic, averaged 5.36 million viewers.

What this may say is that it might be better to leave broadcast where it is, at 4 pm on Sunday after the first NFL game, but remember that for the most part the reason for such poor Monday ratings is people haven't planned to watch it and only the most dedicated fans will switch their plans to be able to see it live.

Far and away the record, 11 million viewers saw McEnroe and Borg in the 1980 Open--now 30 years old.

If the US Open final was say scheduled for 8 pm EST on a Monday night and properly marketed and promoted, there's a fair chance that it might be more successful, rather than essentially being an afterthought on CBS following one football game, then going up against directly against another regional football game. Not to mention that if the final runs a little long, it then has to go up against what's become even more popular than Monday Night Football, Sunday Night Football on NBC.

While many diehard tennis fans don't give a hoot about ratings because as long as they can see a match they aren't concerned about the state of the overall industry, tennis officials are and rightly so.

The highest rated US Opens occurred during the mid part and end of the so-called US tennis boom.

Sadly the greatest player has produced three of the least watched finals.

In 1980,John McEnroe beat Bjorn Borg in a classic five setter and received the highest rating ever with 11 million viewers. In 1982, Jimmy Connors bested Ivan Lendl and drew a 9.9. In 1983, Connors beat Lendl again and the match drew a 9.5.

Since 1995, no men's final regardless of how attractive it was on paper has come close to the Mac vs. Borg rating. In 1999, the wildly popular Andre Agassi defeated fellow American Todd Martin in a five setter and that drew the highest mark over the past 15 years at 6.3. Even the Pete Sampras versus Agassi final in 2002 (Sampras' last pro match) drew only a 6.2.

What is truly remarkable is that the much-hyped Federer vs. Agassi 2005 final only drew a 4.8, and that the Federer versus Andy Roddick final only drew a 4.1 in 2006. Sadly, arguably the greatest player ever, Federer, is partly responsible for three of the lowest ratings ever, including an abysmal 2.5 rating in his win over Lleyton Hewitt in 2004.

Had the US Open been blessed with a Roger vs. Rafa final this year on Sunday, it may have been one of the highest rated telecasts ever. But maybe not, given what a horrible rating Nadal vs. Djokovic received this year. Another horrifying fact: Nadal's win over Tomas Berdych in this years Wimbledon final drew the lowest rating on NBC since 1988 with a 1.6.

Only 3.5 million viewers say the legendary Federer/Nadal Wimby final.

It could be argued that fans knew that it was sure to be a clinical win for Nadal, but how about this: when Nadal faced Federer in their legendary 2008 Wimbledon final, it only drew a 3.5. The highest ranked Wimbledon final since '88 was in '92, when Agassi overcame Goran Ivanisevic at 5.6.

The decline is not just limited to the men as the women's rating are far worse and perhaps more troublesome. In 2001, the USTA made the brilliant move of pushing the women's final until Saturday night so it could feature a ballyhooed primetime final. Fortunately, sisters Serena and Venus Williams met in the final (a victory for Venus) and it drew the highest mark since 1995 at a 6.8 share.

That mark still stands, beating Serena's first US Open title over Martina Hingis in 1999 at a 6.3 and Steffi Graf's three set win over Monica Seles in 1995 at a 5.2. However, none of these marks reach the 1980s ratings, which are lead teen Tracy Austin's upset of Martina Navratilova which drew a 7.7 in 1981.

Venus and Serena in 1995, 6.8 million viewers.

Since 2001, the women's ratings have declined, with Kim Clijsters win over Caroline Wozniacki in 2009 only drawing 1.1 (although it was ran delayed until Sunday), and this year's final between Clijsters and Vera Zvonareva only scoring a 1.9. The 2007 final between Justine Henin and Svetlana Kuznetsova only drew a 2.1 and the 2004 final between Kuznetsova and Elena Dementieva only brought in a 2.3.

The 2008 final between Serena and Jelena Jankovic on a Sunday night in 2008 earned a respectable 4.3, and the attractive 2006 final between Maria Sharapova and Henin drew a 3.2, but that's less than half of what Austin and Navratilova drew.

Without a doubt, and this applies to other sports as well (except the untouchable NFL), viewers now have many more choices on their cable boxes than they did back in the 1980s, so it's not surprising that tennis' rating have plunged overall. But the precipitous decline over the past 25 years is disturbing and must be addressed.

Hard to believe but Tracy Austin's win over Martina Navratilova set the record for a woman's final.

If the ATP, WTA and ITF ever decide to seriously rework the tennis schedule in concert, perhaps the best idea would be to move the US Open back a week so that the tournament actually ends Labor Day Weekend as then it wouldn't have to compete with football. It's the dream solution that would make tennis the focus of the last summer weekend.

But that would mean cutting a week off the rest of the summer schedule and also moving the Masters Series tournaments in Cincinnati back a week, which at this point, seems very unlikely. Plus the French Open and Wimbledon play heavily into the summer schedule and neither would want to move their dates to convenience the US Open.

In fact, if anything, Roland Garros would want to move a week later into June when the weather is a bit warmer. The only other solution is to eliminate smaller events in the U.S. Open series completely, again highly unlikely

While the idea of moving the men's final to Monday night is not a surefire solution, doing it on an experimental basis for a few years would be worth the risk. The biggest problem is not CBS, which owns the rights to the final, but ESPN, which owns the rights to Monday Night Football and would surely be in on the negotiations when it comes to deciding whether it wants to put in big dollars to its own US Open contract again.

The hard question is does tennis really want to go up against Monday Night Football, which in 2008 drew the year's three biggest cable household audiences and 13 of the top 15 and in 2009, recorded a mammoth 15.3 rating for its broadcast of the Minnesota Vikings defeat of the Green Bay Packers (the Vikings Brett Favre's first game against his former team)?

Monday Night Football can produce mammoth audiences, exceeding 15 million.

Maybe not and given that the USTA was pleased that gigantic and extremely influential ESPN decided to outbid former rights holder USA Network for the rights to most of the matches (CBS only broadcasts Labor Day Weekend and the finals weekends), its doubtful that it will be willing to push ESPN to accept a Monday night final.

But it's at least possible that compromise could be reached, with one event starting at 5 pm and the other at 8 pm. Then the men's semifinals could be played on Saturday afternoon (giving the competitors the ample two days rest like they receive at the other Slams) and the women's final could be shown in the men's spot at 4 pm on Sunday, which would a nice contrast to the football game being played then.

While Monday Night Football might not be ready for Monday Night Tennis, as most of the top player say, sometimes its better to be a risk taker than simply playing steady and hoping that your opponent makes a series of unforced errors.