The Australian Open set a record by drawing 1,368,043 fans to Melbourne Park over the three-week event, surpassing the previous record of 1,218,831 set last year. The main draw drew 1.15 million fans (Australian Open).
FITTING THE DEMAND: In Melbourne, Marc McGowan writes Tennis Australia CEO Craig Tiley’s multiyear plan for the Australian Open is to “continue to transform and expand Melbourne Park into the Olympic and Yarra Park precincts,” while “adding tens of thousands of seats to accommodate the 100,000-plus fans who come through the gates daily.” Tiley said, “We do need another stadium -- but so does Melbourne. [It would be] another show court, but that’ll be down the road. In the meantime, we’ve got a little over 60,000 seats currently. We need more.” This year’s Australian Open “experienced a huge bump in crowd numbers,” but that resulted in “lengthy queues and delays, and even the pausing of ground pass ticket sales amid the increased festivalisation of the event.” Tiley has been open about the event “no longer being purely a tennis tournament,” but said that he “believed the sport element was still the overarching appeal” (Melbourne AGE, 2/2).
NOT JUST TENNIS: An editorial in the AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW writes the Australian Open “increasingly” is being “defined beyond the white lines of the court.” The tournament has “evolved from the crown jewel” of Australia’s summer sporting calendar to a “multi-sensory experience, merging business, fashion, music, food, innovation and community.” Tiley has “pushed the envelope” to “transform the annual tournament into one of the nation’s best tourist offerings on the international stage.” Part of its success is “appealing to a broad spectrum of interests, rather than just tennis purists.” Tiley’s plans over the coming years to “build a one-stop medical centre for players, five-set women’s matches and drone-powered food and drink services to seating pods will set a new gold standard for other sporting executives to emulate” (AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW, 2/2). SI’s Jon Wertheim noted he has “heard it so often it’s hardened into fact: Roughly one in three fans who attend the Australian Open don’t watch a single point of tennis. They hang out. They drink beer.” They “hear the music and ride the rides.” He wrote this is “where tennis is going,” and it is “probably healthy on balance.” Wertheim: “Build a tennis festival. Create it with designs of having a good time. If fans catch the fever and become more devoted to the sport, we all win” (SI, 2/1).
NEEDED FIX: In Melbourne, Cavanagh, Gullan, Williams & Wood wrote after issues this year, organizers next year “might finally see the light and put a cap on ground passes in the first week of main draw matches.” It is “great to spruik record numbers when you’re in the sporting game but the risk of turning people off -- especially the sport’s faithful -- is a big one.” Until the event can “expand further -- and even then, where to? -- some common sense has to be applied.” People “waiting hours in the sun outside courts just ain’t it” (Melbourne HERALD SUN, 2/1).
