New York is ready for professional sports - but also for the US Open?
The options for hosting the US Open in New York City at the end of summer 2020 are still being hotly debated. There are at least the first positive signals from politics in the direction of professional sports.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: May 19, 2020, 01:19 pm
In addition to Florida, Texas, surprisingly also the otherwise very strict California, there could be professional sports in the US state of New York again from June. "New York State is ready and willing to work with professional sports teams interested in playing games safely without fans," said Governor Andrew Cuomo yesterday.
The first addressees were the teams from Major League Baseball (New York Yankees and New York Mets), who actually wanted to start their season at the end of March. And the New York Giants and New York Jets, which will start working in the National Football League in early September. In terms of basketball and ice hockey, New York could not glory this year.
Indian Wells and Orlando as alternative locations?
From the tennis fans' perspective, the question now arises: What does this mean for the US Open, which wants to start playing in the main field just before the NFL season? The USTA has been playing through several scenarios behind the scenes over the past few weeks: a relocation at the end of summer, also a relocation to November (where a change of location would then be inevitable anyway due to the climatic conditions). Alternative locations would be Orlando, Florida, or Indian Wells, California. Whether with or without a viewer, that will prove. Larry Ellison, the owner of the combined ATP-WTA event in Indian Wells, noted a few days ago, however, that an event in front of an empty seat would give him little charm.
The Billy Jena King National Tennis Center, which served as an emergency hospital at the beginning of the corona pandemic, is currently being converted back into an exclusive tennis facility. Forbes Magazine calculated in 2017 how much an event without fans would hit USTA: Of the total revenue of $ 335 million, 36 percent ($ 120 million) came from ticket sales and another nine percent ($ 30 million) from the catering and merchandise sales on site.