Cincinnati Open hits 'unprecedented' level of ticket sales

The Cincinnati Open has reached an “unprecedented” level of ticket sales, as the tournament kicked off yesterday, according to Steve Watkins of the CINCINNATI BUSNIESS COURIER. The Cincinnati Open has “already sold the roughly 12,000 Center Court seats” for 10 of the event’s 16 sessions at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason. That is a level the tournament, which started in 1899, “hasn’t reached in the past.” The tournament also has “sold out four sessions on its 5,000-seat Grandstand Court.” Cincinnati Open spokesman Pete Holtermann said that “hasn’t happened before, either.” Holtermann pointed out each session “still has about 3,000 general admission tickets available.” Center Court has “sold out” for the tournament’s first 10 sessions, from Sunday, Aug. 11 through the day session Friday, Aug. 16. The Grandstand Court’s sellouts “cover the day sessions of the tournament’s first four days.” Holtermann mentioned that, overall, attendance “should be on par or slightly ahead of where it’s been the last few years.” Last year’s attendance for the nine-day event “was 194,340.” That is “barely shy of the record for the current tournament format of 199,217 in 2015.” This year’s total “won’t likely rise a lot from last year, partly because it’s already near capacity” (CINCINNATI BUSNIESS COURIER, 8/11).BIGGER AND BETTER: Cincinnati Open Tournament Dir Bob Moran noted that in 2023, the tournament focused “a lot on the players’ experience.” In Cincinnati, Shelby Dermer reported this year, the first phase of the $260M campus renovation project “focused on fan upgrades, but it’s a small piece of the pie.” In 2025, Cincinnati “will join six other ATP Masters 1000 tournaments as 12-day events.” According to the Univ. of Cincinnati Economics Center, the tournament’s expansion to a two-week affair “could support” $152M in total economic output. Next year, the Cincinnati Open “will go from 56 to 96 players in the singles draws” (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 8/10).

MIDWEST PICKLEBALL CAPITAL: When the renovation is complete in 2025, the Lindner Family Tennis Center “will have 31 tennis courts and six pickleball courts.” Since tennis courts can be adapted to play pickleball and Beemok Capital plans to book events and tournaments outside of tennis, Warren County Commissioner Dave Young hopes that the campus will become “the pickleball destination of the Midwest.” Beemok Sports & Entertainment President Moran said, “We want to be the home of racket sports in the state, and there's no reason we shouldn't be” (CINCINNATI ENQUIRER, 8/9).