Miami Sony Open Attendance Is Down But Sees Better Future

Written by: Staff on 29th March 2013

Sony Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne, Florida

Miami Sony Open Attendance Is Down But Sees Better Future

epa03642013 Marin Cilic of Croatia signs autographs after his match Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France following their fourth round match at the Sony Open tennis tournament in Miami, Florida, USA, 26 March 2013. Cilic won in straight sets 7-5, 7-6. EPA/RHONA WISE |

Sony Open tournament organizers are thrilled that they have had their $50 million expansion plans improved, but they will have to better attendance in coming years.

IMG’s Adam Barrett, who serves as the Sony Open tournament director, admitted that attendance is actually down 7- 8% , which he only considers a small decline.

“We have had three record years in a row,” he said. “I think in the last three years we have gone from under 300,000 to over 326,000 guests. This year, Rafa, unfortunately, and Roger, unfortunately, are not playing, and that definitely has an effect. Your fear is that the effect would have been a lot larger. I’m very pleased that the effect of it’s only 8% down, which says that what we’re trying to create is an event experience that they come out to watch all of the players, enjoy a day in the sun, a day with the good weather, a day of food, a day of shopping, a day that starts at 10:00 a.m. and may end at 11:00 p.m., that it were an entertainment vehicle, and that we are not 100% dependent on a single name.”

Barrett did concede that Nadal and Federer are the sport’s two most popular players and that not having them presented a unique set of challenges, but said that as a result the fans get to see some different faces.

“You’ve had some younger players and some older players make some moves that would not necessarily have been expected,” he said. “Still the crowds come and the stands are crowded and the cheering is loud. You watched Tommy last night beat Novak in front of a crowd that was cheering as loud as I’ve ever heard it for a 34- year-old Tommy Haas.It’s an exciting event, and each event plays out and tells its own story. The last couple years the story has been a mixture of a couple of players, and this year we got new stories coming. We welcome those new stories.”

Topics: Adam Barrett, Miami Sony Open, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Sports, tennis crowds, Tennis News