[court70]

For the third consecutive year, the BNP Paribas Open set an attendance record, attracting 332,498 fans to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, topping 2008's total of 331,269. Part of the record was due in part to the tournament adding an evening session for the first Thursday, which drew 13,222 fans.

"All in all, Charlie and I are absolutely ecstatic at what's happened to this tournament. The last two years have seen it," said Raymond Moore, who along with Charlie Pasarell are majority owners of the tennis tournament. "Seems the Californian public have finally embraced this event and actually realized the magnitude of it, and maybe that's the reason why we've had the attendance figures."


http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090324/EVENTS10/903240340/-1/newsfront

 

[Lucemferre]

Yeah it happens every year :haha::haha:

 

[Just Do It]

That stadium, and generally the whole complex is huge, so, why not ? Williams sisters not playing doesn't have to mean people wont be interested in tennis

 

[Kworb]

Most came for the ATP matches

 

[joão.]

:lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Dodoboy.]

:lol:

 

[Vlover]

I guess they can see "dead" people in the stands and you don't have that gift or they appear when you are not looking.:haha:

 

[tonybotz]

ugh, it seems like EVERY tournament sets attendance records. it's such bullshit.

 

[spartanfan]

For the third consecutive year, the BNP Paribas Open set an attendance record, attracting 332,498 fans to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, topping 2008's total of 331,269. Part of the record was due in part to the tournament adding an evening session for the first Thursday, which drew 13,222 fans.

"All in all, Charlie and I are absolutely ecstatic at what's happened to this tournament. The last two years have seen it," said Raymond Moore, who along with Charlie Pasarell are majority owners of the tennis tournament. "Seems the Californian public have finally embraced this event and actually realized the magnitude of it, and maybe that's the reason why we've had the attendance figures."

Sounds somewhat bogus to me. Why did it take the people in California so long to embrace the tournament in the first place? Curious. But if you were one of the owners what would you say? Attendance was down 15% over last year. Naw, they're just trying to put their own positive spin on a bad situation. From the matches I watched, there were A LOT of empty seats in the later rounds at both the mens' and womens' matches.

 

[Andrew..]

People don't understand where those numbers come from, so they don't believe them. Almost all of the seats in the lower part of the stadium are sold to corporations as part of weeklong packages. Those are huge numbers.

 

[MrSerenaWilliams]

I'm sure those numbers include Day Passes for people who just want to walk the grounds too :shrug:

 

[LDVTennis]

People don't understand where those numbers come from, so they don't believe them. Almost all of the seats in the lower part of the stadium are sold to corporations as part of weeklong packages. Those are huge numbers.

Well, how could you expect some of the people around here to understand that? When I used to go to IW every year, something I've decided to do again beginning next year, I would purchase two front row box seats for the entire tournament. One of those seats sat empty for almost all day and evening matching after the first weekend, as my partner isn't much of a tennis fan. I'd go a few times during the week, staying only for the evening matches if it was some player who was worth the cold desert nights.

When people on here make a big deal about seats being empty, it's always a sure sign to me that they don't buy tickets to many tennis tournaments and therefore they don't know how the elite tennis fan makes use of his or her tickets. I wasn't the only one who didn't use my seats all the week. There were people in adjacent box seats that I never saw until the men's final. They had owned those seats for the entire tournament; they just never showed until the men's final.

 

[AcesHigh]

Why do you care? Does it bother you if they set attendance records?

 

[Inktrailer]

Doesn't sound unlikely to me; there would have been over 200 matches played between the WTA and ATP. Even if each one only had 500 people attending, that adds up to 100,000. Obviously a lot of matches would have had a much higher attendance figure than 500, so taking out people attending multiple matches, a figure of 332,000 isn't unbelievable.

 

[miffedmax]

Accurate numbers are pretty much impossible to assess, so claiming your broke your attendance by a whopping 1,000 is pretty bogus, but the general number is probably in the ballpark, so to speak. Given the size of the venue and number of matches played, the 330,000+ number is probably reasonable.

TV never really tells the whole story, because you rarely get shots of the full stands for the simple reason that the action is on the court/field/pitch.

 

[No.Brains.Atoll]

LOL--if you've been to one of these big-stadium events, you know that women's tennis attendance only adds about 3% to the men's. It's sad, really, but I've yet to see a women's match at Miami in a filled stadium.

 

[-Sonic-]

If you want decent seats at eastbourne, you have to buy a weekly ticket. (Well, if you want my opinion of decent seats anyway).

 

[court70]

Well, how could you expect some of the people around here to understand that? When I used to go to IW every year, something I've decided to do again beginning next year, I would purchase two front row box seats for the entire tournament. One of those seats sat empty for almost all day and evening matching after the first weekend, as my partner isn't much of a tennis fan. I'd go a few times during the week, staying only for the evening matches if it was some player who was worth the cold desert nights.

When people on here make a big deal about seats being empty, it's always a sure sign to me that they don't buy tickets to many tennis tournaments and therefore they don't know how the elite tennis fan makes use of his or her tickets. I wasn't the only one who didn't use my seats all the week. There were people in adjacent box seats that I never saw until the men's final. They had owned those seats for the entire tournament; they just never showed until the men's final.

BUT IT SAID RECORD ATTENDANCE....meaning people showed up for the matches and they did not because most of the seats were empty.

 

[vogus]

When people on here make a big deal about seats being empty, it's always a sure sign to me that they don't buy tickets to many tennis tournaments and therefore they don't know how the elite tennis fan makes use of his or her tickets.

I hope i don't sound like a snob, but most people who post here are not "elite" tennis fans. And the converse is also true - most "elite" tennis fans (the people who pay big money for the best seats at the top events) do not post here. It would be great if there were a global message board that brought "elite" fans together, but wtaworld and MTF are the best we've got.

 

[LDVTennis]

BUT IT SAID RECORD ATTENDANCE....meaning people showed up for the matches and they did not because most of the seats were empty.

I thought this went without saying. Obviously, we need to get this basic. IW measures attendance by tickets sold. So does every other major sports event I know.