For the Open, that means adding even more events to Fan Week, including a Friday night block party with DJs D-Nice and Beverly Bond and a Monday silent disco. For the USTA and the tennis center itself, it means considering new opportunities for Arthur Ashe Stadium, like the Fortnite World Cup esports finals in 2019 or All Elite Wrestling’s AEW Grand Slam events from 2021 through 2024.
With the US Open more regularly crossing into other corners of culture, and its facilities filling needs in Queens for events typically reserved for Manhattan’s Madison Square Garden, Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, Long Island’s UBS Arena, or New Jersey’s Prudential Center—all smaller than Arthur Ashe Stadium’s 23,771 indoor capacity—the USTA’s team sees an opportunity to market its facility beyond the tennis calendar.
“Because we cater to everyone, whether you’re a tennis fan or not. I like to tell people we’re a food and wine festival and, by the way, we play tennis,” said Chris Studley, managing director of event services at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center. “It’s a little tongue-in-cheek there, but it’s so true, because we’re trying to find a new fan and introduce tennis to the folks that may not have come out, and this is a way for people to find our site.”
A breath of fresh air
If the tennis center does become a concert and entertainment hub, it can trace its upward trajectory back to the pandemic.
Studley noted that during the pandemic, as a rare outdoor facility with a roof in New York City, organizations began approaching the USTA to hold socially distanced events. Schools throughout the region asked them to hold outdoor graduations, and, once parents and students arrived at the facility, they wanted to come back for the US Open. That, he said, helped fuel the enthusiastic post-pandemic response to Fan Week.
