On September 8, 2019, Nadal of Spain returned the ball in the game. He won the championship in the US Open men's singles final that day. Xinhua News Agency issued
According to Xinhua News Agency, most of the world’s mainstream competitions that "return to work" have chosen safe empty games. However, due to their different natures, if many events are carried out in empty courts, they will be "lost." This includes tennis and golf.
and NBA, American professional baseball and other sports leagues can make a lot of money by relying on media broadcasts. The profit of tennis and golf professional events depends on on-site consumption. Take the US Open at New York at the end of August as an example. In 2019, the US Open has a total of 850,000 live spectators. The annual profit of this grand slam event is approximately US$400 million, of which about 45% are spent on-site. Related, including ticket sales, on-site official licensed merchandise and food and beverage sales, etc. If the game is empty, these revenues will no longer exist. In addition, about 25% of revenue comes from sponsors at all levels. Without live audiences, these sponsorship agreements are bound to be adjusted. The remaining 30% of revenue comes from media copyright.
Faced with such a profit pattern, no one is willing to give up on-site sales. In April, the U.S. Tennis Association stated that the plan to play on an empty court was "almost impossible". This statement was mainly because it was difficult for the U.S. Open to give up the "cake" of live income, and also because it was still far away from the holding time. , The organizing committee hopes that the New York epidemic will be brought under control.
To this day, the pandemic in the United States has not "reversed the future". Although the current situation in New York is on a downward path, considering the rebound in many restarted regions in the United States, large cities like New York certainly dare not relax their epidemic prevention and control. . In this context, the US Open began to let go, saying that it would consider empty games.
"It's a shame that there is no live audience, but it's better than canceling the game. There is at least the revenue from the broadcast of the empty game. It can also maintain the continuity of the US Open and still entertain the fans." US Tennis Association Chief Revenue Officer Shelley Said recently.
Schell also said frankly that events of this level of the US Open can rely on media broadcasts to make some profits, but for some small and medium-level events, the absence of live audiences is equivalent to "muscles and bones", and some events even cost money to buy TV. During the broadcast period, lower-level events will inevitably be cancelled. In addition, the shrinking event revenue also means that player bonuses will be reduced. The
epidemic has changed the face of tennis tournaments around the world. In the past few months, most of the professional tennis tournaments have disappeared. Wimbledon canceled this year’s tournament and the French Open was postponed to September. It is currently judged that the U.S. Open may still start as scheduled. Earlier media reports said that the U.S. Open may be held in a different location, but no matter which plan is adopted, empty games will be a high probability event.
Golf is very similar to tennis, and on-site consumption is the most profitable. The PGA Tour restarts this month, and the first few events have been confirmed empty, but the organizers hope that subsequent events can have spectators. Jay Monaghan, president of the PGA Tour of Golf, said that the model without live spectators is "unsustainable." With the global economic recession, sponsors' investment will inevitably be affected. Under the double attack, some events may even require Exit the stage of history.
was once the top five in the world and now transforms to become a tournament director. Blake reluctantly said: "A court that can seat 15,000 people can only sit 5,000 people because of social distancing? Is this the future of tennis games? ? If this is the case, how do many events survive?"
