The USTA sent out a press release last night proclaiming that the U.S. Open broke its first week record with 423,420 people pouring through the gates. They’re expecting to set the all-time record with more than 720,000 fans coming for two weeks this year. Last year’s mark was 715,000.
There is one perplexing thing in the headline of the release: "US OPEN SETS FIRST WEEK ATTENDANCE RECORDS AS BIGGER AND YOUNGER CROWDS FILL STADIUM TO 100% CAPACITY" (Bold added for emphasis)
If true, that would be a particularly attractive draw to certain deep-pocketed advertisers, especially for next year’s Open, but there’s no explanation in the release about the methods used to determine that this Open is any younger than previous ones. I emailed a USTA spokesman looking for an answer, but I haven’t heard back yet. Watch this space!
