New York
$30 tennis-themed Champagne cocktails. $100 caviar-coated chicken nuggets. $150 ball crew shirts designed by Ralph Lauren. The US Open has never been a bargain.
So it’s only fitting that when the 29-year-old Arthur Ashe Stadium debuts the first phase of its $800 million renovation this month, the show court includes an expansion of the priciest seats and suites.
Court-side seating at the annual tournament is growing by 66% to around 5,000 seats, organizer United States Tennis Association (USTA) announced. Meanwhile, the star-studded suites — used by marquee sponsors like Grey Goose, Dobel Tequila and Emirates airline — are being remodeled and expanded in size.
However, those premium upgrades come at the expense of the “cheap seat” — nearly 3,000 upper-level seats are being removed once the renovation is complete next year. That will make affordable tickets more difficult to find, especially as the tournament reports registering record-breaking visits, and already has angered fans and some players.
The US Open’s push into premium isn’t a surprise to Victor Matheson, a sports economist at the College of the Holy Cross. The tournament joins a trend that’s been happening since the early 1990s – newly built or remodeled stadiums replacing “bleacher seats and general entry with premium seating, suites and luxury boxes.”
“The average fan has been displaced for 30 years,” he told CNN. “We’ve got more and more people competing for the same number of premium experiences, and those people have more and more money — especially at the upper end — and they’re willing to spend it.”
As a result, US Open ticket prices have soared: Prices on resale websites for the opening round, which begins August 30, peaked at 60% more compared to a year ago, according to price tracking platform TicketData.
Tommy Paul, a highly ranked US tennis player, was visibly shocked on a recent podcast when he learned that grounds passes cost $500 this year. Grounds passes cost under $100 in 2019.
“I wish it wasn’t that high,” he told USA Today this month, adding that the US Open is becoming “more corporate” and not bringing in the “true fans.”
Sports fans have big appetites for in-person experiences: The World Economic Forum forecasts that sports tourism is expected to explode into a $1.7 trillion market by 2032, up from $600 billion in 2023.
That’s evident at the US Open. Although ticket sales and broadcast rights make up more than half of its income, money from “corporate hospitality and services” grew at a faster pace — climbing nearly 100% from $42 million in 2019 to $83 million in 2024, according to USTA’s financial reports.
The US Open expanded its luxe options, adding two new levels of suites at Ashe that people can rent starting at $15,000 for one session. Invite-only sponsors’ boxes are also getting elaborate upgrades.
Emirates’ massive suite, which is perched over the center of Ashe, is being remodeled this year to emulate the spacious lounges and curved bar on its double-decker Airbus 380 planes. French vodka brand Grey Goose’s revamped suite is modeled after a high-end French hotel.
At nearly 700 square feet, Dobel Tequila’s new suite is two-and-a-half times bigger than previously. The extra space helps bring in a crowd of A-list celebrities and influencers, said Lander Otegui, executive vice president of marketing and innovation for Dobel’s parent company, Proximo Spirits.
The demand for in-person experiences has driven an insatiable demand “experience economy” around VIP, hospitality and travel packages.
On Location, which sells premium packages at high-profile events like the FIFA World Cup, Super Bowl and the US Open, helped generate $666 million in revenue for the first six months of this year — a 60% increase compared to the year prior.
Its chief operating office, Ed Horne, said the company is having its “biggest year” in its nearly three-decade history.
“People largely don’t just want a ticket anymore but want to get closer than ever,” Horne told CNN. “We are in an ‘experience economy,’ and there is no sense that is slowing down.”
And that can be lucrative. In an analysis of Boston Celtics ticketing, Matheson found that two court-side seats generated as much revenue as an entire upper-deck section at TD Garden.
The “significant margin” of revenue like that is hard for any venue or organizer to ignore, Matheson said. “There is a huge amount to be made on those super-premium experiences.”
Newly built stadiums are upping their premium offerings, extracting more revenue from fewer and wealthier fans. The NFL’s Buffalo Bills’ new stadium, for example, has fewer overall seats and suites compared to its predecessor. But the new boxes cost more and run as high as $60,000 per game.
At the US Open, the Honey Deuce reigns supreme
The viral signature drink of the US Open, the Honey Deuce, has been sold at the tournament for nearly 20 years. Last year, the tournament sold approximately 740,000 drinks, bringing the total in sales to around $17.2 million. CNN spoke to fans at the US Open who say they were expecting the drink to cost more due to its popularity.
Even in college sports, Florida State in Tallahassee reduced the overall number of seats by 12,000 in favor of revamped luxury suites and new clubs, as did the renovated University of Kanas stadium in Lawrence.
Matheson said the trend of catering to richer fans was intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic, which “brought out of a ‘fear of missing out’ ethos in the United States.”
“Live sports and entertainment has capitalized on that by massively increasing the prices across the board,” he added.
