Tennis Prose




Mar/23

31

How To Move Miami Open Back To Key Biscayne

By Scoop Malinowski

From most of the feedback I’ve heard, the general consensus is the Miami Open at Hard Rock Stadium is disappointing compared to the Crandon Park Key Biscayne version. And the empty seats this week are evidence.

I think everyone would prefer the Miami Open to return to Key Biscayne but some compromise would be needed. The reason for the relocation, as I understand it, is the tournament owner IMG wanted to grow and expand the tournament which was rejected by the Matheson family which donated the land to Crandon Park under the stipulation that the tournament could not expand or build new stadiums. Matheson is a nature preservationist.

Monte Carlo is a similar successful ATP 1000 tournament that has managed to stay successful despite being confined to the limitations of the small private club where the tournament has been played for about a century.

Monte Carlo is only for the ATP, it’s not a combined event. It could not fit a WTA event at the same time, impossible.

Perhaps the Miami Open can become an uncombined event, only an ATP tournament? But how?

Uncombine Miami and Indian Wells. Meaning the WTA can play Indian Wells in the normal mid March schedule, while ATP plays Miami at Key Biscayne at the same time. And then in late March, the women can play Miami/Key Biscayne and then the men would play Indian Wells.

The problem for Miami Open was it became too big of an event for the confines of the Crandon Park facility. By “uncombining” the events, perhaps the tournaments would fit better at Crandon Park, canceling the need to grow and expand the facility.

If this concept idea gained momentum, the question would then be if the WTA would agree to stand on their own and not be able to piggyback off the ATP as they have since both Miami and Indian Wells were designated as combined events. If the WTA did agree, then they are vulnerable to the risk that the ticket sales and sponsorship deals could suffer without ATP support. But also, it’s very possible the WTA product could outsell the ATP.

The main objective here is to try to find away to bring the Miami Open back to where it really belongs, it’s happy home for over three decades. There has to be a solution. This is my idea. There have to be many other ideas and options…

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11 comments

  • Chris Robb · March 31, 2023 at 9:08 pm

    It will never happen. Larry Ellison is intent on making IW even a more prestigious event as evidenced by this year’s addition of a junior event. The plan is to expand that event more next year. Rumor has it he is thinking about adding mixed doubles. A single men’s or women’s event won’t fly.

  • Scoop Malinowski · April 1, 2023 at 8:42 am

    You’re likely right Chris, looks like Ellison is preparing IW to challenge US Open as the best American tournament and maybe even switch the US Open to California desert from New York. Or maybe the future is to have a fifth Grand Slam, in Indian Wells. Or maybe IW will end up being better than the four grand slams?

  • Scoop Malinowski · April 1, 2023 at 10:38 am

    Jesus Carlos lost to Sinner in three sets 46 64 62. Sinner looks like a future world no. 1 player right now, as Paolo Lorenzi told me a few weeks ago.

  • catherine · April 1, 2023 at 2:20 pm

    Where would Ellison get the authority to ‘switch’ the USO from New York to IW ? I imagine many people with financial investments in NY as a location would be against that. The future location of Miami, if there is to be one, should be decided in Florida. Let Ellison run his own little empire in the desert. He doesn’t rule the game.

    There’s been talk about a ‘fifth’ GS for years. Makes no sense. A Grand Slam is four. Adding another would unbalance the tournament year and involve a great deal of politicking, of which we currently have more than enough as things are.

    Other sports are currently keen on rehashing established practice for no other reasons than greed. This is happening with F1 and I read today that Verstappen has said he’ll leave the sport altogether if proposed changes go ahead. I’d be very disappointed if he gives in.

  • Bill McGill · April 1, 2023 at 10:18 pm

    There’s no way any WTA Premier event comes close in revenue to any ATP Masters 1000 event. Just not even close. Like 1/3. Do you know why the WTA tour has separate Premier and Premier Mandatory events, rather than just 9 Masters 1000 equivalent events? It’s because when the ATP doesn’t subsidize the WTA event by selling a combined ticket and sharing the TV license revs, the tournament can’t afford the same prize money (non-ATP subsidized WTA Premier events award less than half the money WTA Premier Mandatory events provide).

  • Scoop Malinowski · April 2, 2023 at 8:59 am

    Catherine, just speculating about Ellison IW, he seems to have the ambition and pockets to build his tournament into something greater than a Grans Slam, he’s never satisfied and each year keeps building a bigger better tennis experience at his tournament. Maybe IW will become the Super Bowl of tennis, something beyond a Grand Slam? )

  • Scoop Malinowski · April 2, 2023 at 9:01 am

    Bill it’s more than obvious the WTA ore piggybacking off the ATP men but it’s a dirty sin to say it. It’s the same deal with LPGA and WNBA. Billie Jean King has pulled off one of the worst injustices in sports history with her equal pay equality sham. Everybody knows it but it’s a dirty sin to say it. Even Catherine will admit it.

  • catherine · April 2, 2023 at 12:35 pm

    Scoop – you haven’t got me right here. My overall view is who cares how much prize money tennis players get ? It’s entertainment. Nothing’s fixed. Certainly not in the category of ‘dirty sin’. But whatever – nothing will change your mind.

    I’m not going into the arguments except to say the most popular one, relative attendance, is based on something which can’t be predicted or relied on. GSs for example. USO 21 final for further example.

    BJK grew up in the 1960s and dominated women’s tennis in the 70s. Her approach and values come from that time. She remembers playing in mixed tournaments where women got no money at all, even under the table. Read (or skim) Julie Heldman’s book ‘Driven’. Julie had no particular liking for BJ but recognises the really important part she played in development of the women’s game. Which after all only reflected wider changes in society.

  • Scoop Malinowski · April 2, 2023 at 6:08 pm

    Catherine, prize money reflects the popularity and value of the sport. Tennis is big business. Women’s softball is not. I don’t think women deserve equal prize money but who knows for sure. Uncombining Miami and IW might show that women deserve MORE prize money? You never know.

  • Bill McGill · April 4, 2023 at 10:00 am

    I agree that there is no reason a spectator should care about the prize money. My point was that the reason there are separate Premier and Mandatory tourneys on the WTA tour is that when not subsidized by the ATP, the WTA tourneys can’t pay the same prize money, which is what really separates the two categories. The WTA is not going to happily accept a separation of ATP/WTA at Indian Wells and Miami just to accommodate the venue because it would mean a separation of the money.

    By the way, I don’t think it’s a travesty that the ATP does subsidize the WTA. It’s a choice and obviously one that reasonable people can disagree about, but we shouldn’t be overly dramatic about it. Women’s tennis would be, by far, the most lucrative women’s sport in the world either way. That’s a success story.

    I do think the WTA should maybe say thank you from time to time, rather than meet every perceived slight with strident rhetoric.

  • Scoop Malinowski · April 4, 2023 at 10:23 am

    Bill, equal prize money is one of the biggest injustices in sports history. I’ve read in old books that even McEnroe was against it and had little interest to see women’s tennis, as did most of the ATP players. But he would never dare say such things today. And Charleston is maybe the longest running WTA tournament and it’s still going very strong. Wish the WTA had more successful (on their own) Charleston tournaments.

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