Last Wednesday, the PowerShares Series was held in a half-empty arena in Boston despite featuring some great former ATP American players. Undersized attendance at the PowerShares Series events is all too common, mainly due to ticket cost.
The PowerShares Series is a great concept, but it fails to embrace the mission of the United States Tennis Association (USTA), which is to make tennis accessible and to grow the sport. The ticket prices are too expensive for the product. Tickets, on average, cost between $50-$200, which is leaving the average American to decide the product isn’t worth the asking price.
The PowerShares Series offers one-night tournaments in 12 different cities across the country. The event features two semifinal matches followed by a championship match between the two winners. Each match is only one set. The event typically lasts around three hours, with just under two hours of competition.
To be eligible for the PowerShares Series, a player must have either held a top-five singles ranking, been a Grand Slam finalist, or have a singles player on a championship Davis Cup team during their ATP careers. The company that runs the PowerSharies series is partially owned by former World No. 1 Jim Courier, who plays on the tour.
Compare the PowerShares series to Mylan World Team Tennis teams, who sell tickets to their events on average between $25-$45 and those events feature more players. This allows both the casual fans and the fanatics to attend live tennis for reasonable prices. The PowerShares Series should not adopt the World Team Tennis format, just some of their marketing strategies and ticket pricing.
More fans would also bring more energy to the events, and the more energetic the crowd, the better the product will be. Outside of the Andy Roddick and James Blake semifinal, there was little energy from the crowd in Boston. When the players don’t seem engaged it hurts the product. It isn’t a problem with the players but with the lack of attendance.
A U.S. Open grounds pass only costs about $80, which is good for a full days’ worth of tennis on a variety of courts. If someone had to choose between that and a three-set, two-hour exhibition, it is pretty obvious which 99 percent of people would choose. The cheapest PowerShares seat is only $30 cheaper than a day pass to the U.S. Open.
If the PowerShares Series was to drop their ticket prices approximately 25 percent yet increase their attendance to around 80 percent, it would still see profits increase. If the company didn’t want to do that, it could also give USTA members an increased discount as incentives so more members would attend.
Don’t misunderstand, the PowerShares Series does a number of good things like help raise money for local non-profits and provide information about different tennis clubs and events in the area. They also introduced a new line calling system this year where the players call their own lines but also get unlimited Hawk-Eye challenges.
Luckily for the PowerShares series, its remedy is simple. All it has to do is restructure ticket prices and the arenas would be filled and the fans, the players, and the sponsors would all happier.
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