U.S. Open ticket prices continue to climb

Months before Opening Day of the U.S. Open, Michael O’Day, of Babylon, paid $250 for a night session ticket in Arthur Ashe Stadium. On Monday, he learned that his ticket wouldn’t get him inside the National Tennis Center until 5 p.m.

O’Day grumbled but ponied up another $136 at the box office for a day session grounds pass, which grants first-come, first-served access to the outer courts, Louis Armstrong Stadium and the Grandstand but not the marquee matches at Arthur Ashe Stadium, where young Americans Ben Shelton and Coco Gauff were scheduled to play their first-round matches.

“I’ve been coming 20 years and it’s becoming more expensive,” said O’Day, 61, who works in commercial aviation. That said: “It’s still the best value in sports… It’s still far and away one of the best sporting events there is.” O’Day said he intended to return later in the week to watch big-serving Shelton and Frances Tiafoe, another American star.

Fans may complain about ticket prices at one of the biggest, glitziest tournaments in tennis, but they are buying.

In 2023, according to the United States Tennis Association, the tournament broke attendance records, becoming the first Grand Slam to bring in more than 950,000 spectators over a three-week period that included the mid-August Fan Week, when the qualifying tournament and many family-friendly events at the tennis center are free.

The tournament also set attendance records last year for the first week of play, Labor Day weekend and both men’s and women’s finals.

Those records coincided with strong tournament revenues. According to USTA financial statements, last year the tournament brought in $514 million, up from $472 million in 2022. Last year’s revenues were driven partly by $185 million in ticket sales and $71 million in hospitality and food and beverage sales.

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Brendan McIntyre, a USTA spokesman, said in an interview that ticket prices overall were “very similar to last year” and were comparable to other major sporting events but that some ticket prices had increased. He also said the tournament used dynamic pricing, a system that changes prices based on demand.

By this point in the summer, most tickets are changing hands on the resale market. McIntyre said that after the June 3 release of tickets to the general public, prices for some sessions had been as low as $31 for grounds passes and $35 for Ashe seats.

“This isn’t just to one match — it’s matches throughout the day, throughout the tennis center,” he said. The proceeds, he said, “go back into growing the game of tennis.”

By Monday afternoon, TicketIQ, which monitors resale market sites, put the average asking price for a ticket to a first-round match in Ashe at $617.31. The most expensive night session ticket asking price was $95,519, according to the website, which did not say where the seat or seats were located.

Ticketmaster was selling Monday night session tickets for Ashe for as low as $79.68. That relatively modest sum bought a seat within serving distance of the stadium’s retractable roof. Stadium resale tickets for Tuesday’s day session range from $209.70 to $12,282.60. Tuesday night session resale tickets ranged from $100.19 to $1,747.50, which bought a seat close to courtside at the service line.

Paul Hardart, clinical professor of marketing at New York University Stern School of Business, said the prices — and the stream of fans willing to pay them — were partly a function of tennis’ starpower. Roger Federer and Serena Williams have retired, but other greats of their generation, like Novak Djokovic, seeded second in the men’s draw, are still playing at a high level, he said. “Then there’s also a new crop of young stars — Gauff, [Carlos] Alcaraz. They’re in this great period where there’s a cross-generation,” he said.

This year, the Open may be enjoying a boost in interest after a tight Olympics men’s tennis final between Djokovic and Alcaraz, Hardart said. Finally, Hardart said, the tournament’s organizers have expanded their fan base beyond tennis diehards. “It’s an experience. You go out there, you wander around, there’s good food.”

In 2023, a grounds pass cost $103.44, Newsday reported. Outside the box office Monday, Duane Thomas, 63, a truck driver from Manhattan, said he could not bring himself to pay $134. “I didn’t get that kind of raise,” he said. He did not buy a ticket, saying he would wait to see if a friend could give him an extra.

Thomas Wittenwiller, an executive visiting from Bern, Switzerland, said the tickets for sale were higher than he’d expected. But he was in America on vacation and at Flushing Meadows for the first time in his life, he said.

“I’m here now, and it’s a vacation,” he said. He bought his ticket and walked into the tennis center.