Dear Peter,

Fill up your seats!!! I have been watching the tennis tournament on Tennis Channel all day today and the amount of empty seats is embarrassing. Do you really think that we can get 18,000 people to fill up a basketball arena two straight days but we can't get 2,000 people to come watch some of the best professionals play tennis. Yeah, I realize they aren't Federer or Nadal, but that Hewitt/Russel match had more drama than 50 percent of the Grizzly games I have seen this season.

Here is the solution. Even though people may have a "ticket to the tournament", they are not actually going to the tournament. So, why don't you offer people free Papa Johns or Subway or Malco tickets to just be seat fillers. Then if people who actually pay for the seats come, they will move because they know they are getting something for free.

For those who don't understand. The Tennis Channel is 217 and the Golf Channel is 218. So I am imaging people do scroll through and see that the Memphis tennis tournament has less fans than an average high school basketball game.

So scream out to the city!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you are willing to sit in these seats, we will give you free Pizza!! And if the people who paid for these seats actually show up, you might be asked to leave but we will give you another free pizza!!!

Fed, Nadal, the Djoker and Murray see all these empty seats. If I was any of them, there is no way I would come to a dead event with no fans.

36 US tennis tournaments 25 years ago, today 11. Memphis has sure beat the odds.
Let's try and develop a US pro tennis athlete that draws fans and has a top 10 ranking.

tennis is dead as a spectator sport in America.

Headed over there shortly to see the world's #1 doubles team (the Bryan brothers) play the world's #2 doubles team (Butorac/Klaasen!

(02-14-2014 11:09 PM)UofMark Wrote:  36 US tennis tournaments 25 years ago, today 11. Memphis has sure beat the odds.
Let's try and develop a US pro tennis athlete that draws fans and has a top 10 ranking.

Perhaps giving away free items to people to be seat fillers would only draw bums off the street or people who have no interest in tennis anyway.

To fill seats lower in the arena in camera view, just have the entire stadium or at least some of the sections in camera view be open seating. That way people who are there would more than likely fill in seats closer to the court and look better on TV. Then have reserved sections or boxes that might not be used as much up higher. Even those who have a box could mingle down to open-seating area if they wanted better or closer views.

But honestly I think the dramatic decline of tennis viewers is mostly due to the lack of any real US tennis "stars" for many years now.