At this time in Tennium, the company that owns the Buenos Aires ATP, they are deciding between two tasks: the balance of the edition that ended a handful of hours ago and to realize the old desire to become a category 500 event, that is, the twice as many points as it currently distributes.
Del Potro swept like a summer gale, playing only once. The incidence of the man from Tandil at the Argentina Open 2022 was crucial, although, according to the company, if he had had more time, he could have taken more advantage of the situation.
“We announced it with a week to go and we would have liked to tell it much earlier. Perhaps we could have given the opportunity to more people, because we built other stands or we looked for the return “admit Martin Hughesone of the partners of the Barcelona-based company.
That a super athlete of the caliber of “Delpo” has passed through the BALTC caused different incidents. First of all, he is a natural ticket seller: most of the days sold out very quickly. “Then we have one or two following days, because of the option of moving forward and then people also buy tickets. That was spectacular”, points out the Uruguayan businessman.
But the emergence of Tandilense was not reduced only to the sale of tickets. “From a tournament recognition standpoint, it was brutal. Tennis, Argentine tennis, the Argentina Open, Del Potro, Buenos Aires, the whole world saw it. It was tremendous”details Hughes, who, as he may have learned Ambit, He was in charge of carrying out the negotiations with the former number 3 in the ranking.
The words of the Tennium partner are not accidental, because the Buenos Aires tournament is in the fight to go from being an ATP 250 to an ATP 500, a change that will affect both the main draw and the required investment. The governing body of men’s tennis plans to expand the number of 500-point events, and the Argentina Open is in a very good position to do so.
In South America, one of the regions most impacted by successive calendar changes (for example, Buenos Aires had to move its date several times in the last 20 years), only Rio de Janeiro distributes those points, and together with Barcelona and Hamburg they are the only ATP 500 of the season. The upgrade will revitalize both the continent and the surfacealthough the company does not rule out moving to hard courts in the immediate future.
Could del Potro have officiated as a perfect marketing campaign for this change? There is no doubt. “Just the previous year, there are people from the ATP, there are reports, you see a full week with a full stadium, a very good level of tennis. It has helped a lot ”, evaluates Hughes, while he believes that the impact will reach other spheres: “We are in a region that needs another 500, because it is a bit forgotten, with a country like Argentina, with the tennis that exists here, the tradition that it has, it would be criminal”.
There are two factors that will have to be re-analyzed in the coming months and that will have to converge if the Argentina Open achieves promotion. First of all, the infrastructure. The contracts are signed with the BALTC, a club of more than 100 years, rooted in the tennis essence of the country and with 5,000 locations that can be expanded with tubular stands, the same option for a second stadium with less capacity. The owners of the tournament manage other options in the City -which were not revealed- in case of needing a move, as well as a hypothetical change of surface to attract more figures.
The second aspect to reconsider will be the economic one, since becoming an ATP 500 not only implies more points but also an increase in the prize money, that is, the monetary prize, which according to Hughes “multiplies by ten”. “We must buy that upgrade, we will have to go out and capture that money in tickets, television rights, sponsors. And the sponsors can calmly ask why they are asked for more money if they already accompany”enlarge.
It goes without saying that the offer will also be more attractive for the players, since if the Buenos Aires-Rio de Janeiro tandem is maintained in consecutive weeks, for the tennis players there will be the possibility of winning 1000 points, that is, the same as a Masters, but with a different picture, since in those days Rotterdam, Dubai and Acapulco are also disputed, all ATP 500 on hard courts or indoors in different parts of the world.
As explained to this medium, the promotion projects will be presented during the first quarter of 2022. In Tennium they hope that the confirmation arrives “as soon as possible” to be able to launch the new format in 2023, although in principle there would be no news until the US Open. “I think we are very well positioned,” argues Hughes.
The main tennis tournament in the country is still experiencing the throes of Del Potro’s participation and is already moving the machinery for a feasible promotion. For the Argentina Open these are days of revolutions, but the best is still to come.
Source: Ambito
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