Week 45 - 2022 BJK Cup Finals - Glasgow, UK, Indoor Hard

emmsie69 · Top national player

RE: Week 45 - 2022 BJK Cup Finals - Glasgow, UK, Indoor Hard

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

emmsie69 wrote:
Shhh wrote:
Bagel wrote:
The core audience for tennis is middle-aged and older. By trying (in vain) to attract a younger audience the core audience is being alienated by the dreadful noise!

I agree Bagel. All the trumpet playing, drum beating ra-ra is not for me. I accept that we are all different and others will think it great but to me it just feels an attempt to manufacture atmosphere rather than genuine passion.
I like it and it's great that they are trying stuff, however it's a problem with all live sport bar football and blue riband events such as Wimbledon. People just don't bother attending, primarily because the price is prohibitive if it's a sport that you haven't engaged with previously. IMO prices have to lowered significantly to make it viable for families to go just for a day out. I attended the British Indoor Athletics at Birmingham and if there were 2000 people there (the vast majority friends and family of athletes) I'd be shocked. How can you not fill an arena in Birmingham in February. Entertainment, kids stuff etc needs to be provided to gain a new audience.

i think cost is a major factor, definitely. Right now, it is a struggle for most people. I like to think I am a decent earner, but with other outgoings (university costs, mortgage rates rocketed up, energy costs, fuel costs) we have really had to tighten the belt in a way we have never done before. So it comes down to choices and heading up to Glasgow for an event like this or the DC beforehand was never on the cards. Not only cost of tickets and things like slices of pizza as folks have discussed, but attending Glasgow for a day would have required accommodation, further costs on things like meals around it (dinner, breakfast) etc and I personally dismissed it before it even got off the starting block.

Build into that a range of other things to compete with it - other sporting events taking place right now, music concerts that are taking place (my daughter is hoping against hope to get Taylor Swift tickets, which will cost an arm and a leg!) the start of the run up to Xmas, and lots of people doing home improvements etc and people have to watch what they are spending their money on very carefully. Add into that the question of whether fans of the other 11 countries would attend in numbers (probably not given the location and time of year and their own costs of living)

That said, I was the one who first commented on only 13,100 turning out - but now it makes much more sense.

It was nice to watch some of it on TV.

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

At the risk of repetition, this is one of the reasons that Emma should have been there.

If there had been a publicity campaign, with Emma's face, and maybe her booked in to do a 'meet and greet' with the kids before all the GB matches, or a 30 min live interview on court before the matches, or whatever....

THEN there would have been a higher profile and both younger and older people might have been more drawn to go

She has a pull power that the LTA need (but obviously Dior got first dibs)

PS I agree with emmsie re the importance of pricing - what was the cost of a ticket?

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

as an aside, I saw a slightly humourous (ironic?) comment on twitter on the Saturday - the end of the BJK Cup match that day (GB v Aussie?) ended at basically the same time as the Celtic match next door ended and 60000 Celtic fans were due to mingle with GB tennis fans - a cultural clash of epic proportions in so many ways!!

indiana · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
At the risk of repetition, this is one of the reasons that Emma should have been there.

If there had been a publicity campaign, with Emma's face, and maybe her booked in to do a 'meet and greet' with the kids before all the GB matches, or a 30 min live interview on court before the matches, or whatever....

THEN there would have been a higher profile and both younger and older people might have been more drawn to go

She has a pull power that the LTA need (but obviously Dior got first dibs)

PS I agree with emmsie re the importance of pricing - what was the cost of a ticket?

The oncourt TV interviewer after the GB vs Spain tie sent out a request to come along to the SF stating tickets wrere £20.

1) It indicated they were struggling for soectators and 2) That price looks very reasonable indeed.

As I said I am sure the issue was just a general lack of enthusiasm for the event ( and in general certainly not to do with such as loud music even if so for some ).

I do see much of CD's BJK Cup poins about Emma and I would have preferred that she had been there. But I am a bit dubious as to how much effect a non playing Emma would have had on the attendance and I certainly wouldn't be for having her in the squad knowing she wasn't going to play.. Beyond Emma, it was an event that needed a really hard sell ip here. Did the LTA and ITF do enough?

-- Edited by indiana on Tuesday 15th of November 2022 10:27:46 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

JonH comes home wrote:
as an aside, I saw a slightly humourous (ironic?) comment on twitter on the Saturday - the end of the BJK Cup match that day (GB v Aussie?) ended at basically the same time as the Celtic match next door ended and 60000 Celtic fans were due to mingle with GB tennis fans - a cultural clash of epic proportions in so many ways!!

Maybe they were the same spectators?

Maybe they were at the Celtic match instead?

DF · Tennis legend

If Emma had been there she would have pulled attention away from our playiers. Those playing deserved the full attention.

indiana · Tennis legend

DF wrote:
If Emma had been there she would have pulled attention away from our playiers. Those playing deserved the full attention.

I think that some folk are very much overestimating the effect, both from a positive and negative angle, that Emma's presence would have had.

JonH comes home · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:
JonH comes home wrote:
as an aside, I saw a slightly humourous (ironic?) comment on twitter on the Saturday - the end of the BJK Cup match that day (GB v Aussie?) ended at basically the same time as the Celtic match next door ended and 60000 Celtic fans were due to mingle with GB tennis fans - a cultural clash of epic proportions in so many ways!!
Maybe they were the same spectators?
Maybe they were at the Celtic match instead?

probably got lost on the way into the arena, ended up in the football stadium - easy mistake to make I would imagine!

emmsie69 · Top national player

£20 on the face of it seems reasonable (and it is) but for a family of four that's £80 plus food/drinks so looking at in excess of £100, again fine if you're a tennis fan but if you're a family just looking for something different to do and you're not sure whether the kids will enjoy it then it's too much. If people remember that 5th day of the Ashes test many years ago, tickets were sold for a fiver and it was absolutely rammed. I bet lots of kids started playing just off that day.

-- Edited by emmsie69 on Tuesday 15th of November 2022 10:29:10 AM

PaulM · Tennis legend

The tickets for the upper tier were £20. That price was not reduced, that is how much it was from them going in sale. Given that covered two days through the week and both semis that is good value if it's just you or a couple. Kids tickets had a discount but they could have done a better deal for a family ticket I think.

The lower tier were split into two categories - think they were £45 or £70. There were also some Premium tickets available at one end that I think came with fancier seating and some extras.

As I mentioned up thread, the attendance and tickets sold numbers aren't the same. Basically the entire lower tier was pretty much sold out for both semi and finals, but not filled on the days. Could have been fans from other countries buying and then their teams not making it or whatever.

A re-sale facility might have helped bunch the crowd up instead of it being spread around.

I would have paid more for a lower tier but there were only a handful of seats in the back rows available to book the day before which didn't make the additional cost worth it.

-- Edited by PaulM on Tuesday 15th of November 2022 10:33:37 AM

Coup Droit · Tennis legend

DF wrote:
If Emma had been there she would have pulled attention away from our playiers. Those playing deserved the full attention.

And yet they didn't get full attention because the stadium was half-empty

Hence, my point....

But I realise that it's all speculation, both ways

However, I did read Anne K's interview from a few weeks' back where she said was very much hoping that Emma's schedule might fit Glasgow in.... of course, she might have just been being polite, she could hardly say the opposite - but, taken at face value, I believe the LTA would have been very happy if she'd made it up there and it would have helped raise the profile of the event.

I guess one of the LTA's problems might have been that everyone expected GB to get knocked out pretty much straight away (which they very nearly did). Difficult to have to change tack at the last minute and do a different publicity approach - the BBC did well to put the event on BBC2, though.

DF · Tennis legend

Coup Droit wrote:

I guess one of the LTA's problems might have been that everyone expected GB to get knocked out pretty much straight away (which they very nearly did). Difficult to have to change tack at the last minute and do a different publicity approach - the BBC did well to put the event on BBC2, though.

Agreed

markymc1983 · Club Coach

I was in attendance Thurs-Saturday and I have to say most of the lower tiers were occupied by corporate ticket holders who seemed to appear an hour into a match, scroll.on their phones for 2 games and then disappear. I have to admit that during the semi finals I kept some of the lowered tiered seats warm for them!

And I have to agree the catering facilities were shocking! Heavily processed hot dogs for a fiver or you went outside for £9 fish and ships.

On a side note, on the Friday I sat right behind the Canadian team and after the tie they were all very friendly. Bianca Andrescu in particular was very lovely and spent time posing for pictures and signing autographs, despite their teams loss. I have a photo with Bianca and Leylah.

HarryGem · Club Coach

First up a very belated very well done to the GB team who outperformed all the way through. Looks like we could have a genuinely top rate doubles pair and credit to Anne for picking and playing them.

The attendance was really pretty poor considering the GB success. I think there are several reasons for this. Mainly outside of real tennis fans this competition isn't really understood or recognized by a good number of the general public. I think the whole format is really not too inspiring and needs looking at. Personally, I'd play it every other year and have it as the World championship and drop the frankly ridiculous BJK Cup title.

Whilst it was good for Glasgow to have the competition this did probably affect the overall attendance. Several people I know didn't go because of the issue of traveling there and having to add accommodation on top of the travel costs. For me it would have been a 6 hour train journey with at least one change so not really doable in a day.

Personally, I don't think ticket prices were too bad for what is supposed to be a premier event in the sport. Whether lowering them would have made much difference is hard to say.
I love the bands at these sort of events as they really add to the atmosphere, and I think provide energy and spectator involvement.

The catering does sound poor though. I attended several days at this year's Commonwealth games and several venues and the catering were pretty varied with choice for vegans and meat eaters alike. prices are always pretty high though as they always are at these types of events.

I do think the whole event was poorly marketed and the TV and radio coverage was, frankly, terrible. If you compare it to the World Gymnastics in Liverpool which were very well attended and some very good Tv coverage on the BBC Tv.
I also think one of the issues in attendance is, that right now, the women's game has very few marketable stars. Whilst the overall standard and competitiveness is undoubtedly the highest it has been this isn't the case at the very top of the game. Also, the scheduling of this the week following thr YEC is only asking for tired top players who simply want to finish the season and go to the beach somewhere.