USTA Announces $800 Million Upgrade To Tennis Center And Ashe Stadium

An $800 million investment in New York’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center will “reimagine” the world’s largest tennis stadium, Arthur Ashe Stadium, and give players a completely new performance center.

Announced by the United States Tennis Association, plans to expand the concourses at Arthur Ashe Stadium while reconfiguring the seating bowl to move more seats closer to the court are expected to be ready in time for the 2027 U.S. Open, the same year the new four-story player performance center is scheduled to open.

“This changes the experience for every fan, every player,” says Lew Sherr, USTA CEO and executive director. “There is something for everybody in this design.”

The two projects—$550 million for the stadium and $250 million for the player center—are funded fully by the USTA and have already started.

The first phase includes structural work so that Ashe can handle the load of the upper-level concourse expansions as well as the first two levels of the player center, which will be covered parking. That phase should wrap up in time for the 2025 U.S. Open.

The next two phases, planned for between the 2025 and 2026 U.S. Open and then the 2026 and 2027 event, will create a 40% larger concourse footprint in what is now a 24,000-capacity Ashe that brings 40% more restrooms and 30% more points of sale.

Inside the seating bowl, courtside seating will expand from 3,000 to 5,000 seats as the suite level gets pushed higher and 2,800 seats get removed from the upper loge and promenade levels. The Rossetti design also features a new concourse dedicated for the two levels of suites, two new escalators and two new banks of elevators inside the sculptured grand entrance by Daniel Libeskind.

Ashe will also welcome seven premium spaces currently housed in the indoor training facility so that the stadium will feature nine total clubs, including two courtside clubs with views to the grounds and direct access to the new courtside seats. Those spaces are being designed by Garrett Singer.

The expanded concourses also feature new space on both the north and south sides, including an overlook bar on the highest level.

“Everything will be a complete new look and feel,” says Danny Zuasner, COO of the National Tennis Center. “Everything about the concourses on the club level and promenade will not look the same. It is an all new rebuild.”

Sherr says the project enables the USTA to “maintain the greatest stage in tennis—Arthur Ashe Stadium—which was constructed more than 25 years ago and modernize it in a way that will set it up for the next 25 years.”

The original stadium was built in 1964 as a temporary venue for the World’s Fair. The U.S. Open moved to the site in 1978 and turned the stadium into a tennis venue. It was rebuilt in 1997, and Arthur Ashe Stadium has started to show its age since then, especially with the tight concourses sparse on points of sale since original plans called for fans to visit the grounds between matches.

Part of the overhaul includes the new player performance center, connected to Ashe by a skybridge. The top two floors are dedicated to the 2,800 players and their guests who visit the Queens site over the three weeks, featuring expanded indoor and outdoor fitness and warmup areas, redesigned and expanded locker rooms, lounges, a new player courtyard and dedicated café and dining spaces.

“It also provides us the opportunity,” Sherr says, “to give the players that complete in that stadium an unparalleled space that will enable them to perform at their best and enjoy a higher level of luxury and comfort while they are off the court.”

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