USTA’s National Tennis Center About More Than Hosting Tennis

The USTA’s Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, New York, hosts far more than tennis. The 46-acre site—home to the U.S. Open since 1978—still embraces all things tennis, but also welcomes a growing mix of events, from the upcoming Westminster Dog Show, Big 3 basketball, Fortnite World Cup Finals and All Elite Wresting.

“We could bring in really almost anything imaginable,” Chris Studley, the USTA’s senior director for event services at the National Tennis Center, tells me. “We love anything.”

With a 45-year history of hosting tennis in New York, the National Tennis Center hasn’t served as a major player in outside events (except for in 2008 when they hosted the WNBA’s first-ever outdoor game). That approach changed when the center added a retractable roof on Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis stadium in the world, in 2017 and followed that up by opening the new Louis Armstrong Stadium, also with a retractable roof, in 2018.

“It started with the roof construction,” Studley says. “Our dream was to bring large-scale events to the tennis center outside the tennis window. Weather played a factor. Putting the roof on and making everything much more modern, made us a more viable option in the New York market. And a much more unique option. After construction we were excited and ready.”

One of the first major events to enter the center was the Fortnite World Cup Finals in 2019, offering a big splash in showcasing the festival-like atmosphere possible on the sprawling site. With zip lines crossing over the venue’s fountains, Arthur Ashe Stadium filled, it was a reintroduction to outside events that Studley says also brought new fans onto the site who may not know anything about tennis.

With the Fortnite even a success, the center was slated for more events in 2020. The pandemic ended all that, and they had to hit a reset in 2021. The center is now ramping back up.

The center has hosted All Elite Wresting the past two years. This May, the Westminster Dog Show comes for the first time, followed by the second year of the APP Pickleball Tour. Big 3 Basketball makes a debut at the center in July. And through it all, numerous smaller events help bring new fans on a tennis site, such as high school and university graduations.

Last year, Pace University enjoyed having two roof-covered stadiums, using both Ashe and Armstrong alternately throughout the day for different graduation ceremonies from the university’s colleges.

Studley says two key draws in the crowded New York venue market include the ability to schedule dates other venues may not offer and the ability for a festival-like atmosphere because of the layout.

Hosting new events helps with the U.S. Open too. “We are able to prep the site a bit earlier,” Studley says. The team starts in the spring with a full clean and can bring in staff at the scale needed, giving key employees a head start in getting reacclimated to the site as they ramp up. It’s also good to keep the facilities running more often.

From a concessions point of view, the USTA works with Levy, its onsite provider, to cater each offering to the event. “A wrestling event is going to have different concessions than the U.S. Open, different than a dog show,” Studely says. Levy has the contract for the majority of NBA and NHL arenas, so they develop a menu based on specific fan expectations and speed of service needs, building the offering to accommodate the expectations.

“The tennis center was built as much for incredible food and beverage as it was for great sports and entertainment,” Andy Lansing, CEO of Levy, tells me. “The U.S. Open is the showpiece, and the venue can be activated in so many ways beyond those two weeks. We can create such unique experiences through the variety of hospitality spaces and infrastructure. Our culinary team is excited for what’s next and we have the great team members in marketplace to support new opportunities throughout the year.”

Taking a page from the Australian Open, which has turned its Melbourne site into a concert-rich venue, the USTA hopes to host additional music events, something they’re doing on a smaller scale during fan week leading into the U.S. Open. “We try to schedule several nights of concerts to bring that unique fan that helps us grow the tennis fan experience,” Studley says. “Out of all these outside events, the folks that come here, no matter what kind of event it is, if they have never been on the tennis center site, it helps us.”

Along the way, the tennis center hasn’t lost sight of its tennis roots. With 22 courts, both inside and outside, the center remains an operating tennis venue with a full staff of teaching pros and public court rentals. With over 50 high schools and colleges using the site as their home venue, tennis remains front and center. “Tennis is critical to us,” Studley says.

With tennis critical, any additional revenue and attention brought by outside events serves a larger tennis-specific purpose.