New Haven has a long history with tennis. It is unfortunate this history is not as well known as it should be. I agree that the marketing for the tournament is not very effective but I don't agree that this is a reason to abandon the tournament. The tournament and tennis in general should be better promoted in New Haven and Connecticut.

The Tennis Tournament is a positive thing for New Haven - it always has been. I worked with Jim Westhall back in the day, and Jewel Productions worked extremely hard to bring in top players (we had 7 of the top 10 players in my years there) and be a good neighbor, even meeting personally with an elderly lady who lived in the neighborhood and had concerns about the event. He met with her every year. The marketing and sales team were very professional and worked hard year-round for ticket sales, box seat sales and sponsorships. It was a professional sales team, and that doesn't just happen. This is a much different team in place currently: much less personal, much less marketing oriented, and so, unfortunately, the results are, well, much less. But that does not mean that New Haven should get rid of the event! We got rid of hockey and the Coliseum languished for decades, draining tax dollars and not contributing to the city. It became a black hole sucking energy from New Haven. I could not think of a worse idea, really.

I'm relatively new to the region and after seeing the tournament for the last three years, would tend to agree with the OP that it should at least be given an evaluation. It shouldn't be continued on legacy and inertia alone if it isn't still the highest and best use of those public resources in terms of serving the New Haven community and creating economic benefit for our local businesses. That said, I'd be quite interested in learning more about the long history with tennis and would love to know where I can find that information so I can change my mind! If they won't market too me, I'll seek it out.

I pass the stadium almost daily and find it sad that it only really sees use for two weeks of the year. I think the developers have learned a lesson from this facility and the Coliseum in preparation of the new $80M velodrome which is planned to create every-day value for the community through multiple sports offerings. (http://www.nhregister.com/sports/20160721/new-haven-group-eyes-multi-sports-complex-professional-world-cycling-league-franchise-for-city)

Then it seems like this is an issue with A) Lack of marketing of the event, at least within the city, and B) Lack of utilization of the space for the vast majority of the year.

The solution seems to be to A) Increase marketing (shouldn't be too difficult), and B) Develop & attract other uses for the space (more challenging but worth doing - learn the lessons of the coliseum).

Not holding the tournament does not seem to be the solution for either issue - it would only make the situation worse.
We no longer have Ravens minor league baseball, the Coliseum events such as large concerts, hockey, car shows, monster trucks, etc.
Pushing out a sporting event that we do have would be a totally backwards approach.

I agree.

By the way, tennis started in New Haven way, way back (approx 30+ years) when there was a Challenger level event sponsored by Pilot Pen. It had the up-and-comers. I saw Agassi before anyone knew who he was. It was so fun!

Hi all, this is Nadine, Engagement Advocate for SeeClickFix. This looks like a great discussion for our new SeeClickFix Community Slack Channel that we will be launching next week! This channel will be an open space for discussion of topics that don't fit the usual issue categories on SeeClickFix, and will allow for dialogue that is respectful, pragmatic, and useful to the concerns and ideas of its members.

Send me an email at nadine.herring@seeclickfix.com and I'd be happy to send out an invite to all those interested.

Tennis has been important in New Haven long before the tennis stadium was built. The are still large grassy plots tucked between homes in Westville that were all tennis courts back in the day. These areas still exist and are well known to area residents although they are no longer used as tennis courts. Promotion of the tournament is one issue but I think tennis in general needs to be promoted as a sport in the schools and parks and not just for a couple of weeks before the tournament. Building a base of fans is just as important as promoting to those who are already fans. There should be amateur tennis competitions all summer leading up to the tournament. The tournament officials and USA could work with New Haven to build a real tennis town here. It is a great sport and New Haven could own it with a little planning and elbow grease.

The tennis tournament is gone. Closing issue.