For the last 9 years, I have never missed attending at least one match at the Chennai Open. It’s the biggest ATP tournament in India and for guys like me, its probably the only opportunity to watch the World’s best in flesh. Think Rafael Nadal and Carlos Moya. It’s been an absolute must on my annual calendar.
Sadly, this year I can’t watch a single match. Why? Because of a board outside the Nungambakkam stadium that reads, “All tickets for all matches sold out”. Heck, even the advertisement in The Hindu today carried those dreaded words.
Yet, you watch the matches on TV, and at least 50% of the seats are empty. I saw many fans lining up outside the stadium turn back disappointed. Let’s forget the fans for a moment. The half-empty stands look ugly on TV. That’s hardly reflective of the kind of interest that Chennaites have for the game. It in fact reflects bad on the tournament organizers. Wouldn’t the players like to play to a packed audience?
Apparently, most seats have been given away to sponsors, the Tamilnadu Tennis Association and definitely to a whole host of politicians…who either don’t have an active interest in the game or too busy to attend the events.
This year has been the worst in the last 9 years I’ve known. In the previous years, you could walk to the ticket counter and atleast find a few tickets available (except for the finals or the big matches). But this year, its been a total wipe out for folks who just want to watch the match that day.
I regret not buying the season ticket on the day it launched. It was going for only Rs.1500 for all days. A steal, actually. I’m kicking myself now.
It feels a little odd to watch the match on TV, when the real action is actually taking place less than 5 kms away.
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This post is right on time, i was going to write one about the same issue when i noticed this post in my feed reader, so decided to comment here instead.
Today I was foolish enough to believe that i would get tickets if i went early enough, but on reaching the stadium found that the counters were closed cos’ all the tickets were sold out. I dunno who came up with this idea of selling all tickets in advance without a small percentage of tickets on the day of the match, it was probably the administration’s decision cos they didn’t want to end up with unsold tickets on match day, but this system totally sucks.
Anyways i was pretty determined to watch the match somehow, and there was this guy who was promising food for the tennis hungry fan in me, but the price was 500 bucks. MF. Tried bargaining with him and brought him down to 400, but there was no way i could afford that kind of money (my budget was 250 bucks maximum), so in the end he sent me off with some advice ‘ TV la poi parunga sir’. I think that will be my advice to all other tennis fans who are dreaming of watching a match at the Chennai Open for regular price.
And about stands being empty, there is also another reason for that, most people only want to watch the semis and the finals with all the star action, but only way they could have a assured seat was to get a season pass, so the people who could actually afford to buy season passes have them for the last two days, and they just are too busy to attend the first few days. I wish there were some system in place for the season pass holders to confirm their presence on the morning of the match, and they could sell the unoccupied seats and they could even donate the money to some charity, that will keep everyone happy, right ?
So coming back to me, i’ll have to wait till next year, I should either buy a season pass or at least save up enough money for a single ticket from the black market.
BTW, i think the tickets for the final days will cost 1000 bucks, so with a profit margin of 800 bucks per ticket(even with all the payoffs). So regardless of whether the Chennai Open tournament manages to satisfy tennis fans in the city, it surely satisfies the black marketeers and this will surely make a few people richer than they’ve ever been before.
What the heck, i went ahead and posted about the ‘screw up’ at the Chennai Open on my blog too..
You could take a look at my post here.
dude,
u should have really got the tickets early… i was lucky enuf to watch nadal in action.. but this happens everytime “Tickets are sold out”.. So getting a season ticket is ur best option and it’s available for 500rs too!! That would be the best bet… And if u didnt know, they sell tickets in black very close to the counter for 200-300 rs ticket for a west brown or east brown stand…
Shravan:)
Hey Kribs….Tickets were not sold out….I got the tickets for all the matches outside in Black !! lol…for the same cost metionined in the tickets !!!
It is indeed a shameful sign to have the stands not filled up when international players play, that too in chennai, where there are quite a few tennis fans.
One side chennai hosts a tournament, the other side it screws it. Damn.