NPR’s Scott Simon and sportswriter Howard Bryant talk about the upcoming U.S. Open tennis tournament, the increasing ticket prices in professional sports and the recent sales of NBA teams.
Transcript
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
And to the tune of BJ Leiderman’s theme music, now it’s time for sports.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
SIMON: The U.S. Open opens, but can you afford to go there? And the NBA sell-off continues. Sports writer Howard Bryant joins us. Howard, thanks so much for being with us.
HOWARD BRYANT, BYLINE: Good morning, Scott Simon. How are you?
SIMON: I’m fine, thanks, my friend. Listen, the last Grand Slam of the calendar approaches. And big news yesterday, the No. 1 ranked player in the men’s circuit, Jannik Sinner, withdrew from the treatment due to a knee injury. Also this week, the No. 2 player in the world, Carlos Alcaraz, announced that he’ll defend his title after recovering from a wrist injury that had him sidelined for four months. Of course, the women’s tournament has a clear favorite, Aryna Sabalenka, who’s looking for a third championship in a row. What are you watching for?
BRYANT: Well, on the men’s side, certainly, it’s a wide-open tournament without Jannik Sinner because he’s the best player in the world, in a lot of ways, by far. When he’s in the tournament, it’s – I wouldn’t say it’s a wrap, but it’s pretty close to one. As for Alcaraz, he’s been hurt. He hasn’t really – he hasn’t played a major since the Australian Open, since he won it. And my motto when it comes to injuries is that I’ll believe it when I see it. And he’s – when he’s on court, I’ll believe he’s back. And what – you know, he hasn’t played in months, so we’ll see what he’s got.
But as for the women, the very interesting thing about this is that you’ve got a two-time defending champion who’s not playing very well. Sabalenka has really struggled a lot over this summer. Just like last year, she’s come into this tournament without having won a major. She’s – you know, heavy is the head that wears the crown. She’s been world No. 1 for two years now. And a lot of the other players – everybody in the top 10’s playing better than she is. So it’s going to be a really, really good tournament, where I can’t say that – for the first time in a long time, I don’t think there’s a favorite on either side.
SIMON: I want to ask you about a controversy, and that’s ticket prices. Grounds pass for the first round used to go for 60 to $70. Now they’re being sold for over $350. And we will point out this is a tournament on a public park, played on public courts and run by the United States Tennis Association, a nonprofit organization. Are regular fans being priced out?
BRYANT: Not only are regular fans being priced out, but they’ve been priced out for several years now. It’s really post pandemic. It’s all – the USTA’s a nonprofit. This is one of the great New York events, and it’s really been taken over. They’ve given the tournament to Ticketmaster. A grounds pass still, Scott, is $65. That’s how much they cost, but they’re being sold…
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: …For $350. The U.S. Open was the greatest deal in sports. For $60, you could go and see top-10 players. You couldn’t go to the main court. You couldn’t go to Arthur Ashe. You weren’t guaranteed a seat there. But for the rest of the tournament, you got to see the best players in the world at an extremely affordable cost. And it was so New York, you know, the class elements of the U.S. Open. Everybody got to go. They called tennis a country club sport, but it wasn’t – because when you go to the U.S. Open, it belonged to everybody, and now it belongs to Ticketmaster and the influencers, and it really has changed the feel of really one of the great, great American events.
SIMON: Let me ask you – NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves announced they’re getting a new owner, the founder of the Dragoneer Investment Group – $4.5 billion – just five years after the last time they were sold. The LA Lakers, of course, also sold last week. Are NBA owners flipping teams like they’re foreclosed homes now?
BRYANT: Yeah. It sure looks like it, and you can see that this was not what sports was supposed to be. Normally, when you own a sports team, you own it for decades, and now they’re flipping the teams over within a year. All I can say, Scott, is whenever I hear the term disruption and private equity, you sort of…
SIMON: Yeah.
BRYANT: …Look out because danger is not very far away.
SIMON: Howard Bryant, thanks so much.
BRYANT: Yeah. My pleasure, Scott.
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