There's No Recession At the US OPEN

My kids both played competitive tennis through college which means my wife and I saw a lot of tennis matches throughout the years. This past weekend I decided we would leave the nice quiet lifestyle of Omaha NE to travel to the hustle and bustle of New York City for the premier professional tennis event - the US OPEN.The environment was electric with people everywhere. The US Open was sold out every session and they have had record crowds for this year’s event in spite of whatever recessionary challenges are in the economy. I was subject to sticker shock more than once this weekend when I saw what prices they were getting for things and what people were willing to pay. Tickets in the lower bowl were going for $2000 and more. The least expensive tickets in the nosebleed section were $300. That got you into just one session on one day. This wasn’t even to the quarter final rounds yet, so I can’t imagine what the finals would go for. And yet every session was sold out.

How about food at the US Open? A restaurant my daughter and I ate at was packed with a waiting line. A hamburger and a sandwich without alcohol or dessert was $60 and it took an hour to get.

The tennis was great, the atmosphere was fun, and people were having a terrific time every place I looked. Some people were diehard tennis fans while others were there for the show.

So the question for our industry is how can we get people as excited about spending money on a new living room set as they are on a lower bowl tennis ticket. You can buy a lot of sofas or even bedroom sets in our industry for $2000.

We need to realize that our greatest competitors may not be the big box store down the street but the entertainment options people have. Make your experiences fun and exciting and maybe you can get some of that discretionary revenue as well.