A mini-Slam that in the future aims to enter the elite of world tennis tournaments. In short, the Internazionali Bnl d’Italia of Rome aim to further improve their status, following having doubled their duration (two weeks) and number of members in 2023, going from 48 to 96 players. The 81st edition, meanwhile, will start on May 8th with the main draw matches and will end on Sunday May 19th, with the men’s final in which all Italian fans hope to see Jannik Sinner on the pitch.
Record turnout
What is regarding to begin is already a record-breaking event, with all the best players in the ranking, and a higher turnout than the last edition, as recalled during the presentation which took place last week at the Colosseum , the president of the Italian tennis and padel federation, Angelo Binaghi: «We are sure of exceeding 298 thousand attendances in the stands. This year we aim to reach at least 350 thousand paying spectators, perhaps even more. Italian tennis is experiencing something similar to a tsunami, with four tournaments of equal or greater level to ours already won by the Azzurri. There are clearly also logistical problems, we expect the presence of a lot of people at the Foro Italico, but it is a boom that can only please us.”
In the 2023 edition, 22.5 million euros had been collected from ticket sales, a level of revenue already reached today, with the days of the finals sold out for some time. The final projection is for a growth of 30% compared to the last tournament. The increase is mainly due to domestic demand, given that the same tickets as in 2023 were sold abroad, around 29 thousand.
Economic impact
Binaghi also indicated an economic impact on the territory generated by the event of 600 million euros, which will simultaneously ensure a tax revenue of 120 million for the State. The federal president in office since 2001 has on several occasions proudly claimed the positive implications deriving from the relaunch of a tournament which in the 1990s was often in deficit and was financed by Federtennis. «In the end – he highlighted – we will also have a positive economic result this year which we will share with Sport and Health, using our part for new investments».
New facilities
The priority now, following the interventions on the technical sector, on federal TV, on schools, is linked to plant engineering, to cope with the very high demand for tennis and padel courts. Binaghi announced the creation of a 30 million euro fund which will act as a financial leverage by stimulating private investments to build a few thousand new padel, tennis and pickelball courts (which is played with a ball and two rackets inside of the Badminton court).
#Tennis #fund #facilities #Internationals
2024-05-03 22:16:40
