The secrets of the Argentine Open to maintain its validity and retain an audience that has made great effort to purchase tickets

Argentina has a huge sporting culture. Cradle of great talents and fans known throughout the world for their passion, beyond the competitions of the various national championships, it usually hosts major international events in the most diverse disciplines. Although there are few top-level competitions that come to the country every year. Among the few who defy the passage of time and remain steadfast in the calendar year after year is the Argentina Open. The Buenos Aires tournament, which is being held for the 24th consecutive season since it regained ATP status, has gained popularity and prestige over time and today represents one of the great events of world sport on albiceleste land. And for the 2024 edition it has raised the bar even higherwith a team full of huge numbers, highly competitive, and a huge renovation of Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis, its home since 2001.

The Buenos Aires tournament, which is being held for the 24th consecutive season, has acquired popularity and prestige over time and is today one of the great events in world sport taking place on Albiceleste soil. And for this edition it has raised the bar even further, with a highly competitive team, loaded with enormous figures, and a huge renewal of the Lawn tennis in Buenos Airesits seat since 2001, when it achieved the status of Atp250.

“When we settled in Buenos Aires in 2001 we thought of a long-term project. But if they asked me if we would be here for 24 years, I would definitely say no. And we do it because every year we can continue to project ourselves into the future. Continuity is key. The tournament is growing and this year in particular we have had very strong growth in infrastructure.”commented Martin Jaitecompetition director, in conversation with Clarion.

The biggest transformation occurred in the players’ area, reserved for the eyes of the real protagonists. The renovation was necessary. Because that sector, “It was very old and in a terrible state”as Jaite said, and because an ultimatum from the ATP required immediate improvement.

The improvement has arrived. And from Carlos Alcaraz The Argentines also applauded the work done.

In just six months the club’s changing rooms, located under the north box, were demolished and rebuilt. It was a 450 square meter project, which included two changing rooms and a common room. with areas for kinesiology, offices and a kitchen. And with the possibility of building a second floor in the future.

The dining room – with a better gastronomic offer – and the gym have also been expanded. The public toilets and television booth in the main stadium have been completed. And the entire perimeter concrete floor around that area was redone.

The transformation required a huge investment from Tennioowner of the tournament (they preferred to keep the numbers private) and was made possible thanks to a new 10-year contract between the company and BALTC.

“We can think “Yes, we spend a lot of money”, but it is an investment that will be amortized over the ten years of the contract. It was a difficult year for Argentina and it cost us something, but we think we did a good job. And most importantly, the players noticed the change,” Jaite said.

The tournament remains firmly on the calendar despite the passage of time and the difficulties and challenges generated by the current very harsh economic, social and political crisis, which has ended up condemning other events, such as the Grand Prix of MotoGPan appointment every season at the Termas de Río Hondo and canceled for this year.

What is the Argentina Open’s recipe for surviving despite everything? On the one hand, the support of the sponsors, who continue to grow in number with each edition.

“We have added many new ones this year. Our main partner IEB, with whom we have signed for a year for now. Also Allianz, Santander, LG, Chlorotec…I’m probably forgetting some. And we signed long-term contracts with some sponsors that we already had. Furthermore, we have reached an agreement with ViaViva, which gave us part of the land it has under concession under the railway tracks to install a new catering area in exchange for advertising. All this gives us peace of mind to continue working and allows us to sustain ourselves,” Jaite said.

The press and staff room and the players’ gym are also located on public land adjacent to the property. “This expansion was possible thanks to the ‘invisible’ contribution of the Municipal Administration, which allowed us to ‘exit’ the club and feel more at ease”He explained.

And he closed: “I think so too there is a silent contribution from those who buy the ticket, which doesn’t appear on any poster, but is very, very important. “This is an important part of the business.”

This year the ticket issue has drawn criticism. The fact is that prices have skyrocketed compared to last year. A ticket look elsewhere at Thursday evening’s session, in which Alcaraz, the big favourite, made his debut It cost 72 thousand pesos. Twelve months ago there were around 10 thousand. And those present in the general audience, the tubular grandstand built for the occasion, were between 7,500 (Monday) and 54,600 (for all quarter-finals on Friday).

However, the costs and complaints (there were many on social media) did not prevent the stadium from filling up to see the Spaniard, number two in the world in both the round of 16 and the quarterfinals (with 5,244 people on the first day and the stands even more crowded in the second). Although in the other sessions there were quite a few blank spaces. The weakest was Tuesday evening, when the match was played Sebastiano Baez which closed the day took place in front of around 2,500 people.

“We had an excellent Monday and not a good Tuesday evening. But by Thursday the stadium was very crowded. Usually you see empty sectors, but you have to think that they are also playing on other fields, there are people who come down to eat or who there is in the company tent. Our daily average is 3,500 people per session and tickets are selling well. In this sense, we expect that we will be better than last year,” Jaite analyzed.

And he had no problem recognizing: “We’ve had a really big price increase and we understand the public’s anger. But we were behind on pricing and all of our costs went up quite a bit too.”.

Another reason why the Buenos Aires ATP is more current than ever are the names it attracts every year. On this occasion, in addition to a legion of Argentines – nine in singles and ten (some repeated) in doubles -, it had three Grand Slam champions, something that hadn’t happened since 2010. Alcaraz, the Swiss Stan Wawrinka -who was one of the most “spoiled” of the Argentine- and Croatian public Marin Cilic.

How does the tournament seduce these big stars? Money is the key: the best players receive a reward for playing, as in other events, but Jaite believes there is another determining factor.

“The players have a lot of fun here”he stated, underlining the motivation that Alcaraz himself gave to explain his decision to return to defend the title he won last year.

“I think there is a lot of word of mouth. There is a lot of tennis culture here, you feel the love of the people, there is excellent gastronomy and the city is really very beautiful. Those who come to South America or Buenos Aires” Aires is very surprised for the first time. And he is transmitting his experiences. Furthermore, I believe that we will make up for the lack of sports infrastructure that Argentina has in general with something that fills me with pride, human resources. The people who The work done in the tournament do their best to ensure that everyone, from the tennis players to the public, feels good,” he said.

With a renewed house, loyal members, big stars and good players and the unconditional support of the people, the Argentina Open once again demonstrated why it is one of the great annual events of Argentine sport.