Mark Ambrogi of the Indianapolis Star reports that the city will likely lose its professional tennis tournament. Declining crowds, a dearth of sponsorship, and little hope for a television deal are the proximate causes.
But the real culprit is a lack of star U.S. competitors.
I vividly recall attending this event when it was the U.S. Clay Court Championships. I joined thousands of fans that crowded their way into an outer court to watch Jimmy Connors take on a brash but promising young American, John McEnroe.
Unfortunately, history alone can not sustain the event. Middle American tennis fans have determined that the present-day value proposition is irrelevant.
The two most recent champions of the Indianapolis Event are Gilles Simon and Robby Ginepri. Apparently, fans greeted these undoubtedly highly skilled competitors with a collective shrug.
Sound familiar?
The not-for-profit promoter of the Indianapolis tennis tournament is powerless to affect change. The same can not be said for IRL Management. It has chosen to abandon the non-technical aspects of product development.
The IMS Board and its chosen managers will have only themselves to blame both if and when a similar story is written about another once-great institution.
Roggespierre
When you look at the draws of recent tournaments, no notable names appear on the list. You look at 1994, its very different. I'm not sure the lack of top Americans can be blamed alone. After all, the event is basically just moving to Atlanta.
ReplyDeleteI am sure the tennis fans in America just aren't "good enough" fans to support a sport with so few Americans in it.
ReplyDeleteIts the fans fault, for not embracing the latest great Croatian or Russian player.
Of course the difference between racing and tennis, is that CAR OWNERS can say who they want in their machines in racing. So when Floyd Ganassi openly hates (and won't hire) American drivers and Captain Penske has only hired 2 American drivers in the past 15 years, it becomes a bit of a problem. Especially when they are two of the very few owners who can actually CHOOSE a driver, without the driver writing a check to secure the ride.
I'd argue that "lack of U.S. stars" does not translate perfectly from ATP tennis to IRL racing. If the likes of Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had been showing up since 2003, the Indianapolis tournament would not be in this position.
ReplyDeleteThe ATP tennis tour is a TRULY international competition, creating undisputed world champions. Federer would have been a bigger U.S. star if he had been American, but even so he is a household name here and around the world.
The IRL must understand that it is a domestic championship, and that trying to build up international stars is fruitless. Emmerson Fittipaldi was popular as a foreigner coming to race in "our" series. Now, it feels like U.S. drivers are competing in "their" (Dixon, Franchitti, Briscoe, Castroneves) series.
Problem is, it can't be "their" series because IndyCar cannot produce an international champion. So we are stuck in the middle, where no one cares.
The plight of the Indy tennis tournament is much less pathological. Move it on the schedule so that it attracts the top 10 in the world and boom, problem solved. Tennis CAN make international stars that draw American eyeballs. IndyCar CAN'T.
TD,
ReplyDeleteGood point about Penske and Ganassi. It's like they don't mind being kings of a declining empire. Which is disturbing, given their relative power within the sport.
Bring on the commish!
Their are two problems with American drivers and this has been the case for the very long time. 1) American driver are not as good as the ones trained in the junior formulas in Europe. 2) These drivers that are trained in Europe are also able to bring money with them in most cases, which is why they are getting the decent middle of the pack Indycar rides.
ReplyDelete12/2/09 JR Hildebrand Indy light Champion 1:20.517, same day Paul de Resta 1:19.411 in the same car same day same track. JR has race to a higher level in formulas car as de Resta only went to F3 before he moved to touring car with Mercedes.
One more example. Michael Andretti who was suppose to be the best of his era in the US was made to look silly in his 3/4 of a year in F1. Mika Hakkanen who took over from Michael on his first race out qualified Senna in his first race.
So my question is if you are the owner of a team/company what would you do, hire somebody who is better and has money but is not American or would you hire an American that has no money and is only average at his job. If I was in Penske or Ganassi I would probably do the same thing because this is their job and they have to do what is best for the company. The problem is with the drivers not the owners.
Hmmmm.
ReplyDelete"American driver are not as good as the ones trained in the junior formulas in Europe."
If this is true, perhaps we should make a distinction: American drivers are not as good at disciplines in which European juniors are schooled. Namely, road and street racing in single seater/open wheel cars.
If I were trying to design rules for this "IndyCar" program that would allow it to organically conform to something that the American public would buy, should I not put emphasis on the disciplines in which American junior drivers are more strongly schooled?
It's Roger Penske's job to determine whether what is "best for his company" is merely winning or helping build the stature of the league he competes in.
It's IndyCar's job to create an environment in which those two strategies are not mutually exclusive.
By the way, di Resta's tested F1 cars in the past. I should hope he's a little faster than Hildebrand at the moment.
Wow - big announcement that may make this all moot: Simona De Silvestro is coming to Indycar. That'll put butts in seats.
ReplyDeleteBeen away for a while. On drivers. I've said this before. The owners are most definitely the problem. It isn't just about choosing the driver, it is about defining the sport. Unfortunately, the sport was appropriated by a bunch of road racers starting in the '70's.
ReplyDelete"It isn't just about choosing the driver, it is about defining the sport."
ReplyDeleteIt's true. When I was walking around the garages at Homestead this year and talking to some crew members, I was struck by the "American" appearance of the sport behind the scenes. It seemed like most teams were essentially staffed by American personnel. With no prior knowledge, I would have been shocked to see only about 7/23 American drivers introduced before the start of the race.
My point is that by merely changing that number to 20/23, without any other adjustments, the sport would be immediately redefined as something indisputably "American."
Of course, one way to help effect such a change would be to focus on racing disciplines that American drivers tend to excel at. And that American fans actually seem to want to watch...