World doubles and the Australian Open - review
Published: 15 Jan 2006 - 08:51 by Viper
Updated: 26 Sep 2008 - 09:26
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So we have completed 2 of the biggest squash tournaments back to back in recent days.
How did they go from a spectators point of view ?
- Venue was excellent, heaps of parking, good food and great atmosphere with all the other sports happening around the squash.
- The court - excellent from a spectators point of view, even if you were not behind the play the other vantage points were still good to watch the game.
- Ticketting, running of the event - very easy to get tickets and most things seemed to run very smoothly and to time, looked very well run.
- Service - was good and no problem seeking advice or assistance, thanks to the volunteers.
Negatives -
- Hard to find really, two things came to mind.
- 1. A crying shame nobody was there, to either events. If you took away the players, officals, etc I would say there would have been lucky to be 100 paying customers to any of the finals of both events, other days was just empty.
- The players complained constantly about the court being very very hot which effected the speed of the ball which made the matches one dimensional, hard to play a range of shots Grinham said.
Conclusion:
Excellent well run sporting event to watch from a spectators point of view. Well done all concerned
Lessons to be learned :
Does the lack of ticket sales matter ?
Does the poor attendances render the events a failure ?
Would they have run at a big loss financially - For sure I would say.
Future actions :
- FIX THE AIR CONDITIONING FOR THE COMM GAMES - IS THE LOUD MESSAGE.
- Market the events much better and more widely - read here :http://www.squashgame.info/articleview/783
- The lack of the "converted" ie regular squash players was clearly showing the message was not out there, a scant poster in the corner of the squash club is not enough.
A players perspective would be very interesting Ray, any chance we could get one of the players to comment ?
Round up :
http://www.squashsite.co.uk/3rd_world_doubles.htm
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From raystrach - 16 Jan 2006 - 08:56
From Viper - 16 Jan 2006 - 08:00 - Updated: 16 Jan 2006 - 08:06
I can not really work it out, clearly if you take away all the players, officals, volunteers, family, coaches, resting refs, and back slappers, there would have been a tiny number of actual tickets paid for over the two tournaments.
So on the one hand you have little income and on the expense side you have a huge costs.
I can only surmise the court/venue cost may have been carried by the Comm Games.
Would the tournament be paying any costs to players ?
Then of course there was prize money which I think was $ 10,000 for mens and womens.
I can only shudder at what the insurance costs would be ?
Sponsorship seemed very thin on the ground as well, there was little or no advertising of likely sponsors anywhere, the tin hoarding was empty for the entire time and there was nothing around the court.
It all adds up to a financial white elephant, but then has say the national squash tournament ever been expected to make money I wonder ?
The lack of marketting of the tournaments is a real problem I think, If you can not generate interest in your captive market, ie squash clubs then you have no hope of getting people outside the sport to come and have a look, none at all.
As I said a lonely poster pinned to the wall at the club ain't going to do it.
As Rita said all those empty seats day after day would have been much better invested in the future of squash by giving them away to juniors.
In fact of the paying crowd I did see most were middle aged men, there was very few, next to no kids or juniors.
You would think the rising/promising juniors would have been there devouring world class squash.
Where were they ? Not all down the beaches I am sure.
The whole affair is very odd.
None the less I really enjoyed it and experienced some fantastic squash in a well run tournament.
From rippa rit - 15 Jan 2006 - 18:01
At my tennis club, where the Owner Operator is part of Tennis Qld/Australia and knows his stuff too.
The club members were offered tickets (but please use them if you order them sort of attitude) for FREE to attend the World Open Womens at the Gold Coast at the beginning of the month.
Why would they do that?
Does not look good for the sponsors, TV or players to have vacant seats all over the place.
Somehow, I don't think Squash ever think to give things away to its affiliated members....a bit silly really...so what "then nobody will buy tickets?". Besides, we have school kids, juniors as well who might like to be included.
What else can I say.......
From raystrach - 15 Jan 2006 - 10:41
there will be at least a couple of interviews coming. also, although we have been having a spiritied discussion about aspects of promotion of the event, I do agree with your last points, especially your last one.
there are a few things which fall into the category of "ancient history", but a number of initiatives that I was trying to implement when I was with Squash Oz were resisted by some stakeholders. without going into too much detail, one of these would have had a diect positive impact on ticket sales.
this is one aspect where the sort has top get it's ac together. in australia they are spoilt for great squash. they take it for granted.
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I am not too sure if there are exceptions. I know this was the case with Squash.. Most of the funding for the event would have come from government, semi government and commonwealth games association sources.
i will see what I can find out
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