Three Business Takeaways From This Year’s US Open

$23 for arguably the best cocktail you’ve ever tasted. 

Packed swarms of spectators at the Long Island Rail Road station at 4am after late-night matches that resemble the 8am pre-work Manhattan rush. 

And for the very first time, an Innovation Challenge connecting startup founders and venture capitalists with technologies designed to further the game.

While everyone is talking about Djokovic’s stunning first-round exit or the record-shattering late-night quarterfinal thriller between Shelton & Alcaraz, we’re breaking down the biggest business takeaways from the biggest stage in racquet sports.

Welcome to tennis’s richest event, the 2026 US Open. 

Here’s a quick business stat sheet that gets you up to speed:

The USTA has quietly been building a robust technology ecosystem around racquet sports. 

Its strategic investment arm, USTA Ventures, recently invested in sports-scheduling software Fastbreak AI and Rec Technologies, which is modernizing how players discover and access public courts.

And while fans were sipping Honey Deuces and influencers were taking candids, the USTA held its first-ever pitch competition…

120 companies applied to the USTA Connect Innovation Challenge for the opportunity to build products using exclusive USTA datasets spanning player development, competition, participation trends, and match performance.

For context, the event is an extension of the broader USTA Connect technology and data-sharing program.

Select partners – including Wilson, CourtReserve, SwingVision, and dozens of others – can gain access to:

The Innovation Challenge winner was Third Court, an AI-powered platform that helps racquet facilities organize “open play” around player skill levels – taking home $10,000 in prize money. 

The other two finalists will now have opportunities to pilot their technology with the USTA:

We find the entire USTA Connect ecosystem pretty strategic because it creates a natural funnel for identifying emerging startups that could eventually become USTA vendors, investments, or acquisition targets.

→ Connect: Give technology companies proprietary data + integrations to build deeper products around tennis

→ Conference: Bring startups, VCs, operators, and USTA leadership into one room

→ Innovation Challenge: Let startups compete to solve actual USTA problems, creating a built-in scouting pipeline

→ Ventures: Invest in the tech with the strongest strategic applications

The USTA board explicitly said its top priority in the search for a new CEO was finding someone capable of accelerating U.S. tennis participation toward 35M people by 2035.

So, they hired the best person for the job - former CEO of Tennis Australia and director of the Australian Open: Craig Tiley - who officially became CEO on July 20, 2026.

Tiley’s job isn’t merely to make the US Open more profitable…his mandate is to use the US Open’s cultural and commercial power to grow the entire American tennis ecosystem. 

Just a few days ago at the US Open Media Day, he said, “This will become the tennis Disneyland.”

The USTA could create many more opportunities for people to “experience different things,” and that is where he expects much of the US Open's future growth to come from.

Historically, the product was simple: Buy ticket → watch tennis → go home.

Now, it’s: Discover the US Open → visit for free during Fan Week → create an account → download/use the app → experience players/food/music/brands → watch content → buy a premium Fan Week event → return for the main draw → eventually become a repeat fan/player/customer.

The surge in US Open ticket prices struck a nerve with the NYC mayor, who set aside 1K US Open tickets for New York residents to purchase for $100 each.

The average ticket selling price skyrocketed from $196 to $346 from 2022-26 – a 76% jump in just four years…

And it hasn’t made a dent in attendance:

With the Open hosting a record 1.14M fans last year, the tournament has achieved a level of inelastic demand comparable to FIFA World Cup games, the New York Knicks, and even an F1 Grand Prix.

And the USTA only doubled down this year. Arthur Ashe Stadium underwent the first phase of an $800M renovation, entirely self-funded by the USTA. This tournament, fans saw:

Interestingly, while 2K courtside seats were added, 3.5K+ moderately priced Loge seats were removed, continuing to tip the scale toward luxury experiences at the Open.

If you look at their P&L, in-venue premiumification is one of the clearest routes the USTA has to sustain long-term revenue growth.

Unlike the NBA and NFL, where national broadcasting rights are the primary revenue driver, the US Open’s new $170M/year broadcasting deal with ESPN represents only a  ~$25M uptick from the broadcast revenue generated in 2024 (latest financial data available). 

Compare that to ticket revenue surpassing $208M that year, while hospitality and service revenue more than doubled from $41M to $83M from 2021-2024.

And in 2027, we’ll see:

Expect more courtside seats, luxury suites, and premium experiences from here on out.

Don’t forget the creators. 

Last year, the USTA launched its first formal content-creator media credentialing program, with 54 creators generating 5.5M+ social engagements.

This year, they’ve credentialed 100 creators - with 20 of them specifically being food-and-beverage creators. 

The creator strategy deliberately recruited creators who don’t primarily cover tennis. 

Why?

A food influencer can introduce the US Open to someone who cares about Salt Hank, the Honey Deuce, and NYC restaurants. 

Or a fashion influencer can introduce the experience through Ralph Lauren, outfits, and match-day attire.

And now, the Blue-Chip Sponsors.

Below is a graphic of all 31 official US Open partners. There’s a clear skew toward premium, luxury, and business-class.

Luxury experiences. Influencers. Premium brand activations. 

Now that the puzzle pieces are coming together, it seems the US Open could start looking more like the Monaco Grand Prix than a traditional tennis tournament.

All of this is to say, the US Open is becoming one of the most fascinating business stories. They’re actively reshaping the product into a luxury sporting event and investing in startups that are bolstering the sport, all under the leadership of a CEO who started just two months ago.

It’ll be interesting to see where the US Open goes from here…