In the midst of the U.S. Open, it's hard to not notice the advertising and sponsorships surrounding the event. At the tennis matches, ball boys and ball girls are decked out in Ralph Lauren polo shirts; towels embossed with American Express are draped over tennis players; and Lexus cars — the official vehicle of the tournament — are parked at the tennis center open mall area. Even the official Web site for the tournament is known as The US Open 2006 — Grand Slam Tennis — Official Site by IBM. The U.S. Open typifies what most professional sporting events in the U.S. have become — a venue for companies to advertise their products or services. According to Brandweek, analysts estimate that the United States Tennis Association will take in more than $50 million in sponsorship deals for this year's tournament. That may be money well spent based on initial numbers of ticket sales, television ratings and Web site traffic over the first week of play:
- First week ticket sales exceeded 400,000 for the first time in history (406,040).
- CBS Sports’ Nielsen rating of 3.0 on Sept. 3, was the highest rating for a first weekend Sunday since 1990. The rating was a 30% increase over 2005.
- USOpen.org received 12.5 million visitors during the first week of play, an increase of 40.8% over the record first week traffic set in 2005.
So when the championship round rolls around on Sunday, an audience from around the world will be rooting for their respective tennis players and advertisers will be just as satisfied that they've possibly served an ace by steering the wallets of tennis fans to their products. — Gerald Magpily
See Lexus press release
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