Ticket Sales at W 2013 and the Federer-Nadal exit

Just curious, if these two events have made any dents in the demand for tickets at W?

Any anecdotal evidence or otherwise is probably worth discussing.

606v2ers visiting W should be able to provide some eyewitness data (yes I am talking about you Barry, HE, HB, LS, et al.).

>90% tickets allocated before a ball is struck.
Still big names left in, hard to judge media viewing figures.

I was there yesterday (write-up yet to come, if people would like to hear about it); still very crowded despite the weather at points, hard to judge whether there was any less of a 'buzz' around the grounds though. Then again, plenty of matches were being played after the weather held play over the previous day, and with Murray/Robson scheduled there was a ton of British interest, so I'd expect it to be busy.

I'd be very interested to see the viewing figures for the final, whoever plays. I think I read that Federer-Murray last was 23m viewers at peak, which is insane.

I went on the first day, so naturally it's going to be packed. Apaz it had a record number of queuers for day 1!

You can't really say because all the tickets are sold in advance. Even the grounds pass queue won't be much affected because most people there won't get onto the show courts anyway, so it doesn't matter whether Federer or Nadal are in. What would be interesting is to know what time the person who got the 500th ticket (to get onto centre court) arrived in the queue, and cross reference that data with who was playing on centre on the day. That would be the only really useful data point, but it's not going to be possible to get it.

On the beeb yesterday at lunchtime they were suggesting that it would not be sensible for people to join the queue today because they had over capacity in the queue for ground passes for Saturday at 1.30 on Friday - people were 'strongly advised' not to come.

So no, it has had no effect.  In fact many people may welcome a change of face.  This is Wimbledon - part of the British summer and historically no player's absence has made any difference.  It is a much loved event among people who only watch tennis for 2 weeks as well.

Plus, you are forgetting the Murray factor - he is a big draw, but even without him, they would be queuing around the block imo!

You could argue the non show courts are affected. For example for Second Monday if the top 16 seeds all made it through on the outside courts you'd expect Berdy, Tsonga, JMDP, Kvitova etc on outside courts whereas this year it is set to be likes of Mannarino v Kubot

People still queuing to get in at 17.40 for ground passes. BBC 1 just now

Ticket sales for Major events like this are hardly ever affected by the most popular players or teams not being there. You could put the two most unpopular NFL teams into the Super Bowl and they would still sell every ticket.. Where it's seen is in tv viewership. Then your getting to casual fans who focus more on the "who", and such a vast amount of people- that the decline is more evident. I am going to guess in the USA at least- the finals will be lower rated than ones with Federer and/or Nadal.

TRuffin has it nailed. People go to Wimbledon because it's an event or because they are fans - neither is going to be affected by Top seeds going out

Neither of the Fed-Nadal finals had high ratings in the States, nearly double the people tuned for W2009 final vs W2008. Home players succeeding are a bigger draw than any star you could list. Thats why The Premier League play/offs have such ridiculous figures. Murray vs Evans would probably smash ratings, no matter how one-sided. Same with Isner-Quarrey.

time please wrote:On the beeb yesterday at lunchtime they were suggesting that it would not be sensible for people to join the queue today because they had over capacity in the queue for ground passes for Saturday at 1.30 on Friday - people were 'strongly advised' not to come.

You are saying that at 1.30pm on Friday the queue was already closing for grounds passes on Saturday. Like 8,000 people already there for overnight queue. I am pretty sure that is a mistake, you must have misinterpreted something.

There are always people queuing to get up in the evening for the grounds pass the same day.

I think what Truffin says is partly or largely true, but Federer and Nadal's exit must have had some effect. However that effect may not be fully felt until the second week. In the first week it actually has led to more excitement.

Henman Bill wrote:

time please wrote:On the beeb yesterday at lunchtime they were suggesting that it would not be sensible for people to join the queue today because they had over capacity in the queue for ground passes for Saturday at 1.30 on Friday - people were 'strongly advised' not to come.

You are saying that at 1.30pm on Friday the queue was already closing for grounds passes on Saturday. Like 8,000 people already there for overnight queue. I am pretty sure that is a mistake, you must have misinterpreted something.

There are always people queuing to get up in the evening for the grounds pass the same day.

I think what Truffin says is partly or largely true, but Federer and Nadal's exit must have had some effect. However that effect may not be fully felt until the second week. In the first week it actually has led to more excitement.

I may have misunderstood HB and the beeb was warning about the queue for the show courts, but I'm pretty sure it was as I have said above because it surprised me.

Then today they showed streams of people being let into the grounds at 17.40 this evening and the commentary was:

time please wrote:People still queuing to get in at 17.40 for ground passes. BBC 1 just now

So I'm sure I didn't misunderstand twice.........though it's not impossible  

Silver wrote:I was there yesterday (write-up yet to come, if people would like to hear about it);

I would. I've enjoyed reading everyone's write ups so far despite being envious

I turned up to the park at about 6.40 this morning and was told on arrival that all 8,000 ground passes had been allocated to those ahead of us and that we would be in the queue for one in one out. From looking at the queue marker posts I would say we were somewhere in the 9-10,000 group.

We decided immediately to cut our losses and leave. On leaving I asked a steward what time we would have had to have got there to get in the first 8,000, and he said "probably about 20 minutes ago". So effectively there was a huge influx of people from about 6am onwards, with plenty of ground passes available if you got there at that time.

Clearly the BBC misinterpreted some information regarding the queue yesterday - it wasn't quite as ridiculous as they were implying. Having said that I have queued for ground passes twice in the last five years (once on the middle Saturday), joining the queue on both occasions at around the 7am mark and got in the first 8,000 with some ease.

I would say therefore that from my experience demand is as strong as ever.

Incidentally as I had already decided to spend my Saturday at the tennis I elected to have a Wimby fest back at home and treated myself to a solid afternoon's tennis TV watching: enjoyed it immensely!

I've also got court 1 tickets for Tuesday so I can't complain too much, assuming the weather holds!

I heard that the first tubes leave at 5am onwards, so if you beat that (as I did) you have a great chance, but maybe thats too early for some.

What's your pre tube chosen method of arrival?

my dad has friends who live in wimbledon park... soz

LuvSports! wrote:I heard that the first tubes leave at 5am onwards, so if you beat that (as I did) you have a great chance, but maybe thats too early for some.

Would it not make sense for the Tube schedule to accommodate events like these and allow earlier departures and late trains?

I recall spectators having to leave WTF because of the Tube schedule.

spdocoffee wrote:I turned up to the park at about 6.40 this morning and was told on arrival that all 8,000 ground passes had been allocated to those ahead of us and that we would be in the queue for one in one out. From looking at the queue marker posts I would say we were somewhere in the 9-10,000 group.

We decided immediately to cut our losses and leave. On leaving I asked a steward what time we would have had to have got there to get in the first 8,000, and he said "probably about 20 minutes ago". So effectively there was a huge influx of people from about 6am onwards, with plenty of ground passes available if you got there at that time.

Clearly the BBC misinterpreted some information regarding the queue yesterday - it wasn't quite as ridiculous as they were implying. Having said that I have queued for ground passes twice in the last five years (once on the middle Saturday), joining the queue on both occasions at around the 7am mark and got in the first 8,000 with some ease.

I would say therefore that from my experience demand is as strong as ever.

Incidentally as I had already decided to spend my Saturday at the tennis I elected to have a Wimby fest back at home and treated myself to a solid afternoon's tennis TV watching: enjoyed it immensely!

I've also got court 1 tickets for Tuesday so I can't complain too much, assuming the weather holds!

My advice would be to avoid the middle Saturday. Nothing to do with who is playing it's just that for many this is their only opportunity to visit. Wimbledon is not scheduled to accommodate those that work the 9-5. Starting on a Sunday and playing the middle Sunday would be an option. But Wimbledon can do what it likes. It could sell the number of tickets it has twice over.

Hope you have a nice day on Tuesday  

Would just like to add I watched some great tennis in Nottingham for free just a couple of weeks ago with no queues and free parking. It featured many of the players that have played at Wimbledon including of course many of the British players.

@Truffin... Corporate sales are pre-sold. The category of an impulsive spectator is what I was more interested in.

I guess so LF, but i'm only going by what the people who i stayed with told me.

there are some unproven stats being bandied about on Twitter that say TV viewership will fall by 20%.

i think TV viewership will fall definitely in countries like India where sports lovers, and people in general, like to associate with success and style and Federer and Nadal brought both. for viewers in India and US, Djokovic and Murray are an acquired taste.

i certainly expect worldwide TV viewership to be significantly lower this year for the final than last year's.

laverfan wrote:@Truffin... Corporate sales are pre-sold. The category of an impulsive spectator is what I was more interested in.

@CP... That is a very interesting observation. As others have mentioned, the TV viewership is probably impacted more than live tickets.