Tennis continues to grow in the Community of Madrid. The latest Survey of Sports Habits carried out by the Spanish government reveals that 32% of Spaniards follow elite competitions through television and other media. In the nation’s capital, this percentage is even higher, close to 40%, which explains the growth of the sports industry associated with racket and net sports.
The 2022 season has arrived with two novelties. The first of these was the 1st Community of Madrid Open Tournament, which has a category of challenger and has brought together in its first edition some of the most outstanding tennis players in the history of our country, such as Feliciano López or Fernando Verdasco.
The competition takes place at Club de Campo Villa de Madrid and a total of 80 points will be assigned to the winner. Pablo Carabias, director of the tournament, explains to Libre Mercado that the objective of the competition is “recover the atmosphere of the old Madrid Grand Prixwhere there was a tennis club atmosphere and it was possible to see great players with great proximity”.
The Magic Box grows
Along the same lines is the expansion of the Caja Mágica, the iconic venue where the capital’s Masters 1000 is held. And it is that the agreement closed last year by the Madrid City Council with the company promoting the tournament, Madrid Trophy Promotion, not only expands the celebration of the competition until 2030, but also includes the construction of a new stadium in the Caja Mágica with capacity for 10,000 people.
To undertake this expansion of the enclosure, the lake attached to the courts will be dried and the space now occupied by three of the outdoor courts located in the gardens will be reconfigured. The new location will be an open-air stadium and will involve an investment of 5 million euros, which will be amortized over ten years.
The managing company of the tournament, whose sports director is precisely Feliciano López, has announced that public attendance has increased by 46% over the last decade, going from 185,000 spectators in 2009 to more than 278,000 attendees in 2019. This explains the decision to expand the capacity of the stadium.
Economic impact
A study carried out by the European University of Madrid emphasizes that only 54% of those attending the Masters come from other Spanish locations or from other countries, with the average attendance being between 2 and 3 days of competition. The average cost per viewer amounts to 117 euros in the case of residents in Madrid, but rises to 293 euros in the case of residents in other regions and 1,146 euros for visitors who come from other countries, in which case the average attendance It is between 5 and 6 days.
In total, the tournament generates 45.4 million at the box office and represents an organizational outlay of 42.3 million, so its direct impact is 87.7 million. This figure generates 19.7 million for the Treasury. Besides, When considering all the direct and indirect effects generated by the competition, it is estimated that the Madrid economy benefits from 107.4 million.
