Every one of the 1,000 Court No. 1 debentures at Wimbledon "has been snapped up despite the All England Club more than doubling the price of each seat" to £31,000 ($44,825), according to Martyn Ziegler of the LONDON TIMES. Wimbledon announced that the sale of the debentures, which will run for five years from '17, has been “significantly oversubscribed.” The current debentures had cost £13,700 ($19,810) per seat and the price rise "was condemned by some traditionalists." The new prices work out at £620 ($897) per day for No. 1 Court "which includes car parking and access to a debenture holders’ restaurant, but no meals or drinks." The All England Club said that the £25M ($36M) raised from the sale -- "which is the net sum after VAT and expenses are deducted" -- will go toward the £71M ($103M) cost of putting a roof on No. 1 Court. The allocation of the seats "will now be decided by a ballot." The 130% price rise -- "which followed a price hike of similar proportions for Centre Court debentures last year," up from £27,500 ($39,764) to £50,000 ($72,298) -- led one "disgruntled debenture holder" to say that the seats would become the preserve of “Russian oligarchs, City traders and the corporate hospitality brigade” (LONDON TIMES, 6/6). In London, Chris Jones reported a previous Centre Court debenture sale yielded more than £100M ($145M) "to fund the redevelopment of the site." An All England Club statement said, “The proceeds of the issue will contribute to the funding and implementation of the Wimbledon master plan, the Club’s vision to maintain Wimbledon as the world’s premier tennis tournament. This vision includes the construction of a retractable roof on No1 Court as well as an extra 900 seats, a new public plaza in the place of Court 19 and new hospitality facilities, all scheduled for completion in 2019" (EVENING STANDARD, 6/6).
