Total attendance for the Advanta Championships men's
tennis tournament at Philadelphia's CoreStates Center was
30,420, "down almost 9,000 from last year," according to
Bill Fleischman of the PHILADELPHIA DAILY NEWS. IMG is in
its second year as owner and operator of the event.
CoreStates "was about three-quarters full" for yesterday's
final in which Pete Sampras defeated Thomas Enqvist.
Sampras said after the match: "The (tournament) seems to
have lost its luster. The crowds were very sparse, to say
the least." Fleischman writes that while Sampras "was the
only marquee" player at the event, "what's alarming to IMG
and Advanta is, even people who had tickets from sponsors
for the seats closest to the court didn't show up." IMG's
Barbara Perry, the tournament's Exec Dir, said a decision
would be made on the event's future "within a month" (DAILY
NEWS, 3/2). More Sampras: "Six, seven years ago [the event]
was packed, but it seems like each year it's gotten worse.
If people aren't going to come out and support it, I'm sure
there's another city that will" (PHILA. INQUIRER, 3/2).
ONE TOURNAMENT TOWN? Philadelphia "is the only U.S.
city other than New York that hosts both men's and women's
tournaments." IMG's Perry: "Maybe it's reached a point
where cities can't support both. When we bought this event
last year, we knew it would be tough, but we want to try to
make it work" (Ray Parrillo, PHILADELPHIA INQUIRER, 2/28).
