Officials at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden will "make a number of major announcements regarding" the future of the facility at the BNP Paribas Open, which begins Monday, according to Andrew John of the Palm Springs DESERT SUN. Tournament execs are expected to "unveil plans to further renovate and expand the site" of the event that could include "an additional stadium, a museum, more restaurants and perhaps even an on-site hotel." Tournament CEO Raymond Moore emphasized that he and Owner Larry Ellison have "significant interest in continuing to build the Indian Wells Tennis Garden into the preeminent tennis tournament in the world" and "continue operating the site as a year-round facility." Moore and Ellison intend to "build an on-site tennis museum" in time for the '18 event. Moore said that progress has been made "in the plans to build the museum," but "they're not complete." The idea was "originally to build the museum within stadium 3," but plans have changed such that the museum "would be a standalone building." Organizers have not "unveiled what will go in the museum." But Moore said it is "an amazing collection" of tennis artifacts. Moore: "We've got artwork from the 16th century." Playing equipment from the 16th century along with other artifacts "will be included" in the collection. Moore said that the facelift to Stadium 1, which "has not had a major renovation since it was built" in '99, is the "immediate priority." He added that this "will likely be the main focus of the forthcoming announcements over the next two weeks." However, the tournament has "already sunk millions of dollars into upgrading Stadium 1 for this year's event" (Palm Springs DESERT SUN, 3/4).
