Indian Wells Tennis Garden’s beautiful desert setting near Palm Springs and state-of-the-art facilities make the BNP Paribas Open both a fan and player favorite each March. Getty Images
Minutes after Rafael Nadal won the 2013 BNP Paribas Open men’s singles tennis title, earthmovers rumbled into action on the other side of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, the initial steps in a major 50-week project to build an 8,000-seat Stadium 2 just in time for the next year’s tournament.
As Nadal celebrated, images of the construction equipment flashed onto the big screens in the stadium.
“That was a ‘you have to come back next year’ moment,” said BNP Paribas Open Chief Operating Officer Steve Birdwell.
For the desert tennis oasis in Southern California, the past decade has had plenty of these moments under the ownership of Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison, whose estimated wealth of $65 billion makes him one of the 10 richest people in the world according to Forbes. He bought the dual ATP-WTA BNP Paribas Open and the (now) 150-plus-acre Indian Wells Tennis Garden for $100 million in late 2009. This year’s tournament, starting on March 11, offers a chance to look back at 10 editions of an event characterized by ceaseless innovation and improvement.
“I think everything has changed in the 10 years,” said Birdwell.
Setting the Bar
Improvements and innovation at Indian Wells under Larry Ellison’s ownership:
■ Infrastructure: Renovation of Stadium 1; increases in parking, restrooms and Wi-Fi capacity.
■ Setting: Added 500 palm trees and several giant shade structures around the grounds.
■ Player experience: Use of Hawk-Eye line-calling technology on every court, the only tournament in the world to do so; equal prize money paid to women’s and men’s singles champs; improved player food options.
■ Fan experience: Added three permanent restaurants in new Stadium 2, including a Nobu overlooking live tennis action.
Indian Wells has become the world’s premier non-Grand Slam tennis tournament during Ellison’s tenure. WTA and ATP players have voted the BNP Paribas Open tournament of the year in both the premier mandatory and Masters 1000 categories six straight times, and its attendance has recently flirted with the 500,000-mark, a barrier historically reserved for the four Slams.
Consistently improving the experience of sponsors, players and fans has been the impetus under Ellison. His resources and willingness to invest in the Tennis Garden turned many fan comfort ideas into realities: shortening food concession lines by expanding dining options; adding more restrooms and hundreds of palm trees and shade structures on-site; and increasing parking acreage.
Other tournaments had already incorporated fine dining into the tennis tournament experience, but Indian Wells took that concept a step further. When tournament organizers first raised the idea of bringing a restaurant on-site in 2013, “Larry talked about a Nobu on-site,” said Steve Simon, who worked at the BNP Paribas Open for 25 years before becoming the WTA’s CEO in 2015. “Then he talked about a Wolfgang Puck [concept restaurant] on-site. He definitely had very, very high visions and knew that he could deliver against it, and I think you’ve seen the results.”
The tournament not only built a permanent Nobu restaurant but incorporated it and two other restaurants into Stadium 2’s construction in a way that allows patrons to overlook the court and watch tennis while they nibble on oysters with wasabi salsa or black cod with miso. Indian Wells is a rarity in the pro tennis world, where fans can sit in a permanent — and public — restaurant overlooking live action.
Players were not left out of the changes. Birdwell said the tournament has improved the players’ lounge and dining options at least two times each since Ellison took ownership. Indian Wells installed Hawk-Eye line-calling technology on all of its courts — the only event in the world to do so — and it was the first dual ATP-WTA tournament to offer equal prize money to its men’s and women’s singles champs.
“They really do love coming to the BNP Paribas Open,” said tournament director Tommy Haas, a former top player himself. “The proof is in the players from both tours voting us tournament of the year six years in a row. They see our unwavering commitment to making their experience world-class, and that matters a lot to them.”
For European sponsors like BNP Paribas, which has a California-based affiliate named Bank of the West, the tournament leads to increased brand recognition in the United States. And the Instagram-worthy mountainous backdrop provides a perfect setting for hosting and impressing clients. Jean-Yves Fillion, CEO of BNP Paribas USA and chairman of CIB Americas, said that BNP Paribas and Bank of the West host around 2,000 North American and Latin American clients during the tournament’s two weeks. The French bank, one of tennis’ top overall backers, first sponsored the Indian Wells tournament in 2009 and extended its title sponsorship in 2018 for five more years.
“Twelve years ago, the tournament was a very good tournament,” said Fillion. “I think what we managed to do was take it from good to great. And if we continue to work so well together then we have to move forward.”
Peggy Michel, BNP Paribas Open vice president of sales, said the tournament’s focus on providing excellent service began with former owner/operator Charlie Pasarell and has been maintained under Ellison’s ownership. Pasarell told Michel to never tell a sponsor “no.”
“You have to take care of your sponsors, you have to take care of your players, and you have to take care of your patrons,” said Michel.
Birdwell said there are no major projects on the tournament’s list at the moment, including no plans for construction of a third major stadium that had been mentioned in previous years.
The two-year renovation of Stadium 1, the second largest tennis-specific stadium in the world, crossed a huge item off the to-do list in 2017. BNP Paribas Open single-session capacity has grown from 30,450 in 2010 to 43,220 for this year’s event, while total attendance in 2019 (a tournament record 475,372) is up 40% from 2010 (339,657). With so much room for fans, players and sponsors, the focus more than ever is squarely on continuing to enhance each unique group’s experience.
“We’re not done innovating,” said Birdwell. “The crew here really, really thrives on it.”
