According to this Desert Sun article, by Denise Goolsby, when the 2016 BNP Paribas Open begins on March 7th, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden will feature new, larger stadium seats in Stadium 1, seat-back chairs at the practice courts and a sports bar, featuring dozens of TV screens, as part of new upgrades taking place. The BNP Paribas open is the fifth largest tournament – in terms of attendance – in the world. The tournament attracted 456,000 people in March 2015. Only the grand slam tournaments draw larger crowds.
In Stadium 1, in addition to the new dark green stadium seats, all the handrails (except the aisle railing) will have been removed so that the space is widened and people will have more comfortable chairs. The existing seats from Stadium 1 are being repurposed and being used to replace temporary bleachers out on the practice courts. The court surface of Stadium 1 is also being lowered by about 28 inches in order to move the television camera positions off the court and into a recessed area similar to the Stadium 2 placement.
Tournament attendees will also see some notable upgrades outside of Stadium 1, including the new sports bar, to be located in the northeast corner of the tennis village and the relocation of the Tennis Channel desk to the tennis village so that people can see it and see the stars being interviewed.
Also in the works is a new, 5,000-seat stadium, featuring a tennis museum, that’s planned to be built and opened in time for the 2017 BNP Paribas Open. Stadium 3 will replace the existing Court 3, which sits between Stadiums 1 and 2, near the heart of the tennis village.
Lastly, a reception area for VIPs is being built on the west side of the tennis garden, which will include valet parking.
Tickets
Daily tickets and Daily Double packages for the BNP Paribas Open will be on sale beginning Nov. 18.
Daily Loge and Grandstand tickets for Stadium 1 range in price from $20 for a Grandstand seat for the first Thursday evening session and $70 and $110 for Grandstand and Loge seats, respectively.
Indian Wells residents, students, seniors, military and USTA members can receive 30 percent off on regular-price Loge seats in Stadium 1 between March 9 - 17.
For more information about tickets, including series, mini, group and hotel packages, visit bnpparibasopen.com, call 800 999-1585 or visit the Indian Wells Tennis Garden Box Office at 78-200 Miles Avenue, Indian Wells.
Salute to Heroes
On Wednesday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., military veterans can pick up free tickets at the box office for the Salute to Heroes event at the 2016 BNP Paribas Open.
Please use the following link to read the article and view the accompanying pictures, courtesy of The Desert Sun: http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2015/11/09/indian-wells-tennis-garden-improvements-bnp-paribas/75369500/