Free Quebec wrote:

Gwmayhem wrote:

the kind that helps make this tournament the most unique event in all of sports as far as I am concerned.  .

Totally off topic, but other than that there are 4 of them a year and they are pros (although some barely make enough to pay their expenses), I think a Grand Slam tennis tournament is close. It’s also harder to root for individuals than teams, but there are enough similarities that I can’t figure out why the US Open doesn’t market itself like the NCAA tourney.

First, there is the qualifying rounds. These are like the one bid league conference tourneys. It’s the up and comers and journeymen, for whom making a main draw is a major accomplishment and just making it to a grand slam main draw pays more than many of them otherwise make in a year. The pressure in the finals of qualies is enormous, and I’ve always felt like if marketed right, it could capture people’s imagination like the conference tourneys do.

Then in the tourney, there are tons of guys for whole winning one round is just like a 14 beating a 3. Getting to the seconf round can be a huge accomplishment. Why not make a much bigger deal of those accomplishments?

And then you have guys who are like mid-majors (maybe rankled 45-90) who can go on a little run and make the 3rd or 4th round. Making the 4th round is actually the sweet 16 and it’s huge for those guys. Again, I’ve always wondered why the US Open doesn’t start calling it the sweet 16 (trademark maybe?) and hyping the hell out of the achievement of making it that far.

Instead, all the focus on tennis is on the inevitable clash of the top 8 guys or women at the end, so they treat the early rounds like a formality waiting for the inevitable clash of the titans at the end as of ALL that matters is the champion.

That would be like if the NCAA barely marketed the first couple of rounds and all chatter was about whether we will get Duke - Kansas, instead of celebrating the Richmond over Iowa or the St Peters run. St Peters entered the tourney ranked 117 on KenPom (now 99). The 117rh ranked male tennis player Is someone named Radu Albot of Moldova. If Radu Albot made a run to the quarterfinals of the US Open, I’m sure it would be big news in Moldova, but here it would be treated as almost a bad thing since eventually he’d get run over by one of the top remaining seeds, instead of hyped here for the incredible underdog achievement.

At any rate, obviously there are differences. But as a tennis fan, I think they could sell the qualies and early rounds of the US Open a lot closer to the NCAA tourney than they do.

All good ideas.  ESPN owns now the rights to I believe every Major Tennis slam, why don't they market their own product more?