U.S. Open Off to a Slow Start With Half of Last Year’s Viewers
- ESPN sees average audience drop 46% in fanless stadiums
- Stars Nadal, Federer chose not to participate this year
The U.S. Open tennis tournament, which began Monday, has seen its average audience fall by almost half in the first three days as matches were played in empty stadiums without some of the sport’s biggest stars.
The event averaged 481,000 viewers from Aug. 31 to Sept. 2 on ESPN, compared with 883,000 for the first three days a year ago. Last year’s was the most-watched of the five U.S. Opens aired exclusively on ESPN.