The Indian Wells Masters, one of the biggest tennis events outside the four grand slams, has announced record retail sales for the third year running on the back of its partnership with premium experiences company Legends.
The company said this year’s tournament saw sales increase 18% from the previous record the company achieved last year, aided by faster checkout speeds, which enabled the main retail shop to achieve record hourly and daily sales figures.
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The event, known commercially as the BNP Paribas Open, ran from March 2 to 16 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in California, US. The tournament ended with the UK’s Jack Draper defeating Denmark’s Holger Rune on the men’s side, while Russia's Mirra Andreeva beat Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka during the women’s final.
Legends was announced as the tournament’s official merchandise provider in December 2022, and since then, has more than doubled merchandise sales revenue, increasing it by 140%.
This year’s tournament saw Legends construct an expansive retail shop featuring the largest collection of tournament and tennis merchandise. Over 1,000 items from more than 40 brands and vendors were available for fans to purchase.
The figure comes after organizers announced this year’s tournament set an attendance record with 504,268 fans passing through the gates during the fortnight. The previous record was 493,440 set last year.
Earlier this week, BNP Paribas also announced it had extended its title sponsorship of the tournament for another five years, making the multinational bank the longest-running title sponsor in the event’s history.
The tournament has seen considerable growth since BNP Paribas first signed on 17 years ago, consistently drawing large crowds to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, including a slew of celebrities from nearby Los Angeles.
It is considered one of the top-tier men’s and women’s tennis tournaments and is part of the ATP Masters 1000 (men’s) and WTA 1000 (women’s) series.
Its growth can be attributed to American billionaire and tennis enthusiast Larry Ellison, who purchased the tournament and venue in 2009. Since then, he has pumped tens of millions of dollars into building out the tournament and upgrading the Tennis Garden.
Ahead of this year’s edition, the tournament added a trio of brands – La Roche-Posay, Kim Crawford, and Laykold – to its portfolio of sponsors, while extending partnerships with the BMW, Motorola, and Veroni brands.
