Billionaire Ackman slams US Open ticket prices as absurd
Billionaire hedge fund investor Bill Ackman has slammed organisers for the US Open tennis Grand Slam organisers over the price of tickets.
A day one ground pass will set fans back $363, or £268. This will not give fans access to the show courts, with tickets for those set at an even higher price. an equivilant ground pass at Wimbledon will cost fans £33.
Wimbledon’s famous queue means that ticket resellers and third party organisations cannot buy up groups of tickets and sell them on, but ground passes at Flushing Meadows can be resold, and are being done so at a marked up price. And Ackman has hit out at the US Tennis Association, who would have sanctioned Ticketmaster as a reseller.
“The US Open is owned by the USTA which is a non-profit,” Ackman said on social media. “The idea that a day one ground pass is $363 is absurd.
“The USTS’s mission is to promote the sport of tennis. How is a $363 ground pass consistent with this mission?”
Ackman on a mission
Ackman, who in May saw his £50bn proposal to purchase Universal Music Group turned down, last year made his debut on the ATP Tour, where he was beaten in straight sets alongside three-time Grand Slam winner Jack Sock in the Hall of Fame Open doubles tournament in Rhode Island.
He was entered into the ATP Challenger competition as a wildcard but fell to Austrian duo Omar Jasika and Bernard Tomic; the latter reached the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2011.
The 60-year-old billionaire last year saw the Tennis Hall of Fame reject a $10m gift from the founder and chief executive of Pershing Square Capital Management.
This year’s US Open in New York will be the second to include the Mixed Doubles Championship, an event which extends the running of the Grand Slam and sees a number of the world’s top singles players team up to play doubles.
Despite this, specialist doubles players Sara Errani and Andrea Vavassori defended the title they won in 2024, beating Iga Swiatek and casper Ruud in the final.