Fiend at Court Unplugged
Last September I played The Metroplex Senior Major Zone in Arlington, Texas. The host facility is less than 30 miles away from my permanent residence. The tournament is played at a tennis center where I frequently schedule practice sessions. My husband incessantly reminded me that I needed to get my entry submitted as the deadline drew near. It’s what he does. You know who never reached out with any communication about that upcoming tournament? The USTA.
Every week I receive at least one email from Universal Tennis informing me of upcoming tournaments in my area. Usually there are opportunities to play 4-5 UTR tournaments within a 50 mile radius of my house every weekend. Occasionally one of those UTR emails prompts me to enter and play an event. If you have to point to one factor driving the rapid expansion of UTR it is this: UTR aggressively markets participation in events to everyone who has surrendered their email address to them.
The USTA has my email address and sends me regular communication on wide ranging topics. Yesterday’s message from USTA Member Services contained capsules highlighting that June is “Asian-American/Pacific Islander Heritage Month,” with an assortment profiles on people who play, played, or coached tennis. The Baseline Tennis email, also sourced from the USTA, contains links to articles about current professional players. The USTA regularly sends me offers of discounts on gear, most recently for Roland Garros branded gear. They pepper me with opportunities to purchase US Open paraphernalia.
With the exception of when the USTA conducted a massive national qualifying tournament for a US Open Wildcard spot, I can’t recall receiving anything encouraging me to play a tournament. It is possible that there may have been one or two campaigns that I missed throughout the years, but it doesn’t negate the point. The USTA does not directly market playing tennis tournaments to its membership. The organization overwhelmingly promotes watching tennis to the people who join the organization.
This weekend I am exploring the potential root causes of why the USTA doesn’t directly market tournament participation to its members. I have three theories:
- Antiquated policy restricting how the USTA can use the personal information of its members,
- Lack of structure in member data which makes it difficult to target participation campaigns to narrow regions and player demographics, and
- Perhaps they have never thought to do so.
A “best in class digital engagement platform” requires addressing all three dimensions.
