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BNP PARIBAS OPENMarch 18, 2012Raymond MooreCharlie PasarellSteve SimonINDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA MATT VAN TUINEN: This is a good tradition. We'll continue, Charlie, Ray, glad Steve can join us this year, as well. Yeah, it's your chance to ask questions. Let them talk. Q. Speaking about the weather, as we were, why don't they do something about the lines on the court being slippery, making it paint more like the court surface so you don't have that change in surface? CHARLIE PASARELL: They shouldn't. Basically it should be the same paint. I mean, it's a different color, but they put‑‑ we put the same sort of sand on it, you know, so it should be. I don't know the answer to that one, why it is. Maybe it's the difference in the paint, but it is an interesting question. I wish I could explain why. But we do put the same amount of silica, you know, on the line paint that we do on the surface of the court. Q. Seems to have a smooth finish on it a bit? STEVE SIMON: Yeah, we did put sand in the line paint, as well. It's the same. I think it's the second coat that's on top that creates a little bit more of a sheen and a finish to it, because, again, you're taking away some of the bottom coat, as well. So I think it's part of that process. CHARLIE PASARELL: Maybe we could try to address that for next year, because it shouldn't happen. Q. Well, you know, the referee comes down, umpire comes down, he wipes the lines and stuff and says, Stop play. Nobody seems to be bothered on the court surface. STEVE SIMON: I think some of it is‑‑ I mean, it seems to be what they put their foot on, too. I think the court is similar. It's just slippery outside. Maybe that's where the focus is and the mindset is, so you want to be sure it's dry. CHARLIE PASARELL: No, we don't want to take any chances. Last thing we want to do is have a player just slip and hurt himself and be out for a few weeks. Q. I read Larry's interview with Lleyton, but how do you guys really improve upon this? Last Saturday night you couldn't have gotten anybody in here with a shoe horn. It was packed. I walked all around. It seems that this year is probably your most successful as far as attendance, finances, except for last night. You guys hadn't had a real glitch. Even if you improve the center court, do you have enough parking and facilities that can take this to a $500,000 which Larry talked about? RAYMOND MOORE: Well, we plan to. We plan to have those. Mr.Ellison, Steve and I met with him earlier this week, and he's given us the go‑ahead to purchase the land, all the surrounding land. Not all, but most of it. We have to go through a process because the land is zoned differently, so we've got to go through the City and request different zoning and all of that. So it's a whole process that we still have to go through. We think we'll be successful with it, and successful in requests to the City to allow us to expand the tennis facility. The land immediately east of Stadium 2, the plans, preliminary plans that we've drawn up will allow us to increase parking by 8,000 cars. 8,000 cars, three people per car, we've now conquered the parking problem. And if we build a couple more courts, you know, like Stadium 2 and 3, we're gonna be able to increase the capacity without sacrificing the intimacy and the easy flow of the whole site. We have plans in the making that will allow us to do that. They're not finalized. We still want to emphasize we don't want to jump the gun with the City, and get some city council mad at us. So we are in the process of requesting the approvals and the permits, etcetera. Q. Will that land just be used for parking, or are you gonna be put other things on there? RAYMOND MOORE: We're looking. We're looking at all kinds of different applications for that land. And, again, in our meeting with Mr.Ellison, you know, Mr.Ellison doesn't just give us an open checkbook. I mean, a lot of people think that's what happens, but that's not what happens. It's, in fact, the exact opposite. When we met with him, he put Steve and I through the ringer. What's this gonna do? How is it gonna pencil? How are you gonna grow the tournament? Can you do this? So that's what we plan to do. Q. All sorts of applications, what do you mean by that? Rest homes for all old sports editors? RAYMOND MOORE: No. Well, maybe it could be the home for the Clippers. (Laughter.) Right now it's zoned differently. It's not zoned sports recreational right now. It's zoned retail next to us on one side, and across the road it's zoned hotel. So you've gotta go through that, and then we'll see. It's on the drawing board. It's early days yet on exactly what the concept will be going forward. CHARLIE PASARELL: I mean, as Raymond says, it's a real process. You've got to do the parking studies, ingress, egress, you know, how do you manage that. But it's not only just building parking lots, so to speak. I mean, you've got to look at, you know, if you bring more people in, what do you do with the infrastructure? Bathrooms and all that other stuff that happens at the site, you know, because you've got to be able to accommodate. It's a real process, as Raymond says. It's not something we just dreamed up this week, you know. It's something that we've been thinking about for quite some time. Q. The parking lots are the first priority? RAYMOND MOORE: Well, our parking right now is‑‑ our attendance is a function of how many parking spaces we have, because the police and fire marshal shut us down once we've maxed out. Indian Wells has an ordinance on the books that won't allow any parking on the streets. So, you know, I think sometimes when you go to other venues and you can go up and down every street you can find, but they don't allow it here. Cars get towed. Q. You mentioned Stadium 2 and 3. Those are going to be permanent? RAYMOND MOORE: No, we don't know yet. We don't know yet. We're still in the process. Like Charlie says, we've got to get drawings, studies; we've got to cost it out; we've got to go back to Mr.Ellison. I mean, there are a lot of things we need to go through. Right now it's a concept and an idea. That's where it is. Hopefully we'll bring it to fruition. That's where it is. Q. When you do your economic study, are you going to break out, if you could, how many people stay in hotels and take those charter buses? That was really big this year. I know the buses were there before. They kinda dried up a little bit, but good lord, if you went on 111 you'd see eight or ten of those buses going to and from hotels in Palm Desert. Any idea how many fans use that at all? STEVE SIMON: Well, obviously a lot are. I would say that this year was a record number for us with hotel bookings. The tournament itself, through what we book and for not only sponsors and patrons and everything else, was over 13,000 room nights ourselves, which is up over last year. Last year was about 12,000. You figure in the Valley, there is 16,000 rooms in the Valley, so that's pretty significant, because to justify the economic impact report that you guys saw before. What we do, which a lot of events don't do, is those shuttles are actually us providing a service to the patrons, and they're complimentary, that we run between the hotels to help them and ease the parking issue, as well. Q. This is the year you used the most buses, would that be fair to say? Seemed like there was an armada on 111, which was kinda cool, actually. STEVE SIMON: Yeah, a lot. Q. Talking about the land you want to purchase, you said it was zoned for retail. I know at one point a long, long time ago you were talking about building retail stuff. Is that just completely out the door for you guys to get that business? CHARLIE PASARELL: As Raymond said, you know, we have to really sit down and analyze. We do want to address the parking issue. We want to expand the parking. That's, I guess, the first item. But it could be more than just that, and we don't know yet. Again, Mr.Ellison's, we're gonna provide options to him, and it's Mr.Ellison to say, Yeah, that sounds like something feasible. Let's go ahead and do that. Q. That's still possibly in play or... STEVE SIMON: Well, I think what I would say to answer the entire question, too, is that, one, we look at this event probably differently than anyone else. Is there room to improve? There's lots of room to improve. From our perspective there is lots of things we're gonna do to improve. With respect to the future growth, we're grow the event, we're gonna expand the event, but we're gonna expand it in the right way. We don't want to lose what has made this event special, which is the intimacy and the feeling that's here and the way‑‑ the experience people are currently having today. So how do we do this with these new assets that we're going to be attaining is our goal right now, and our challenge ahead of us right now is to figure it out and do it right so it can continue to grow, to maintain the basis for what has made this event what it is. Q. That land you're going to purchase, is that the same land you sold to the City few years ago or different? RAYMOND MOORE: No, it's different land. STEVE SIMON: It's different. RAYMOND MOORE: We sold it to a developer and the City bought some land from us, which is immediately across the road from the entrance on Miles. But we don't have an agreement with the City yet to repurchase that land. We're in discussions with them. Q. Yesterday on television, correct me if I'm wrong, Rafa/Federer match did not go on TV. The first match went on TV. Am I wrong on that? STEVE SIMON: No, it went on. We obviously, because of the rain, lost our ABC window which ended at 3:00 Pacific, 6:00 Eastern time. ESPN and ABC then adjusted. They started the match, because we started at approximately ‑‑ 5:40 was the approximate starting time for the match. They started the match on ESPN Classic and ESPN 3. And then at 6:00 took it to ESPN 2 simulcasting with Classic and ESPN 3, and also provided look‑ins from ESPN news for the whole broadcast. Q. Original plan would have been to have both matches on ABC? STEVE SIMON: Yes. Q. So people who wanted to find it probably had trouble finding it? STEVE SIMON: Well, they certainly announced it, so if they were watching they would've got‑‑ there were verbal announcements on the broadcast. They did program alerts. We also posted it on our website and obviously had all of our ticket and front desk people that dealt with the phones. I will say we didn't get hardly any e‑mails or comments in our general comment box, so people must have found it. We gave them your cellphone number. (Laughter.) There will be a few any time you have a programing change like that that's weather driven. So actually give ABC, ESPN a lot of kudos, because they had no obligation to do what they did last night. Q. When you're sitting there ‑ and I'm sure you're doing it ‑ looking at the next day and you're looking at the weather thinking maybe I should have Rafa and Federer first, do you weigh all that against the windows that are available? STEVE SIMON: I think we always, we're balancing the two‑ balancing the three, I mean. We have the fans to balance, we have broadcast to balance, which is very partnered, because that takes an internationally/national audience, which is critical, and we also have to balance the well‑being of the athlete and what's the proper thing to make sure they're performing at the highest level, as well. And the way that the schedule was working, the only way that you could play yesterday was to play Rafa and Roger in the second match, because it was then ABC was prepared to take the match to conclusion. But with the weather, they then needed to break away and did what they did. They had no obligation to do so. Q. And European television got it? STEVE SIMON: European television got it, but obviously it would have been delayed. I'm sure they made some adjustments, as well. But, you know, clearly it was a challenge for everybody once the weather came in. Q. We always talk about, you know, an American player. You can't have phenomenal success without an American. You got one in the final today. Isner's win yesterday was all over the sports news on every different venue. Could he be the guy maybe to be first crossover star for American player in quite a while? CHARLIE PASARELL: Well, he certainly has got the serve and especially the form; his backhand is not that bad either. You know, he's a good net player. He has the equipment to certainly be good. The question is: Can he perform like he has performed this week consistently? You know, so time will tell. But he's certainly got the equipment. Q. You know, in this age with ESPN and everything else, the average fan finally got exposed to an American player 1 beating a world No. 1 for the first time in a few years? CHARLIE PASARELL: It certainly helps, but the answer is of course, yes. But with Mr.Nadal and Mr.Federer, you know, really capturing the whole world, I mean, they might as well be our citizens here, because we love them here in the States. They're loved everywhere all over the world. So, you know... But certainly to have all of a sudden an American player, you know, being in the mix with Djokovic and Nadal and Federer, that will be great. Q. The situation where you got Nalbandian in the tournament was a stroke of genius, which means you probably had no part in it. (Laughter.) How did that come to pass? I mean, this guy is really still able to play and he's ranked 72 or whatever. What was that decision‑making process? RAYMOND MOORE: Well, Charlie, Steve, and I, with our five wildcards, first we look at all the requests. You know, we thought Lleyton Hewitt might be a request because he's won the tournament, but when we went to him he was injured. CHARLIE PASARELL: He's recovering from surgery, I think. RAYMOND MOORE: Our number one choice for a wildcard was clear. We've got to give it to Nalbandian. So the three of us get together couple weeks before the tournament, we go through all the requests, we weigh them, we try and help American players, American young players, especially, if we can. Then, of course, you've got to look at the international stars, and Nalbandian is that. And then right at the last second, the day before the draw was done, Nalbandian actually got‑‑ he secured entry on his ranking. So we ended up not having to give him the wildcard. Q. There is a cutoff date, isn't there? They have to be ranked a certain... RAYMOND MOORE: Right. It's 42 days before. At that cutoff date, he didn't make the cut. But then, you know, when we had one or two injury withdrawals ‑ I think he was ranked 86 ‑ and then he actually got in the day before the draw was made. That gave us the ability to issue another wildcard to another deserving player. But Nalbandian had the security 42 days out knowing because we had committed a wildcard to him. Q. So when you announce wildcards, that might change? RAYMOND MOORE: It may change. Sometimes it does; sometimes, you know, you issue a wildcard. We gave a wildcard in the qualifying to the USC No. 1 player, and then he got injured in a college match just prior to the qualifying, and so, you know, he went out. You know, that happens. Guys get injured or something happens. But the three of us always get together. Steve provides all the input and gives that to Charlie and I. Between the three of us, we make those decisions. Q. Do they have to apply or do you seek them out? RAYMOND MOORE: Most of the time they apply. 99% of the time they apply. So for example, when Lleyton Hewitt didn't apply, we thought, Well... And then we heard Tony Roche was gonna be in town. Then we couldn't quite, you know, make those facts gel. Then we reached out to find out, well, is Lleyton coming? Does he want a wildcard? What's the story? As Charlie says, you know, he had surgery and is recovering so he wasn't able. Roche was here to coach Ebden. Q. A lot of your decision‑making process is based on a lot of things like former champions, or Nalbandian playing Rafa so well... RAYMOND MOORE: Well, not that he plays Rafa so well. He's just a great player. Anybody that's won our tournament ‑‑ you know, two years ago Philippoussis applied for a wildcard and we actually gave him one. Just prior to the tournament being played or before the draw was made, he ended up replacing John McEnroe in a tournament in Switzerland, a 35 and over. So then he didn't take the wildcard here. He went there. You know, those things happened, but the reason that we gave Philippoussis a wildcard is because he won the tournament some years ago. CHARLIE PASARELL: I think probably the most‑ I don't know why we call it spectacular wildcard we ever gave ‑ was to Goran Ivanisevic. He couldn't get into the tournament, but because of his famous performances and his popularity here we decided to give him one, right? His ranking was... And, you know, he came and played and did a little bit better than he had done in the past. But the interesting thing is he ended up winning Wimbledon that year. MATT VAN TUINEN: Breakfast, in my delay, is here. People can feel free to roll through as we're doing this. You don't have to sit and wait for the end. Feel free to get up. CHARLIE PASARELL: But wildcards are always probably one of the toughest things that we have to do, you know, because it's hard to pick one kid over another kid or one player over another player. It's always a difficult one. And so, you know, you have to make a decision. So sometimes you disappoint a player, but... RAYMOND MOORE: We consult with the USTA all the time on their player development, who they have. We talked with Patrick McEnroe, you know, What players do you want? He recommends and so, you know, we exhaust all avenues to try and select the best possible wildcards. CHARLIE PASARELL: And I want to point out, you know, because we do have those kinds of situations, and particularly, you know, we actually host a prequalifying tournament prior to the event. We had combined men's and women's. We had over 150 players‑‑ STEVE SIMON: 165. CHARLIE PASARELL: 165 players. So, you know, the winner of that event, winner of the women's and winner of the men's, actually get a wildcard into the qualifying. It's an opportunity, and you cannot believe, I mean, the tennis is fantastic. It's really exciting. No money. They just come for the opportunity to get into the qualifying. So we try to give as much‑‑ as many opportunities for anybody to come and try to get to play in this event. Q. Coincidence two men's winners for UCLA... CHARLIE PASARELL: That's right. The last year have been top UCLA players. Q. Does anybody else do pre‑quallies? CHARLIE PASARELL: I don't know. Maybe some of the other journalists can answer that question. But, yeah, I'm sure that other places do it, as well. Q. They might be called wildcard playoffs, as well as but essentially pre‑qualifying. Something about the court surface and speed of. There is actually a discussion going on across the world now that courts are slowing down. Seems to be as a matter of course. When Paris‑Bercy few years ago sped those up it was a terrific tournament, more variety of shots. Dubai last week there were some terrific rallies, different sorts of shots. Have you thought perhaps here speeding up the court surface a wee bit? There has been quite a conversation about it. CHARLIE PASARELL: No, we have maintained the same speed for as long as I think we've been running this event here, and not only here but even when we were at the Hyatt and even prior to that at La Quinta. We've always felt that medium‑paced court is probably the fairer surface. If you look at the players that have won here, you know, we have had essentially groundstrokers, you know, well‑known clay‑court players, and we've also had the big serve and volley, hard‑hitter players who win the tournament. So it's really who plays ‑‑ whatever style game you play I think you can win here; you just have to play your best game to win here. But we've never changed the speed of the court. We've tried to maintain that same medium‑paced court through all these years. RAYMOND MOORE: I think some of the players may object, Neil, to speeding up the court so that Isner can serve little harder than 143 miles an hour. But also, you know, going back, I remember some years where Patrick Rafter, who is a serve volley player, came and complained to Charlie and I and said the courts are too slow. In the same tournament Courier came and complained and said they were too fast. So, you know, when we have that, we think we've hit the right medium. Q. It's a game of aesthetics and tradition. We have Maria and Victoria going out there today. A lot of people in the general fan base really do complain about the grunting. As much on TV as in person. Could you address that? Is that a problem? What should be done or should not be done? CHARLIE PASARELL: Well, I hear it all the time, yeah. I wish they wouldn't do it. I don't know how you can change it today. I mean, you know... RAYMOND MOORE: I had an interesting thing happen that I actually asked‑‑ and I think Steve, I don't know if we discussed with Charlie. I think we did. I watched a match out on Court 2, and it was Mardy Fish playing Ebden. The score was 4‑All in the second set, and deuce Mardy Fish was serving, and he lost the first set. It was the point that he totally dominated. He ended up at the net and Ebden way out, and he had an easy forehand volley and he just played a little drop volley. But Ebden is so fast that he took off after the ball, and just before the ball bounced twice Mardy said, Yeah, like that. Ebden complained, and the umpire awarded the point as interference to Ebden. And so my question‑‑ I actually talked with the USTA president that night who was in Mr.Ellison's suite, and I said, If that's interference, how come you don't apply it to the women who are grunting and shrieking after every single point? I mean, they fined Mardy Fish a point, and a very important point, too. It wasn't just 40‑ Love. Ended up giving Ebden a break point, he breaks and wins the match. So I don't know. I don't know how they're gonna do it. It's the people that, you know, that make the rules that may have to do something. That's, I guess, the answer. Q. I mean, isn't the difference there that the opponent objected? Just like in cricket, if it's the fielding team that's got to appeal the batsman out... Q. You may have to explain what cricket is. CHARLIE PASARELL: Cricket is something that makes a lot of noise here. Sorry. Q. It's the bug game. So you have that rule there. In that instance... RAYMOND MOORE: I think the person that is best capable of answering this question is Mr.Simon, because he's on the WTA board. (Laughter.) Q. Throw him under the bus. STEVE SIMON: Where is that license plate that just went by? RAYMOND MOORE: What are you gonna do about it? STEVE SIMON: Obviously we haven't done anything about it. (Laughter.) CHARLIE PASARELL: But, you know, I haven't gone out and checked it out. A lot of people say, It's interesting. A lot of the players that grunt, you know, if you go watch them practice, they don't grunt in practice. That's curious. But in matches they do. Anyway, I wish it wouldn't happen. I think like most everybody, but I don't know how... Q. I hate to get serious at a moment like this, but could there be a rule grandfathering in where young players coming up if they grunt there is a hindrance rule? Is that a possibility? STEVE SIMON: Yeah. I mean, I think if you ever did put it in, you have to start it down in the challengers and satellites and slowly work it in. CHARLIE PASARELL: Juniors. STEVE SIMON: Like I said, what Charlie said, it's pretty hard to tell somebody at this point, You can't grunt anymore. This isn't new. It started with Monica a long time ago is when it first came up. This isn't a new situation. You know, to go out and tell them, You can't do that anymore, and then they start losing, you're going down a whole different path now. It's a challenging question. I don't think there is really a good answer for it. But if you did, you'd have to start it young and slowly put it in through the years. Q. Is it a subject of debate on the board level? STEVE SIMON: Oh, yeah. Q. I think that's a fascinating element. STEVE SIMON: Yeah. Q. Are you talking about the prospect of doing something about it down the line? STEVE SIMON: No, it's on every agenda. We sit there and have this conversation. Q. With the facility, you guys have talked the last few years about mixed‑use; didn't have the basketball game this year, but are you looking to bring that back, other events, anything new? RAYMOND MOORE: We didn't have the basketball this year because there was no season. CHARLIE PASARELL: We were in the middle of a lockout. RAYMOND MOORE: We will be having the basketball. We've talked with Dick Heckmann. We've got a couple of teams. Dick actually yesterday mentioned it yesterday to Mr.Ellison and told him the teams he's looking at bringing in. So I think pretty much that if we can find another team to play the Suns, it will happen again. Q. The obligatory boxing question. We have a guy from Cathedral City has a little fight in June. He was out here sniffing around. He'd love to fight here, I think. RAYMOND MOORE: We'd love to do that if Mr.Arum could make a financial deal for us that we're not hocking our houses. STEVE SIMON: We actually visited with him when he was here. It was fun to see him. We wished him well in his upcoming fight. Says, Well, if you go win that, then they have to come fight you in your house; this could be your house. So he got pretty excited about that. We like the idea. RAYMOND MOORE: We'd like to look at a lot of things, mixed use. We unfortunately had to postpone the rock 'n roll marathon we were going to do on New Year's Day. We're constantly looking for other events. We do have an arts festival. We have a car show. We do quite a few other things here. We'd like to do more. We run a host of tennis tournaments, amateur tennis tournaments. We do the national 55 and overs. We do all kinds of tennis events here. Q. Today we have the treat of seeing Roger again in the final. Sort of every time when we say, Oh, he's over the hill he says, The heck with you guys. Now he's going for his third tournament of the season. What makes that guy so, so special, a champion? CHARLIE PASARELL: I want to tell you, in my opinion, I never saw Roger Federer play any better than how he played yesterday. That's the best I've ever seen him play any time that I've witnessed. He just played unbelievable under difficult conditions, conditions that I thought would favor Rafa. I mean, he just played unbelievable. So whether it's the old Roger or the new, new Roger, I don't know. But to kind of answer your question more specifically, you know, I know he feels that he's still got a lot left in him. He has certainly a few majors left in him, one or two or whatever. The way he's playing, he's showing it. So, I mean, he's got the kind of game that is‑‑ you know, he moves so well with such little effort, or at least appears that way, that I think he can have a very long career. Q. On the flip side of that, so to speak, John Isner is really emerging now. He's having a great run of his own. He was always just seen as a guy with a huge, huge serve for a while. Why do you think he's emerged? CHARLIE PASARELL: I think, as I said earlier, he has some enormous weapons, starting with the serve, and I think he's got a very dangerous forehand. His backhand is not that bad. He volleys well. Obviously being the big guy he is, you know, he doesn't move as well as the other guys. But, boy, you know, you can almost sense it. You know, if a guy misses the first serve and he's got a break points or something like that, watch out, because he's gonna whack away at a forehand. If it goes in, it's over. We witnessed that yesterday. And then to try to break his serve, I mean, it's a real task for any player. So he can beat anybody and he's shown it. You know, he beat Roger in Davis Cup a few weeks ago in Switzerland on clay. You know, he beat Djokovic yesterday. I mean, if he can play that consistently, you know, he's gonna be in there. He's gonna be in the mix. Very dangerous player. RAYMOND MOORE: I'd like to just weigh in on Roger for a second. I think he's definitely gonna win one or two more majors, for sure. My impression has been the last couple of years watching Roger it seems to me that, one, the game is so easy for him that he appears to me always to be playing in second gear and never at full throttle. Yesterday I saw him at full throttle, and, I mean, he has it. The guy's in great shape. He's very relaxed. I mean, he's 30. I mean, he can play another four years, you know. Connors was in the in the semis of the US Open at 39. It can happen. I was very impressed with the way he's playing. I saw him in overdrive yesterday. It's the best I've seen him play. I definitely think he's gonna win one or two more. Q. The great ones always make playing look easy. RAYMOND MOORE: He always looked to me like the game is too easy for him. Q. That's what I'm saying. RAYMOND MOORE: He's just flicking shots. And it never seemed to me there was a sense of urgency the last couple of years, but suddenly I saw it yesterday? CHARLIE PASARELL: I mean, he plays some shots. I don't know if most of the public can appreciate, but Rafa is hitting this heavy topspin balls deep, because Rafa wasn't playing that bad, in my opinion. Roger was picking the ball just‑‑ I mean, it's like a drop kick off his backhand. And not just hitting it back, driving it. And I'm saying, My God, that's so hard to do, just the timing of that. And he did it time and time again. I've never seen him hit his backhand as good as he did yesterday. Certainly he's always had a great forehand. He also hit it great, too. But his backhand was remarkable yesterday. Q. What about his mental side? Over the years you've seen a lot of great champions with mental toughness, like, I don't know, Pete or way back to Arthur and so forth. He has such a resilience. CHARLIE PASARELL: That's right. Q. Many years without a coach. On court he seems to always have an answer. Never gets riled. Can you talk about the mental side? CHARLIE PASARELL: Obviously he's got it. I mean, he seems, as Raymond says, he's out there and always confident and never discouraged about, you know, how he plays. Just keeps at it. He seems to‑‑ you know, he's got it. You don't win that many tournaments, those many titles, you know, unless you have it. You can get lucky and win one and lose it. I mean, we've seen many players like that, but not Roger. Q. Have you guys forced the Grand Slams to have Hawk‑Eye on every court now? CHARLIE PASARELL: We have encouraged them. Q. Yes, you have. By example. CHARLIE PASARELL: Well, not only by example. I've had a couple of conversations. I'm saying, Guys, do it. No reason why you shouldn't be doing it. I think they should. Q. What's been the feedback? Will they? CHARLIE PASARELL: They're thinking about it. I'm fairly confident that they will at some point. Q. Can you put a dollar figure on the cost of that? CHARLIE PASARELL: Steve? Infrastructure‑wise? STEVE SIMON: Well, the issue that probably the slams are having ‑ I can't speak for them because I think they'd like to do it ‑ is probably infrastructure‑related, and because it takes a tremendous amount of infrastructure from power as well as to connectivity as well as reviewing areas, as well. So, I mean, it's not a simple process. So for us to have put in the Hawk‑Eye on our outer courts was clearly a seven‑figure investment initially, and then you have the ongoing investment that goes with it. So our facility was preset. We had conduit going around the site that they may not have at the age of some of those venues and what they've got. So it's a significant challenge for them just to get the infrastructure in place to make the system work. I think that's the challenges that they're having, otherwise I think they'd do it in a heartbeat. CHARLIE PASARELL:  And I believe they're already talking about adding‑‑ you know, so we have it on this stadium, this stadium, and this stadium, one more and one more. So it may be a process. Maybe not all of them at once, but, you know, they keep adding it in more stadiums. STEVE SIMON: It's clearly the right thing to do. The competition should have the same tools on every court, and they told us that. CHARLIE PASARELL: It's fair for every player playing in the tournament. They play under the same rules, so to speak. And by the way, we said it before, but that was really actually Mr.Ellison's initiative to us. He said, You know, it's gotta be fair for every player. So look into it. Let's get it done if we can do it. Q. In the Federer/Del Potro match, what was the issue there with the Hawk‑Eye? STEVE SIMON: They had, I believe, an equipment failure on their side, which can happen. I think they had actually a patch cable come loose that they had to put back in. It was that simple. Q. Staying on topic with infrastructure, again, every year there are so many great changes even with the media center. New monitors, practice courts have bleachers now, the dining setup upstairs is raised up seating so you can see what's going on. Seems like a lot more revenue sources too on the grounds. What are things are you guys most proud of this year? RAYMOND MOORE: Boy, there are so many. I think the shade structure is almost the biggest impact, because, you know, it allowed the fans to really go and have lunch and have a drink in comfort and not have the sun beating down on them. The sun here is always a factor. I mean, there are lots of things. But if you said to me, What is the most important this year, I think the shade structure. I mean, people look at it, and the skin on the shade structure is a 15‑year life span, so it's gonna be around for a while. Q. Metrodome remnants. (Laughter.) CHARLIE PASARELL: Yeah, but there are a lot of things that you don't see, improvements in infrastructure, you know, besides‑‑ I agree with Raymond. I think the shade structure for the fans is very well received. But the improvements on the video walls, and also the things that we're doing in‑house for basically our internal network to be able to program every one of those video walls and provide information, entertainment to the fans no matter where they are. I mean, I think one of my favorite scenes is when you look at the big video wall out there on the east side of the stadium, you know, those people sitting back down, there are some people that will sit there basically the whole day and watch probably more of the tennis tournament because we provide them so much. Q. And they're comfortable chairs? CHARLIE PASARELL: Comfortable and they take their naps. That's one of my favorite scenes. RAYMOND MOORE: Taking a nap? CHARLIE PASARELL: I've thought about doing it a few times. RAYMOND MOORE: I just wanted to interject here with what Charlie says, because yesterday I was in the box office and two of the ladies said to me, Will you take a suggestion? I said, Yeah, sure. So they said, We need to create a ticket for our Henman's Hill. They said, We can sell it. People are calling up and saying can they just get a ticket for this area that Charlie is talking about with the video screens and call it Indian Wells' Henman Hill. CHARLIE PASARELL: Everything. The added seating area around the practice courts and the new seating. I mean, things like‑‑ you know, I don't know if you guys are aware, but we replaced ‑‑ not only did we add permanent seats to the lower parts of all of our stadiums, but we also replaced all of the seats in the lower bowl of the stadium. They were getting worn out. They're 13 years old. Every one of those is a brand new seat. That's an expensive thing. So you may not notice, but we painted the entire outside of the stadium. Steve, for you guys, and maybe I'll let him explain, but, you know, the cabling of fiberoptics to get the information out, information in, we quadrupled it. Things, again, that you don't see that make it function so you guys don't get, you know... RAYMOND MOORE: My car was washed. CHARLIE PASARELL: Your car was washed? RAYMOND MOORE: Yeah. CHARLIE PASARELL: Mine wasn't. (Laughter.) But, you know, all these things. The sound systems. You know, we have improved the sound systems on Stadium and Stadiums 2 and 3. So just, you know, piece by piece. That all enhances the experience of everybody and fans. I think, to me, also one of the most exciting scenes is practices, you know. When you go out there and see a top player going out there to practice and you have all those seats occupied and people hanging over the rafters, you know, to see them practice, that's exciting. We have been talking about maybe expanding the seating around the practice courts just because the fans love it so much. So those are the things that we, you know, we spend a lot of time talking about. Q. That's what I mean. A lot of things we saw, but there's plenty more you say and we didn't see. Steve, from your aspect, we were down in the tunnel the other night, even just putting the wrap up on the walls down there is something I don't think was up before. STEVE SIMON: Yeah, I mean, as you said, there is a lot that goes into it. And as you're hearing and I said earlier, there is so much more we feel we can do. We're gonna continue pushing those levels. We get asked the question a lot, you know, What did you like best, or anything? My answer is: Not any one specific issue, but more for us the success in this, it's a balance. Again, it's a balance between one of a top international competition, which we need to balance and provide the best facilities and the best opportunities for these athletes to compete at the highest level, because that makes the product, that's the basis. And then the other side of it, this is about entertainment. Hey, that's exactly what it is. So if we see the patrons out there having fun, okay, and all over the place, they're enjoying themselves, we've created the right environment, then it's successful and we know it's working. It's the combination. It's a collective thing of all of those elements, not just one specific one. It's all of those, and the attention to detail and all those elements that, I think, bring the success. Our focus is on that detail. How can we continue to ratchet it up? Q. Can you talk about the attendance? I heard you set the attendance record for yesterday's session. You still have today to go. How many sellouts have you had in terms of sessions? How many have you had this year? I know you've just touched on it, but is there anything... STEVE SIMON: This was a record year that I think we will ‑ we'll obviously get it through today ‑ but I think we will encroach 370,000 this year. Our sellouts, again, are based upon us maxing out parking. That's how we determine when we stop. You will see in the attendance one day there is a few more than others and it's still a sellout. Well, I got more cars in that day or people carpooled that day or we cut it off when we hit those levels. What it's done to us is we have now‑‑ because it's become a tough ticket on some days. It's spreading out into the shoulder parts of the event, either prior to the first weekend, the second week, of now becoming very popular. You saw crowds here on‑site on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, that you haven't seen here before. Obviously that's some of the best tennis of the whole tournament, the round of 16 and some of those matchups, and the value for your ticket being out there and seeing Stadiums 2 and 3 and all of that. It really is growing nicely. But this year, with respect to records, we sold out Friday, Saturday, Sunday of the first week. We sold out Saturday evening for the first time, actual sellout of an evening session. Both yesterday and today are sold out for the sessions. We almost sold out Thursday day of the first week, and Monday and Tuesday days of the second week we were very close to sellouts. Q. If you could step back and just say, Hey, looking at this long, long run you've had, Hey, this is the very best decision I've made over the years; and on the flip side if you could change one thing, what would you change? CHARLIE PASARELL: Just in general? Q. Yeah. CHARLIE PASARELL: Wow, I think, first of all, it's been a collective decision over the years with Raymond and I, you know, doing these kinds of things. We have had our challenges over the years, believe you me. We have had some big challenges. But, you know, you can start with the construction of the stadium, you know, when we decided‑‑ I think I've told somebody we came very close od actually moving this several times, this tournament moving out of here. First to LasVegas, subsequently to Asia, and then to the Middle East, you know. We have had our challenges. But Raymond and I have always felt we've got to somehow keep it here. So we were successful in finding the right partner at the time with IMG, Mark McCormack, to build the stadium here, and that was a major step forward. Subsequently, we addressed all the challenges that came after that from 9/11 and all the other things that, you know, that really affected not only us but many people. And finally, I mean, having Mr.Ellison just coming in and basically just securing the event to always stay here, he's just, from my perspective, the perfect owner. I mean, he's... Raymond and I are extremely happy that all of those developments have happened. There are so many things. I don't think you can say it's the one thing. I'm happy it's still here. I'm happy it's having the success. I'm happy Mr.Ellison is the owner. By the way, I'm happy we have this guy running the show over here (Pointing to Steve) because he is amazing. I'm telling you, he really is an amazing guy in terms of the perfect tournament director, you know. So from that perspective, you know, I think we've made a lot of‑‑ Raymond and I have made some good decisions. They haven't come easy. Trust me, they've come with difficulty. Q. Between the three of you, if you could change one thing in your run, what would you change? RAYMOND MOORE: I never have thought about that. CHARLIE PASARELL: Nor I. RAYMOND MOORE: I don't think that way, what would I change. I just support what Charlie said. Going back, so many people that are responsible for this event being here, not the least of which is Mark McCormack. If Mark McCormack didn't sign off on guaranteeing the money to build this stadium, you know, I don't know where we'd be. Charlie and I didn't have the balance sheet to support a $77 million construction, which is what this cost, and Mark McCormack did. He stepped up. So without Mark McCormack, this wouldn't have been here. And there have been other people that have been influential along the way. A lot of people responsible for the success of this event. But we're very happy where we are now. As Charlie said, a lot of hard times. We were almost forced, you know, to leave the United States at one time, and that's ‑‑ with Mark McCormack on one end and Larry Ellison on the other, and Mr.Ellison finally said, No way. I'm not gonna let this tournament leave the United States or California. Q. On a local level, too, you've had some challenges with some of the former elected officials out here. That seems to have changed now. Looking forward, do you anticipate any problems with the city council out here if you go to them with plans? RAYMOND MOORE: I don't think so. You're right. You know, the attitude on the council has changed significantly. Now they're kind of looking at us as they always said they should, as partners, and we are the single biggest event in the Valley. We contribute to their coffers significantly through the admissions tax. Now they seem to be very cooperative and trying to make things happen here; whereas before maybe that wasn't the case. But it is now. We're happy, again, it's evolved. Q. No complaints about stadium lights this year? RAYMOND MOORE: They get a couple. They get a couple. But, you know, in our CUP, we're allowed to have the lights on for two weeks of the year. That's all we do up to a certain time. Some residents, but very few, there are very few complaints. Q. Regarding the lights, I'm curious, why are they on for so long at night when play finishes? I'm trying to figure out what time they actually go off. From the hotel I can still see them at 2:00 or whatever in the morning. STEVE SIMON: Two reasons: It shows you how much work is going on when everyone is gone, so for safety they need the light because it takes us all night to get the site ready for the next morning. This is a 24‑hour business during the tournament period. And then security, as well. We're definitely always cautious with security and the profile of the event and allow security to see what's going on. Q. Do you know what the broadcast schedule and the windows are on the networks? Today things are unsettled. STEVE SIMON: Today is ABC, and it will start at 11:00 here, 2:00 Eastern to 6:00, and then they'll carry it based upon how the day is going from there. If we go over the window, they'll go to national news and probably, I believe, take it to either ESPN 2 or ESPN news if it just goes forever. Q.  Going back to the parking lot, because that appears to be your bottleneck, is there something that you're planning to do? Is there something that you can do? CHARLIE PASARELL: Yes. You may not have been here. That was the first question that was asked. MATT VAN TUINEN: It's in the transcript. CHARLIE PASARELL: Yes. The answer is yes. And we should have additional‑‑ we hope to have additional parking for next year's tournament, but it's a process. We have to get the permits and do all of that. It's in the transcript. Q. Can you remind us how many parking spots you have right now? What's the capacity it allows you to have? STEVE SIMON: We have right now over 10,000 parking spaces. Q. That allows you full capacity on the grounds? STEVE SIMON: Right now we will cap it off at about 24,000 people. CHARLIE PASARELL: I just want to make one comment here, because it's something I think about this tournament that actually is pretty unique, and it's the doubles. I think it's something that has evolved, but we can claim to be the best doubles tournament in the world mainly because all of the top stars or a majority of the top stars end up playing doubles. It was really nice last night after, you know. It was cold and dark, but we had the women's doubles final. Liezel Huber came to Steve and I. We were just there and made the presentation. She literally got her trophy and went back, and all of a sudden she ran back before we got off the court and she thanked us for making doubles such an interesting‑‑ when we played on Stadium 4, there were more people trying to get into the stands to watch us play doubles. She said, That was great. So she really thanked us. We said, Thank you guys for really putting on the show. But doubles, the doubles competition here has taken an air of its own. I think the players‑‑ not only do they play in the doubles tournament, but they really are wanting to win the doubles. I think it's become very exciting. Q. How about mixed? You talked a little about mixed last year. CHARLIE PASARELL: One step at a time. (Laughter.) No... Q. Especially in an Olympic year? CHARLIE PASARELL: It's possible. But we have‑‑ and the other thing is we have so many other events that are going on in the final week. We have two other competitions going on, amateur competitions. Yeah. Q. One final question about the sponsorship. Could you tell us more about BNP Paribas and their commitment to the tournament? They have a long history in tennis. CHARLIE PASARELL: They're here; we have a five‑year contract; we're in the fourth year. We're gonna be having discussions after this tournament with them, and we feel good and we hope that they stick around. We'll let you know. Q. Regarding the surface and the ball, talking to the players they all say the surface here is on the slow side, balls tend to get very big, and it's difficult to finish the points. Is it something that is under consideration? CHARLIE PASARELL: I've also talked to some players‑‑ Raymond made the comment. We have also had players come to talk to us and say, The surface is too fast, you have to slow it down. That's why we know we're on the right track because, we hear from both sides. I remember one day standing there and one player came in and sayssame thing, This court is too slow. You have to speed it up. I said, Really? The other player came in and says, Are you kidding? The court is still too fast, you know. So it's either slow or fast and you're gonna have 50/50. So we know now we have it just right. And all you have to do is look at the list of winners that we have had over the years and who's a big server, fast player, and who is somebody that stays in the back court, plays in the plays in the back court, and it all evens out. Q. How many years ago was it that somebody complained to you that the stadium was way too large and why did you build such a large stadium? Do you remember your answer? CHARLIE PASARELL: I do. I think I said, I don't think so. You know, we need room to grow, and guess what? We're now looking for more room to grow. So it doesn't feel that large anymore, you know. So when we first built our stadium at the Hyatt, you know, it was beautiful and still was a great place and everything.  Raymond and I felt, oh, we'll be here for the rest of our lives. Didn't take us but four years to realize that we needed to expand. So we wanted to make sure we have room for expansion here. It's not just the size of the stadium. It's everything that goes around it. Q. So this stadium isn't gonna become Stadium No. 2 and build a huge stadium? CHARLIE PASARELL: Anything can happen. (Laughter.) FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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