While the US Open keeps making efforts to evolve with the changing times, fans are unhappy. In a recent move, the tournament has planned to double down on giving formal accreditation to content creators. While there were around 54 creators given access to the Slam, the tournament aims to increase that number to more than 100 this year, leaving fans frustrated.

Using content creators is a way for the US Open to increase viewership among younger audiences and people who are not hardcore tennis fans. The tournament did not limit itself to sports but included creators from all fields, such as health, fashion, and lifestyle. The move, even though innovative, was successful, as it contributed to almost 5.5 million social media engagements, which helped increase total attendance to over 1.14 million.

However, in light of the hike in ticket prices in New York, fans are rightly frustrated at the event’s practice of handing out tickets to people who are not hardcore fans. With resale ticket prices exceeding $300, allocating seats to content creators will reduce the general public’s chances of getting tickets to the event.

The content creators were given varying levels of access last year, something that ticketed spectators often don’t get. The creators were given courtside seats so they could capture the live action and share it with thousands of their followers. Like traditional media, content creators have their own designated media zones during the tournament, along with backstage access to player tunnels and practice courts.

While this year’s content creators will have the freedom to create the content they choose, there will be a team of 15-20 content creators on the US Open’s payroll, helping them improve on last year’s 3.1 billion social media interactions. YouTube is the main platform of focus for the tournament, which introduced the “Rally the Burroughs” series, following the success of the “Game Set Matchmaker” series from last year.

It’s not only the US Open, but other Slams have also recognized the commercial value and reach of content creators. Back in 2023, even Wimbledon, which is considered the most traditional of the four Slams, hired Morgan Riddle, an influencer making a name for herself in tennis as Taylor Fritz’s partner. Riddle did a small series of titles, “Wimbledon Threads,” which attempted to bring fashion and tennis together.

Despite the US Open’s innovative new direction, fans were not having it, blaming the tournament for putting commercial interests over the public interest.

US Open Gets Fan Backlash for Content Creator Decision

Amid massive price hikes, fans on social media slammed the US Open for the decision to let more content creators, spots that could have been given to the common public. “It won’t matter when hundreds of thousands of fans pay exorbitant ticket prices thanks in part to price gouging by the USTA, but the cabal that runs the US Open is particularly skilled at doing things to detract for an exceptional event,” said a fan on X.

Another fan said, “No event has more completely lost the plot than the us open…went from being an actually fun nyc summer event to the most over commercialized/thirstiest/most ridiculously overpriced thing out there…legit bummer.”

Another fan made a sarcastic jibe at the ticketing situation, saying, “So that’s why the average fan can’t get a ticket,” while another fan had a more blunt take, saying, “RIP US Open.”

Understandably, traditional tennis fans did not welcome the introduction of content creators, with one of them saying, “Nasty work by the @USTA, I don’t need influencers who don’t know shit about the game to show me the game.”

Even with fan backlash, the US Open does not seem to be slowing down in its partnerships with content creators, as it has decided to let creators work with traditional media teams this year and has opened its doors to podcasters as well.