Last year's champion, Maria Sharapova
© Mark Kolbe
2011 surpassed all attendance records with nine of 16 sessions selling out
Tournament becomes first major sports entity to sell tickets within Facebook
CINCINNATI, OH (February 27, 2012) – Tickets for the 2012 Western & Southern Open go on sale to the general public starting February 29 at 10AM.
"You can’t find a more exciting ten days in professional sports in our region," said Chief Operating Officer and Tournament Director Vince Cicero. "The food, music and entertainment combined with the best players in the world create a special atmosphere that 59 million people across the globe tune in to watch."
The event will be played August 11-19, 2012 at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, OH. Cincinnati is one of only five tennis events in the world, outside of the grand slams, where the best men and women play at the same venue during the same week. This year’s purse is set at $5.6 million.
Last year, 175,000 people turned out through the week to watch men’s champion Andy Murray and women’s champion Maria Sharapova grab the largest shares of the $5.2 million purse. Murray bested world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the final to win his second Cincinnati championship. Sharapova, the world’s highest earning and most popular female athlete, captured her first women’s title.
Attendance at last year’s tournament shattered all historical records, with nine of the 16 sessions selling out. The first day of the event established an all-time session-attendance record and per session attendance was 35% higher on average. Most days have two sessions, a day and an evening. Attendance will average roughly 25,000 people per day in 2012.
For the first time, the event will sell tickets to fans directly within the tournament’s Facebook fan page, an innovation believed to be a first among major sports teams and tennis events. Many franchises post links on Facebook to their external ticketing websites, but do not actually execute the sale within the leading social network.
Inside the new Facebook ticketing app, fans will be able to purchase their tickets with a few clicks, without ever having to leave Facebook. They then have the option of posting the news of their ticket purchase on their "wall" for friends to see.
How fans can purchase tickets
Fans are always welcome to call our offices at 513.651.0303 to purchase.