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BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 22, 2009

INDIAN WELLS, CALIFORNIA

THE MODERATOR: I don't really need to introduce these guys, so I'll just let them start. If you guys would like to start with a couple of comments, that's fine and then we'll open it up for questions.
CHARLIE PASARELL: Since I'm eating my eggs, Raymond should start, anyway.
THE MODERATOR: Absolutely.
RAYMOND MOORE: I'll just start it off. Firstly, I mean, I really think Charlie and I are ecstatic at what's happened to the tournament this year. We were really concerned in the months prior to the tournament with the economy and the meltdown, the world meltdown, some malaise.
Our ticket sales from September last year through to January were taking a huge whack, and we just thought, Oh, my god, what is going to happen in this tournament?
And then, starting January, we had a little uptake in interest, and in February even more. Suddenly, March, it just exploded. I haven't seen the final figures, but I think that we're within a whisper of duplicating the 2008 results, both from a dollar point of view and from an attendance point of view.
We may even surpass 2008, which I think, in this economy, is just stupendous. We really thought that we were going to take a bath.
So everything, all the gods -- all the planets have aligned, and we have had 13 perfect days. This is the 14th.
The weather has been great. On the men's side, the marquee players have been winning. They're having great matchups. The women, we were a little concerned on the ladies side, but Ana Ivanovic hanging in there and going to the final and being the defending title holder is also excellent for us.
Would have liked to have seen maybe some more competitive matches on the women's side, but, you know, that happens. It goes in cycles. Eight, nine years ago, the women were the ones that were carrying the day. The men were playing bridesmaids, and now maybe it's the other way around.
All in all, I think Charlie and I are absolutely ecstatic at what's happened to this tournament. I think the last two years have seen it. Seems that Californian public have finally embraced this event and actually realized the magnitude of it, and maybe that's the reason why we've had the attendance figures.
People will come here. I think our ticket, the price of our ticket is really very fan friendly. We're cheaper than other tennis tournaments. We're cheaper than Miami, we're cheaper than Canada, and we're way cheaper than the US Open.

Q. You mean more reasonable? It's not a cheap tournament.
RAYMOND MOORE: More reasonable. That's a better word.
CHARLIE PASARELL: Less expensive.
RAYMOND MOORE: And I think we're all concerned about that. So all in all, we're very, very happy.
CHARLIE PASARELL: I mean, what Raymond said is exactly right. We've just had a fantastic tournament. Let's talk tennis a little bit. I mean, I think I'll start with the women's side. Obviously, you know, no need to get into it, but not having the Williamses here, it's really pretty much of a wide open field.
What I found interesting about the women's event was that there are new, young girls coming up. Some of them I cannot pronounce their names, so I was sweating it out that a couple of them would make it to the finals. I would have a very difficult time saying their names, but I'm sure eventually we'll get used to those names.
Can somebody help me?

Q. Pavlyuchenkova.
CHARLIE PASARELL: Thank you. I was very impressed by her. Obviously we've seen Azarenka. I saw her on television, that match she played against Serena at the Australian Open, but, you know, I think there's a little bit of a changing of the guard coming in in women's tennis.
And, you know, it's interesting that Ana Ivanovic is like a veteran. I mean, she just only broke through, what, two years ago? So all of a sudden there are new challengers out there. That's the interesting thing I saw in the women, just all of a sudden, a bunch of new players.
I've been looking for, you know, again, being from the U.S., obviously, you know, to see who, from the women's side also, from the U.S. who is going to breakthrough, and I didn't see anybody. That was an observation.
On the men's side, you know, I just don't think -- I think if Raymond sat there and said, Okay, who do we want to win this match, you know, for the next day? If we actually filled up the draw and controlled the results, I don't think we would have done anything differently than what happened.
RAYMOND MOORE: A dream semifinals.
CHARLIE PASARELL: It was unbelievable. It seems is hard to pick, because there are so many good players, and attractive players, you know, that it was hard to pick. But it's just been terrific from the men's side.
Roger, yesterday, I thought he would regain -- you know, I saw him struggling and struggling. All of a sudden, the old Roger came through towards the end of the second set. It was, you know, that moment of brilliance. He played some remarkable shots, you know, like he used to.
I remember making the comment to people sitting next to me, I said, You know, that's the old Roger, after he made a shot, you know.
All of a sudden, after Andy slipped, fell, you know, he just like totally lost it, completely lost it.
I wasn't here for the press conference, so I don't know what he said, but his confidence has been shaken. I think, as we all have learned over the years, that he's going to have to work twice as hard as he's ever worked before and get himself really fit. I just don't see him moving his feet like he used to. I don't think -- he's out of position when he's hitting the ball. That's what I see. That's my observation.
He doesn't seem to be in position. Therefore, he's mishitting a lot of balls on the backhand, but even some on the forehand, which is, you know, unusual. Because he's got, in my opinion, one of the best forehands ever. I think it's a question of him really getting himself working very hard, getting himself in good condition, doing the old drills that we used to do way back then, the 2-1 drills that Harry Hopman made popular, so that really you would get yourself in a position to hit the ball.
I think to Andy's credit, you know, he played well. He did what he had to do. He hung in there, you know. Anyway, that was the match.
I think the Andy Roddick and Nadal match I thought was a great match. I really did. I think Andy Roddick is back. I mean, he's really -- I think Larry Stefanki has had a positive thing with Andy, and I think Andy is fitter and he's playing well. He's using his shots better. He's coming into the net more. He's using that undercut backhand, slice backhand as we call it, very effectively.
I think Andy is going to have a very, very good year. Wouldn't surprise me if he breaks through and starts beating, you know, the Nadals and Federers, which aren't the only two. He beat Djokovic already, and he's No. 3. So he's there. He's amongst those guys.
So that was really good to see. You have Rafa Nadal, and I want to make a comment about him. I was one of the people that stayed behind till 2:15 in the morning in that match he played against Nalbandian. I mean, I was sitting there, and I kept saying, He's got no chance. There's just no way that he's going to win this match.
I mean, Nalbandian was playing him perfectly, taking the ball early on the rise, pounding it, putting him on the defense, and putting a lot of pressure on him. But I guess, you know, he's one of those rare, great champions that he can somehow find a way to win the match, and that's exactly what he did. He was totally outplayed in the match, but he found a way to win it.
After he won the second set, I mean, Nalbandian just totally fell apart. He was totally demoralized, 6-Love. The score tells the story. That was just a remarkable thing.
Then he goes and plays the semifinal match and wins handily. What does he do after he wins -- quarterfinal match, sorry. What does he do after his quarterfinal match? He goes out there and he goes and practices for about 45 minutes to an hour after his match. He didn't feel happy with the way he was serving, he didn't feel happy how he was hitting his backhand, so he goes out there and practices.
That tells the story. You know, that's probably why he's the No. 1 player today. Today it's going to be interesting. Today it's going to be an interesting match. The weather is going to play a role. It's going to be windy out there. It's going to be an interesting result with all the spins and things. The ball is going to do all kinds of funny things.
It's going to take a lot of patience from both players. They're going to have to put up with odd shots and, you know, funny things happening out there with the ball moving around. It's going to be an interesting thing what happens out there.

Q. Did you guys influence the top players to play the doubles, like Roger and Andy and Rafa? It was wonderful to have them play the doubles.
RAYMOND MOORE: No, we didn't influence them, but we were ecstatic to see the top players playing again. And, I mean, to have Roddick and Mardy Fish win, to have Federer play and ask for a wildcard, and having Nadal ask for a wildcard and to see them play.
First-round match I watched Nadal playing doubles. Down, way down in the tiebreaker, just trying his heart out to win. I mean, it was great. It's really good. That bodes well for the tournament. It's really good to see the top male players embracing doubles again. I think one of the best matches was our doubles final yesterday, men's doubles final.
CHARLIE PASARELL: That was unbelievable.
RAYMOND MOORE: I mean, the crowd really got into the match. It was great to see.

Q. Extraordinary.
CHARLIE PASARELL: You'd have thought there were 50,000 people in the stadium.
RAYMOND MOORE: It was great to see.

Q. On a parochial level, could I ask you gentlemen what you think of Murray and how far you think it's possible that he could go, how high he could go?
RAYMOND MOORE: I'm so impressed with Murray. I mean, he plays in a very unusual way from the rest of the guys on the tour. The rest of the guys, you can almost -- they're almost clones of the style, the quick changes and all of that.
Murray changes the pace from shot to shot. He plays all kinds of different shots. He'll play a roll backhand and then he'll play a slice, then he'll play a long, then he'll play it long, they he'll hit it, and then he'll come in. He's one of those true, natural talents. I don't think that's something you can teach. It's very hard.
And the thing that's you really have to take note on, is he's unbelievably quick. That's what allows him to do these things that he does. Great hands. I mean, how about the winner he hit off Federer's smash? I mean, it wasn't like he was 10 feet behind the baseline. He moved in 10 feet, Federer nailed the smash, and he half volleyed it for a winner. How many people can do that?
I mean, I think Murray is a rare talent, and I hope - I hope - he can be mentally strong enough to stay in the game, because he's great to watch. I love watching Murray play. He seems to be effortless. He hit a serve yet, 138 miles an hour, and it didn't look like he had even tried on it. Really a great talent.
CHARLIE PASARELL: I agree with Raymond. I think he's got, Ã la John McEnroe, but even with more power. Great hands. He's just got -- somehow, it's like the racquet is part of his hand, and he can just kind of take the ball and throw it there and loop it there. But it's almost like he doesn't have a racquet, he's just got a big hand. That's the best way I can describe it. McEnroe was the same way.
You know, as Raymond says, you don't teach that. You're just born with that.
RAYMOND MOORE: When you see him playing he plays short, and then he plays long. The one thing that I don't like about the women's game today, it seems like they are clones. They go left, right, left, right. Bang, bang, bang. I don't see any of the women sort of taking -- you know, playing a short shot, playing a dropshot, playing a loop.
I see Murray out of position, and he plays sort of a high topspin, you know, like the Moon Ball Twins used to play these high things and get back into position, you know, because the ball's taking a long time to get over the net. He's not slapping it out when he's out of position. Really nice to see.
I really think the women could really learn a lot from him if they took part of those elements there and incorporated it into their games. It's great to see that.

Q. Charlie, you've been in this sport, in this game, for your whole life. Obviously as a player, someone who began a charity, a promoter, very active on the political and diplomacy side of this sporting game, contacts with thousands of people. What's the one thing you like the most about this sport of tennis?
CHARLIE PASARELL: Oh, if I could still play, be playing, you know, it's kind of -- I think we do what we do because, A, yes, we do truly love the sport. But we do still somehow stay close enough to, you know, to the game.
But there's no -- I mean, when we were playing, those were our best days. If I had a magic wand and I could do that today, I'd say, Here, take all this. Let me go out on the court.

Q. You still think about the GonzÃ¡lez match?
CHARLIE PASARELL: You guys keep reminding me of it all the time. I try not to, but...

Q. So this doesn't become a total love-in here, I got a lot of e-mail, and I really can't gauge it because I'm here. A lot of people seem to be angry about the television coverage. I've got a lot of that. Apparently the Nadal late-night match was never replayed in any form, and I just wonder what your plans are and what's going on out there. There is something going on. People aren't happy about it. I don't know what it is, because I'm here.
RAYMOND MOORE: Unlike Charlie, I actually went home that night and I watched the TV coverage. If you recall, we were several hours late that night. There was a women's match that I watched -- I think it was Safina - I forget which was the match - Safina playing. They went three sits. The coverage stopped here on the West Coast at 11:00.
I can't blame television for that. They allot a certain amount of hours for the coverage. They have other contracts, other sports, other things. I was very disappointed, obviously, as a tennis fan, but I couldn't criticize TV for that. These are the things that are part of the business.
We're very happy with Fox Sports Net. They have given us great coverage. They've given us the hours we wanted. They are making an investment in the sport, which is what we really wanted. ESPN, on the other side, were cutting back on everything for us. There really was no choice for us.
So Fox Sports Net have really come to the table. It's great to have another major television channel interested in the sport, and we're hoping that maybe we get our network on Fox Sports in the next couple of years. But, Bill, we're very happy with Fox Sports.
CHARLIE PASARELL: Bill, I think we're happy with the progress. And what Raymond said, vis-a-vis why we went from ESPN to Fox Sports, is exactly what happened. You know, the coverage on ESPN would have been even worse. It's not that Fox Sports has given us bad coverage. But as you know, we've got to compete with a lot of other things. We're in a very, very tough period with March Madness and basketball.
So it's not something that we think, Great, we're happy; that's it. As Raymond pointed out, we're constantly working with them. And what has really been great about Fox Sports Net is that they are -- they have commitments, but they really do like what they're doing with us, and with Miami. So they really want to try to, you know, establish themselves as a more influential kind of partner. It's going to take a little bit of time, but we're making great strides.

Q. They haven't done a lot of tennis in the past, have they?
CHARLIE PASARELL: They have done some, but I think they really like this event, and I believe they -- I know they like also Miami, and so...
RAYMOND MOORE: And they're making an investment. They brought in Lindsay Davenport, which I love. I think that's great. A new voice, super star, to do some of commentary. Yesterday they had Paul Annacone on. They're making an investment.
ESPN cut down our hours in the offer they made to us dramatically. Went down to 12 hours; 4 of the 12 hours, the men's semifinals they were going to tape delay until 3:00 in the morning. So it just wasn't even a choice.
I mean, it, as Charlie said, it's all these sporting events that happen to be this time, particularly the Final Four, and NBC had commit today two big golf tournaments. They're committed to Arnold Palmer and Doral. Fox have a long-term commitment with NASCAR, and so Fox even said to us, Well, maybe if we're going to play the finals on Saturday.
So we're trying to navigate our ship through these waters and get the best coverage we can, and Fox stepped up to the plate with 40 hours. Compared to ESPN's, it's not even close. And Fox have embraced the sport. They're making an investment. We're glad to have them as our partners.

Q. Where does this connect with European television? We realize Andy Murray is on every morning at 9:00.
CHARLIE PASARELL: The opposite.
RAYMOND MOORE: We get 3,000 hours of live coverage throughout the world of this tennis tournament, and the coverage in Europe is huge. Huge. It goes out in prime time. One of the reasons we're playing Andy Murray at 11:00 is because that goes out in the UK at 7:00 in the evening, live, prime time. So our ratings in the rest of the world for this tournament are phenomenal.
I get calls every single day of this tournament from South Africa. Oh, the tournament is great. Saw you and Abe Siegel sitting in the front row. The coverage is going worldwide, so we are really happy. Here, we also have The Tennis Channel, so the total hours that we have here are about 75 domestically, United States television. The sport's getting a lot of coverage.

Q. Did The Tennis Channel pick up the late Nadal match?
RAYMOND MOORE: You know, I don't know. That, I don't know. But The Tennis Channel was on at the beginning of the tournament. So, you know, would we prefer to, you know, have 10 hours of network on the weekends? Sure. We get more eyeballs.
CHARLIE PASARELL: Yeah, I think as The Tennis Channel grows in audience, and they are growing, I think, you know, more and more television -- as Raymond said, it's really -- we're just navigating through this whole media coverage here in America.
But internationally, I mean, it's phenomenal, and we're happy.

Q. Whose feed is that?
RAYMOND MOORE: TPL. We have Tennis Properties Limited that produce, and that's something that Masters Series created, along with the ATP. We're all partners and owners of Tennis Properties Limited, TPL Production. They produce the live feed here, and they sell it worldwide.

Q. I live in Virginia, and Fox Sports News Network doesn't have any presence there at all. It's very, very, very frustrating for us in that area. That's really a pretty metropolitan and political capital of insanity. Is FSN going to increase its broadcasting regions? Because it's just horrible. I mean, we couldn't watch anything.
RAYMOND MOORE: You know, we have that in little pockets throughout the country. The difference with Fox is, you know, they have regional -- they go out regionally. It's not a network like --
CHARLIE PASARELL: It's not a national network.
RAYMOND MOORE: -- like ESPN. So when ESPN has a sporting event, if you have ESPN cable you get coverage. What Fox has to do with the way they're constituted and structured, is they have to clear in each single region.
When we did our contract with Fox, we required X million homes. We go out to about 77 million homes. And there are pockets, unfortunately, and we work to improve that where the coverage is not great.
But, you know, again, it's a growing -- we hope eventually Fox will be everywhere in the country, and that we'll be on Fox Network.

Q. It just kind of diminishes the whole context of this being called like the fifth Grand Slam, you know?
RAYMOND MOORE: You know, there was a time - and it might even be now - that Wimbledon wasn't even carried in Europe. And I'm talking about 10 years ago.
So, you know, these are business things that happen. I was talking to somebody from Germany who said, We haven't seen Wimbledon for five years or eight years, and that's the biggest tournament in the world. So it happens. But we certainly take your point. We do, and we are working on it.
CHARLIE PASARELL: The task is not just ours, Indian Wells'. The task is for the sport of tennis to really not be so fragmented and try to really, you know, create -- we've had umpteenth amount of hours of discussions about why doesn't everybody just go in and try to really sell the sport of tennis? Neal is very familiar about all this because he's attended some of these meetings.
But it's really just that's the task of the sport. And we, like anybody else, are trying to, you know, trying to encourage. We've got to do this. We have to navigate through this.
RAYMOND MOORE: One thing I will comment on about what you said on Virginia and political insanity, I think you're right. I think that that part of the world would be much better off watching Nadal and Roddick than an hour of Bonnie Frank. Sorry, Bud.

Q. I have a serious question for Charlie. In your 35 years with the ATP, Charlie, you must be feeling like the John Adams of the ATP. There were so many things that you have done for the sport. You, personally, what would be the latest proud, that you're proud of most with ATP?
CHARLIE PASARELL: I don't know. First of all, I want to point out that while Raymond got out of the political scenario quite sometime ago, he used to be the chairman of the MIPTC. I'll tell the story, because. He was representing the ATP at the time, and now MIPTC for some of you may not know, that was the old governing body of men's professional tennis. Raymond was the chairman on the ATP. I was on the board representing the tournaments in the Americas.
Marshall Happer, who some of you will remember, was the executive director. But we would have these meetings, and we would have these huge arguments, Raymond and I, at these meetings. He's on the players, and I'm on the tournaments. Huge arguments, and we were partners.
Marshall Happer used to come out of these meetings and say, I don't believe you guys are really partners. There's no way you can be partners.
You know, Raymond is wiser than I am, and he said, I've had enough of this for some time. So it took me until this year -- no, I'm only kidding, of course -- until this year, you know, to really realize. So I'm glad, very happy, to be out of the political scenario.
Now we're in the audience. We're the ones yelling and screaming, you shouldn't do that, you should do this. To answer your question, I don't know. I think probably, you know, it was -- and it wasn't just me, but it was just that I was a part of, I think, a generation of players that really truly cared about making this sport better. All of us, Raymond and Cliff Dysdale and John Newcombe and Rod Laver and Arthur Ashe, you know, just to name a few. But there were many of us, just, you know, how we said, you know, we really do feel we should have a voice in this sport.
We really do feel we can make a difference, and we -- not only do we want to have a choice, but we really want to do our share to grow the sport and make it better.
I don't know if too many of the players today really know the history about what went on and what happened. But the thing I was most proud of was to have been part of that generation.

Q. There's so many different features and so many different elements, ITF, ATP, USTA, all these different alphabet groups which you know fully. Does our sport work well? Is it functional, or does it have some serious political dysfunction?
CHARLIE PASARELL: It's amazing how well we do with the fragmentation we have, you know. But I think every day that goes by, I hope we don't start going the other way. But I think every day that goes by, I think these organizations, these various groups, are starting to get closer together. We are doing a lot of things together.
I hope that trend continues, because at the end of the day, it's about growing the sport. If the sport grows, everybody benefits. So, you know, I think we still have a long ways to go. We've been talking about television. I think that should be one of the areas that should be of great concern to everybody, you know. How do we make our sport, you know, stronger in the media coverage.
But interestingly, you know, in the new media, whatever, however that works, I'm still trying to figure it out. But in the new media there are now some great joint ventures between the ATP and the WTA, for example. So that trend seems to be moving in the right direction.
But there are many other things. Officiating, we work together. Drug testing, we work together. There is a lot of things that all of the organizations are working together. That's very possible.

Q. I think there's probably going to be a sense of disbelief, though, Charlie, when the checks are given out today and people realize that the check to the ladies champion is going to be bigger than the check to the men's champion. I think that's right, isn't it?
RAYMOND MOORE: Yes.

Q. That's not your doing, is it?

Q. No, no, I'm not saying it is. But in the circumstances.
RAYMOND MOORE: The total prize money is equal, and when the prize money breakdowns came about the men said that they wanted to take the increase in prize money and spread it in the lower rounds and not increase the higher rounds as much.
The women said they wanted to increase the higher rounds, and we couldn't get the two groups together. So the winner of the ladies today will get about $700,000 and the winner of the men slightly more than $600,000. But the total prize money is the same, and we tried to resolve it.
CHARLIE PASARELL: We don't like it that it's different.

Q. You actually tried to work with them on it?
RAYMOND MOORE: We did everything, e-mails flowing back and forth. Frankly we thought what the ATP had done was not correct, but...
You know, this is just one of the points that you talked about where the organizations don't get together. I got a feeling that with the fallout that they're going to get from this, that next year it will be totally equal in every round.

Q. But why isn't it good to give it to the guys that are earning less? The top stars earn way too much anyway.
CHARLIE PASARELL: Depends on what your philosophy is. If you try to be more socialistic, then you will do that. If you try to be more rewarding excellence, you go the other way. It's a philosophy.

Q. Can I get a question on just back to tennis playing. You talked about the WTA and the real similarity of style, the baseline style, Pavlyuchenkova and Azarenka, up and coming players still using this baseline style. Are there any players that you're seeing coming up through the ranks that play the game more like Henin or Mauresmo or maybe Hingis, who are doing the kinds of things Murray does, to an extent Federer or Nadal, that they're doing different things with the tennis ball as opposed to baseline rallies?
RAYMOND MOORE: I haven't seen -- I haven't seen it in the women's game.

Q. Fire all the coaches.
RAYMOND MOORE: I haven't seen it in the women's game, and I'm just waiting to see it. And looking at it, I've always said, you know, If I was a coach and I went out and I had some 14-year-old girl, took my daughter and said, All right, I'm going to try and make you a player. One, I'd get her as fit as anybody in the world, and then I would teach them that.
I'd particularly teach them short and long. I think the girls move very well side to side, but no one has exploited their moving backwards and forwards. I'd love to see that element coming back into the game. It will. It's just taking longer than I had hope.
There's got to be someone out there that's teaching someone like that. There's got to be an Andy Murray in the ladies' game that's going to be a little unorthodox and little untoward and they will do that.
When they do that, we're suddenly going to say, Oh, these players are much better than the Chris Everts and everybody else. The first person to really introduce the physical side of the game was Martina Navratilova. She used to be a butter ball, I think, if you look back, and then suddenly she got in great shape. Lost a lot of weight. Then she forced Chris Evert to do the same thing. So that's what happens.
I think once they see this sort of success of Andy Murray, it just opens. You know, you grow. You have to grow. And I think that's possible. I think it will happen in the ladies' game. It's not there yet, but I think it will come.

Q. Last year we talked about attendance a little bit, and the fire marshal limiting parking, I think, is the issue. One of the days they actually said, No more in the grounds. How has this year been different? Is there some improvement on that?
RAYMOND MOORE: It's not that -- we had that situation in the first weekend, and we had to stop selling tickets. We actually took the decision to stop selling tickets, because we thought we didn't want to annoy our spectators who had a ticket and found that they had to park 10 miles away because the city, in their infinite wisdom, put tow-away signs on all the streets. You cannot park on the street.
So the only parking is on-site parking. We figured once we were full we had to stop selling tickets. We could've sold more tickets. We didn't like that, and we just wish some of these people would work with us a little more.
CHARLIE PASARELL: We have to address parking strategies, because, you know, I certainly don't want to have to put a limit as to how many tickets we can sell. Obviously there is a limit in terms of our occupancy permits, but we haven't gotten there yet. So we just have to address, you know, how we do the parking.
I'm sure we'll be doing that in the next few weeks.
RAYMOND MOORE: And the city -- I don't want to criticize the city. There's a new parking lot on the northwest side that the city owns, 12 acres, that they have, at their own expense, graded and maintained and stuff. So we were able to put a lot of overflow -- I mean, a thousand cars there. That's certainly a major help.
I think all sporting events, you know, you struggle with the parking. Parking is expensive. We'd love to build a double-decker parking. But, you know, that costs $10,000 a bay.
So to charge 10 bucks parking, it takes a long time to get the $10,000 back for one bay. So it's very expensive. You know, I continue to badger the city about letting us park on their golf course, and they won't let us right now. I've pointed out to them, there's this little tournament SW19 in London that parks on the golf course next door. We'll see.

Q. Makes for interesting hazards chipping over the Mini Coopers. They park on the golf course for the Rose Bowl, and you play the games until 10:00 at night on Saturday, and Sunday morning you tee off at 7:00 and it's pristine. Brookside.
RAYMOND MOORE: Preaching to the choir. We love it.

Q. It's true. They do that.
RAYMOND MOORE: Everywhere, the Rose Bowl, Wimbledon, because parking takes up so much space. Land, you know, is at a premium. We'd like to work something out. It would really help us.
CHARLIE PASARELL: You know, the way I look at it, isn't this a wonderful problem to have?

Q. If you remedy the parking, what's the potential capacity on the whole site?
RAYMOND MOORE: We're allowed in our temporary use permit to have 25,000 people on-site for one session.

Q. And if you guys could make your own number, how much do you think you could -- more than 25,000?
RAYMOND MOORE: I don't know how many more we can, because I think our footprint is quite large. I don't know how many more, but we haven't ever hit 25,000 in one session. We've come very close this year, and a couple when we had to cut it off.
CHARLIE PASARELL: We were 66 tickets away from 23,000.

Q. I have a couple of solutions. One is for press friendliness. It's totally absurd that players who singles say, Well, we'll have a press conference after I play my doubles. That just really hurts people who are on deadlines. They can come in and give a 5-minute press conference, because people are looking for quotes. You can't wait four to six hours to talk to somebody who played singles. I think you have to lobby both the WTA and the APT on this. The second is fan friendliness. When a ball goes in the stands, they keep it. The US Open started that. I think it's great. It doesn't bother anybody. It's a wonderful souvenir.
CHARLIE PASARELL: Guess that would be fine. When they get down to one or two balls...

Q. Throw three or four in.
CHARLIE PASARELL: I'm just teasing you.

Q. On a completely different subject, have you guys thought about naming the center court? If not, why not? Seeing there is a little bit of a trend. I mean, you have the Arthur Ashe Stadium; you've got Brisbane calling it Pat Rafter; Sydney is Ken Rosewall, then there's Rod Laver, et cetera, et cetera.
CHARLIE PASARELL: I think the thought has come up. It's not that there aren't very deserving players that have played here, you know. You know, it would be great to have their name, but I think one of the things -- actually, we look at it really as an economic thing.
You know, perhaps there will be a sponsor out there, a company, a corporation, that would love to have the stadium, you know, and so we don't have the, I guess the financial luxuries of maybe a Wimbledon, television revenues, or US Open television revenues, as an example.
So we really try to keep our options open as to what potential revenue options may come up. I think that's why we have it on hold. If some day we get a $100 million television contract, yeah, we could do that easily.

Q. Could you just remind us how much money this event draws into the local budget?
RAYMOND MOORE: Our estimate right now is that the economic impact annually will be approximately $250 million.
THE MODERATOR: 2006 it was $219 million and we did under 300,000 people in attendance that year.
RAYMOND MOORE: So we've just extended that, and we're going to do that study again. Again, that's not something that we have sort of in-house people. We have an independent -- we have a university, University of Washington DC.
CHARLIE PASARELL: George Washington University.
RAYMOND MOORE: They send their professor and some students out here, and they do this for all kind of sporting events.
In 2006 it was $219 million, and we think just with the increase in spectators, we've got about 60,000 more spectators since 2006. We've just extended ourselves. We're figuring approximately $250 million.

Q. Is there a technical reason why Hawk-Eye isn't used on Stadium 2 or 3, or is it the cost of the system? Is there a technical reason why the Hawk-Eye electronic review system is only is Stadium 1?
RAYMOND MOORE: It's cost.
CHARLIE PASARELL: Economically. But we're going to look at maybe expanding it next year. Obviously it will be driven by economics.

Q. A question about your sponsorship. Obviously this French bank appears to be a wonderful sponsor. It has avoided somewhat all of the problems that banks have right now, because it cannot take any money from we taxpayers because it's a foreign bank, although it got a hell of a lot from AIG. So indirectly it got some. You've got possibly 10 years with this bank. Do you worry about the current image of banks in this world as not good? I mean, they charge fees to little widows. Obviously they're outrageous. That's what they do. Are you worried about the image, if this kind of thing goes on, of having a bank as a sponsor? Is that something you talk about?
RAYMOND MOORE: Not really. In fact, we think the opposite. We are proud to have BNP Paribas here, and we've related this story before when Charlie and I went to -- the third meeting we had with them was in Paris, and they had been here twice before. They came on a really beautiful summer day. It was 118 degrees in August. We thought that sat very well with our French friends.
Finally we did go to Paris, and we sat with them after a long presentation. And the day we did it was September 15, which is the day Lehman Brothers went under. When we walked into the room, BNP Paribas people said to Charlie and I, If we hadn't flown this far they wouldn't meet with us, because this was the worst day in banking history since 1929. So that's how we started the final meeting.
But at the end of our presentation, BNP Paribas' folks said to us that they are the No. 1 sponsors of tennis worldwide. It is the only sport they sponsor. They've had every single sport knocking on their door, but they've stayed with tennis, because firstly, they love the sport; secondly, the demographics work for them.
And they said that as they're the No. 1 sponsor of tennis in the world, they view us as the No. 1 tennis tournament in the world, and they'd like to partner with us.
So on that horrendous day, the CEO said that he would take 15 minutes from the group that we were meeting with to get their recommendations, and they recommended that BNP Paribas step up and sponsor. And we are ecstatic. We think they are a blue chip sponsor of the sport, and we look at them only with pride.
So, you know, the rest of the banking industry and stuff, I think, you know, companies go through those cycles, and they get mud slung at them and eventually it goes away. But we think they are fantastic.
Another thing, you know, we've been in annual renewals, and they said to us, How long do you want this sponsorship for? So Charlie and I said, Well, we'd kind of like -- do we tell them one year or two years? So jumped off the cliff and we said, We really would like three years' sponsorship with a two-year renewal option.
The man talking with us, who is in charge of us for the bank, he said, No, we don't like that. And I thought, Oh, here we go again. Annual renewals. He said, We want a 10-year deal. Five years firm and five years optional. I said to him, Hold on one second. Okay. (laughter.)
I just had to consult. Okay. They are a great company for this sport.

Q. Were they here a lot? Were they looking at it?
RAYMOND MOORE: They've been back here. We've had so many meetings with them. As I told you, we had two site visits. In the height of the summer here, they came back after the Paris meeting in November, November and December. They did another one in January.
CHARLIE PASARELL: About four trips they made out here.
RAYMOND MOORE: They are very meticulous in everything they have.

Q. This is really inside of the beltway, but, I mean, they're all over the map tennis-wise. How do they compare to the great sponsors we've had like Volvo and Virginia Slims? Can you make any comment?
CHARLIE PASARELL: First of all, I mean, Pacific Life was an unbelievable sponsor for us, too. You know, they really were great. They stepped up. As you may remember, they stepped up right after 9/11, and that was tremendous help for us. They really have been great.
I think the issue always with Pacific Life is that they are a U.S.-based company, and as we have been talking about, our international, media coverage internationally, is so much -- it's huge. It's even bigger than we may even get nationally that that really did not have any value to Pacific Life.
So having a BNP Paribas, who is an international bank, you know, this event has more value to an international company like that. So, you know, the other, I think, important thing is that as Raymond has already mentioned, they only sponsor tennis, and they've been doing it for a long time. They've been at Roland Garros what, 36 years?
RAYMOND MOORE: 36 years.
CHARLIE PASARELL: They sponsor the Davis Cup, Federation Cup, Monte-Carlo, Rome, Masters, they sponsor the Paris Masters. I don't even know how many other things they sponsor. So they know tennis. They know what it is. They know who the people are. They know.
And so we think that the fact that they, in a way -- we think that they chose us. It was not that we chose them. They chose us. It's a big feather on our cap, you know, I mean, to have a sponsor, not just a bank, which is a miracle, you know, but an international company. But to have BNP Paribas, I mean, it's really something, because they are, in my opinion, the preeminent sponsor of the sport of tennis.

Q. Could you see a situation where perhaps without stretching the resources too far that they could actually sponsor the Masters Series or whatever it's called these days, the World Tour 1000 what's-it's, and perhaps become the BNP Paribas Championship? If they have their hands in so many elements already and they sponsor this as a title sponsor and Paris as a title sponsors, perhaps they would be in a situation where they -- I don't know.
RAYMOND MOORE: It would be great. I think that they -- you know, it has to be consistent with their business objectives, and they are making a move to get a footprint in the American market, so they bought Bank of the West.
CHARLIE PASARELL: Actually, they own First Hawaiian, too. I didn't even know that.
RAYMOND MOORE: Is that right?
So they're trying to make an entry into the U.S. market. That drives it a lot. But sure, we'd love to have them, like you mentioned Volvo, as an overall tour sponsor. Volvo, for the comparison, Volvo, was just a tour sponsor. They never sponsored a Grand Slam or a major, as Bud tells me, and they didn't sponsor Davis Cup or Federation Cup.
BNP Paribas sponsored all of those major tennis events, so I think they are phenomenal for the game. They're a really tennis-friendly company.

Q. When you're talking about sponsorship, how much financial obligation is of these people? I mean, major sponsor, what does that mean?
RAYMOND MOORE: It means they write us a big check to help us afford to run this tournament.

Q. No, you're talking about the whole prize money they would write up?
RAYMOND MOORE: No, you know, Luigi, every tennis tournament is different. Every single tennis tournament. Miami is different to us, even though we pay the same prize money. They deal with Sony Ericsson. Very different to ours, because Sony Ericsson require a lot of entertainment, so the tournament has to bid those costs.
Probably the dollar value at Sony Ericsson that they get paid is probably more than BNP Paribas pay us. I don't know, but that's my guess.

Q. So it's structured differently? That's what you're saying?
RAYMOND MOORE: Everything is different.

Q. How about Indian Wells? How much involvement as far as the whole tournament?
RAYMOND MOORE: They don't contribute financially to us.
CHARLIE PASARELL: I have to excuse myself, because I've got to go on court right now at 11:30. We make a presentation.

Q. Last year you were going to make an announcement of a big event coming to the stadium, and I believe the day after was the NBA event. Have you got anything up your sleeve now?
RAYMOND MOORE: We've just announced another NBA event. We did a sellout, and it was unbelievable to see Shaq O'Neal and Steve Nash and these superstars playing on our court, which is great. The dimensions worked perfectly for basketball, and so they were very happy. The NBA were ecstatic.
They sent their Turner, TNT who covered the NBA. This was not part of their contract, they sent the A team: Sir Charles was here with Reggie Miller. They sent their A team, and they loved it.
They pointed out that the players grow up playing outdoors, you know, and the players really embrace playing. And so this year we're playing with the Golden State Warriors, and we formed a kind of an alliance with the Phoenix Suns. So they will always be the host. It's up to them and the NBA to choose the visiting team.
So it's great for us. We love it. We want to try to have more sporting events here, because, you know, we have an underutilized facility. We're trying to put events in there.

Q. Could you talk a little bit about the criteria you take into consideration about the wildcards? This year you give the wildcard to Urszula Radwanska from Poland and she proved that she deserve it.
RAYMOND MOORE: You know, wildcard is a very subjective thing. We sit down and we look at -- we get a bunch of applications. Steve Simon tabulates them, gets them all, and then we sit down and we go through every single case. And every case is different.
Because we're an American tournament, we try and push young American players, up and coming players. We have five wildcards. We gave four to USTA-recommended players, and one to Kevin Anderson who had won a tournament last year and was just outside the direct acceptance. That's how we did the men.
The women we have more wildcards, and we get a whole variety of requests. Again, we try and tilt towards young American players, and we did. People that come out of the breeding grounds, like the Chris Evert Tennis Academy, or Bollettieri, and we try and do that.
Then we look at their rankings. So, you know, we take all those factors into consideration, and we say, Well, this person's just outside. And maybe it's not a U.S. player, but we think that person may have -- I'll give you an example. We gave a wildcard to Pete Sampras when he was 16. Nobody knew him. We gave a wildcard to Lleyton Hewitt. Nobody knew him. He became No. 1 in the world.
Lleyton Hewitt came recommended by John Newcombe. You don't get a better recommendation than that. That's what we do. Chris Evert called me up about the two players that she wanted in here. So, you know, we listen to everybody and then we have a meeting. Charlie and I give our opinions. Steve Simon overrules us and decides who is going to be... (laughter.)
Q. On the wildcard situation, would you give consideration to having an event like they do in the Australian Open, French Open, as well, where you have a wildcard playoff and make it maybe a small money event?
RAYMOND MOORE: We do that, Craig. We have actually two events. We have a challenger event ten days before the tournament. We have a qualifying for that, and we take the two winners, and then we put them in another event the two days before the tournament starts when we have kids' day, and then we even have the qualifying.
So we have all these playup events. We try and cater to every player that might be able to make it on the tour. So we actually do do that.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, everybody.

End of FastScripts

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BNP PARIBAS OPEN

March 22, 2009

Raymond Moore

Charlie Pasarell