Your honey deuces are paying for a $800 million Arthur Ashe Stadium overhaul

This week, the U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) announced that it’s putting the revenue from selling U.S. Open tickets and $23 signature Honey Deuce cocktails toward a new cause: Completing an $800 million renovation of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (NTC), the sports complex that hosts the annual tennis championship.

The renovation represents the single largest investment in U.S. Open history, according to a press release published by the USTA. It will encompass a full transformation of the Arthur Ashe Stadium, where championship games are played, as well as a luxe new player performance center on the NTC’s campus. The work will be spearheaded by the architectural firm Rossetti, which designed Arthur Ashe stadium back in 1994 and has since returned to add a retractable roof to the building, as well as two supplementary stadiums within the complex. This update will bring the lifetime construction cost of Arthur Ashe stadium to over $1 billion.

This latest round of renovations is set to be completed by the 2027 U.S. Open, with three construction phases planned to avoid conflicts with scheduled play in the intervening years. The updates are designed to dramatically increase the stadium’s capacity and to create a more modern, luxurious experience for both fans and athletes.

“Every square inch” of the stadium is being revamped, from the club level to the lounge and the promenade, Danny Zausner, chief operating officer at the USTA, told reporters in an interview this week. Here’s a rundown.

What’s new at Arthur Ashe stadium

The design vision for the Arthur Ashe stadium will be apparent to guests before they even enter the venue. Based on renderings provided by the USTA, a new Grand Entrance will usher viewers into the space through a two-story, futuristic silver ring arcing above the doorways. 

Inside, the stadium itself will be almost entirely overhauled. Per the press release, the promenade-level concourse, where guests typically gather and mingle, will be sized up by 40%; more escalators and elevators will be added to every level; and an upward extension of the courtside-level bowl will increase its capacity from 3,000 to 5,000 attendees. Arthur Ashe Stadium’s overall capacity of 24,000, which makes it the largest tennis stadium in the world, will remain the same as the design team plans to relocate seating to this bowl from other parts of the arena.

New amenities will also include modernized concorses with all-new retail, food, and beverage spaces, added clubs and restaurants, and two new dedicated luxury suite levels—presumably catering to the U.S. Open’s coterie of VIP guests.

“This project enables us to maintain the greatest stage in tennis—Arthur Ashe Stadium—which was constructed more than 25 years ago, and modernize it in a way that will set it up for the next 25 years,” Lew Sherr, CEO and executive director of USTA, said in the press release. “It also provides us the opportunity to give the players that compete in that stadium an unparalleled space that will enable them to perform at their best and enjoy a higher level of luxury and comfort while they are off the court.”

“Spa-like” athlete facilities

While the U.S. Open fan experience is getting a facelift, part of this major investment is also being funneled toward athlete facilities. 

Those upgrades will come in the form of a $250 million player performance center, located on the top two floors of an existing building to the west of the Arthur Ashe stadium. Inside, players and teams will be treated to indoor and outdoor fitness areas, “spa-like” locker rooms and lounges, and even a cafe accessible only to athletes. 

The press release notes that this added investment is intended to provide the nearly 2,800 athletes and team members at the U.S. Open with “everything they need to maximize their on-court performance.”

“There’s no doubt about it—when you walk into the stadium, the entire look and feel will change,” says Zausner.

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