The Madrid Open, one of the leading tournaments on the tennis calendar, will remain in the Spanish capital until at least 2030 after a contract extension was agreed that will also see the development of a new stadium at La Caja Mágica complex.
The new deal, signed between Madrid City Council, Madrid Destino and Madrid Trophy Promotion, runs from 2023 to 2030, ensuring that the men’s ATP Tour Masters 1000 and women’s WTA 1000 events will remain in place.
The Madrid Open was first held in 2002 on hard courts, indoors at the Casa de Campo Rockodrome before moving to the clay courts of La Caja Mágica in 2009. La Caja Mágica, or The Magic Box, was reported to be close to a contract extension in April 2019, but the deal was finally announced at a ceremony on Friday.
Included in the agreement is a commitment to develop an additional court in the northern area of the complex with a capacity to accommodate between 8,000 and 10,000 spectators. The City Council said it has agreed its economic contributions under the contract, including €38m (£32.4m/$44.6m) towards the staging of the event and 50% of the investment necessary for infrastructure work.
Madrid Destino, the Council’s culture, tourism, venues and events body, will invest an additional €43.7m plus VAT. President and chief executive of Madrid Trophy Promotion, Gerard Tsobanian, said: “I am lucky to have been there from the beginning. This tournament started as a men’s event with the intention of putting Madrid on the map, but now it has grown into an incredible combo tournament.
“Tennis is one of the few sports that can host men’s and women’s competition in the same event. The grand slam tournaments do it, and also other big events like Indian Wells or Miami. Today we can say that after the greats we are the fifth or sixth tournament in the world. It is a very important thing.”
The Madrid Open, according to 2019 data, has an economic impact of more than €107m, creates 3,400 jobs and has an advertising impact that exceeds €152m. Mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, highlighted the “extraordinary news” that the sporting event and its renewal represent for the City of Madrid, which “we want to be recognised on a global scale for what it is: the world capital of sport”.
Almeida stressed that the tournament is an engine of positivity for Madrid, something necessary “in the difficult times we are experiencing” and that it also allows “the city to continue growing through sport”.
Image: Ayuntamiento de Madrid
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