U.S. Open: Close Minded?

Talk about poor customer relations, deceitfulness, close-mindedness, bad public relations and not thinking strategically!

Whatever you want to call it, the 2008 U.S. Open, one of the prime worldwide sporting events, chose to commit a silly and yet insulting blunder.

What happened? The U.S.T.A announced last Thursday that there were no tickets left for the weekend. But, according to The New York Times, tickets were on sale on Friday morning.

The senior director of PR for the U.S.T.A. explained that indeed there were “200-300 seats available for Friday and probably 300 combined for Saturday and Sunday.” In explaining the previous no-ticket announcement, the PR director said, “We were looking to avoid a huge buildup of people, and people going away disappointed.”

Talking straight to potential ticket-buyers would have prevented disappointment at the box office. It would also have prevented a huge “builddown” in credibility both for the U.S.T.A and its senior PR director.



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