Spain triumphed over the U.S. Davis Cup team last month in a historic Madrid bullring packed with more than 20,000 flag-waving fans — a Hemingwayesque scene that made for a fierce home-court advantage.

     The United States Tennis Association (USTA) needs to break out of its predictable Davis Cup hosting rut and also do something dramatic March 6-8 when Switzerland, and most likely Roger Federer, come calling in the first round of the 2009 draw.  Davis Cup is a mystery to most except for the hardest of hardcore tennis fans in this country.  America needs a great spectacle to make the news and fire up Andy Roddick, James Blake and the Bryan brothers put Davis Cup tennis on the front page of sports sections — instead of just a few lines in the agate pages. 

     The USTA is now taking bids for prospective hosts.  There are many possibilities for spectacular settings, and organizers should look to other sports for inspiration.  The NHL upstaged many of the college football bowl games with the network broadcast of an outdoor game in Buffalo on New Year’s day, a game that drew more than 72,000 in bitterly cold, snowy weather.  And there was the pre-season baseball game in the Los Angeles Coliseum between the Dodgers and the Boston Red Sox that pulled in more than 115,000 fans to the giant stadium with the Romanesque aura.  Why not put a tennis court down in the end zone of either the L.A. Coliseum or the spacious Rose Bowl and sell cheap tickets for the nosebleeds (or even give them away) and install a big jumbotron screen?   (The Southern Cal sites would be very convenient since it is the weekend before the ATP Masters tournament in Indian Wells.)  Or how about shocking the Swiss with a windy, coldweather fast court in the infield of Yankee Stadium before it is torn down?  New Yorkers would pack it and go wild.

     The past few years the USTA unfortunately has shown no imagination whatsoever in hosting Davis Cup matches.  I attended the two previous home matches and while the tennis was excellent both arenas were woefully lame sites.  The Americans won the 2007 Davis Cup final against Russia in the aging Portland Memorial Coliseum, a sixties-era arena that is the second fiddle to the much newer and bigger Rose Coliseum next door.  On the day that the U.S. clinched the first Davis Cup championship in 12 years, a Van Halen concert in the Rose Coliseum was the bigger story in Portland. When we first arrived in town, a waitress asked us where we were from and why we were visiting Portland.  We told her and she responded, “The Davis what?”  And the U.S. championship did not get even a mention on ESPN’s SportsCenter that Saturday night.

     This year’s supposedly high-profile matchup with the U.S. and France in April was no better.  The fourth-tier city of Winston-Salem hosted Davis Cup for the second time in two years and was unable to sell out the arena where Wake Forest plays basketball.  A black tarp was thrown over the highest rows in the upper deck to conceal the empty seats.  The ticket sales were slow despite the advance expectations of the exciting Australian Open finalist Jo Wilfried-Tsonga (who pulled out at the last minute with a knee injury.)  Ultimately, the players can’t do anything more than what they do to sell Davis Cup tickets, but the USTA needs to step up and pick a fantastic site that will draw more fans.  With a great event, perhaps they can get a boost in the ratings and put the live matches back on a better network instead of the Versus Channel, a station better known for hockey, hunting shows and cage-fighting. 

     In addition to the L.A. Coliseum, the Rose Bowl or Yankee Stadium, here are a few more site ideas that would provide the needed spectacle:

     – The Darrell K. Royal Texas Memorial Stadium  in Austin where the University of Texas plays football.  The weather in Texas there is usually nice enough in March to play outside, and it will give Austin-resident Roddick a true hometown advantage.   He’s been loyal to Davis Cup for years, and this would be a great way to repay him.

     –Sanford Stadium at the University of Georgia.  UGA is holder of the previous two NCAA men’s tennis championships and in my biased opinion, the best of the large stadiums in the nation.  When my brother goes to football games there, he prefers to sit in the upper deck because you can see the action so well from the high seats.  Roddick’s brother and some time coach, John, also was a tennis star for the Bulldogs in the late nineties and was the UGA athlete of the year in 1998.  And John Isner, a sometime Davis Cup practice partner who would be a good choice for doubles if one of the Bryan brothers is hurt, also played for the Bulldogs on the 2007 NCAA championship team.

     –The Houston Astrodome, now known as the Reliant Astrodome, is still standing.  It is site of the one of the most-watched tennis matches ever, the 1973 gender showdown where Billie Jean King beat Bobby Riggs, with more than 30,000 in attendance and an estimated more than 50 million watching in prime time.

     I could go on as it seems to me that the possibilities for a big spectacle are endless.  Miami, Tampa Bay and San Diego all have large NFL football and baseball stadiums, none of which are in use in March.  The Georgia Dome in Atlanta seats more than 80,000 in a tennis crazy town and also should be available, and doesn’t pose the risk of weather.  Davis Cup has history and pageantry on its side – it is a “volatile, exciting, beautifully, balanced event” as Peter Bodo wrote last month — and rarely are the contested matches dull.

     So let’s see it, USTA.  Do something wild and cool for once.  Let’s shake up Federer with a huge, American crowd, the same way that Spain has done to the Americans in our last two trips there (bullring in 2008, a rowdy soccer stadium in 2004).  Otherwise, another Davis Cup season will come and go in the U.S. with barely a mention.

     *****

For more background about the site-selection process, see below for the note that Jeff Ryan of the USTA distributed requesting bids to host the Davis Cup:

Dear Subscriber:

The 2009 Davis Cup Draw has been announced and the U.S. Davis Cup team will square off at home against Switzerland in the First Round being held March 6 - 8, 2009. The USTA now is actively looking for potential cities/venues interested in hosting this First Round tie.

As the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S., the mission of the USTA is to promote and develop the growth of tennis. Staging Davis Cup in different venues across the United States each year is one of the many ways we help to achieve this organizational goal.

If you believe your facility/venue can meet the minimum requirements, please click on the link below to download the RFP for this event.

While reviewing the RFP, please keep the following deadlines in mind:

Friday, October 31, 2008 — Deadline to notify USTA of intent to bid.

Friday, November 21, 2008 – Deadline for USTA to receive official bids.

Week of December 15, 2008 — Anticipated date to announce site selection.

Please keep in mind the RFP is our “wish list” — if you feel your city/venue is unable to meet certain criteria, please contact us as the USTA is always open to alternative and creative ideas. We are committed to working with each and every potential host city/venue to explore the possibility of bringing a Davis Cup tie to the area, and to making every aspect of the event a great experience for all.

We thank you for your continued support of the U.S. Davis Cup Team, and look forward to hearing from you.

Sincerely,

Jeff Ryan
Director, USA Team Events