LGT Challenger (Binghamton, NY) – With crowds this small, it’s always interesting that they have such tight media rules.
The Levene Gouldin & Thompson Tennis Challenger is happening this week. The tournament fits in as a minor league level event. That means that the best players may be ranked in the 100’s and many are breaking playing their first tournaments. Their claim to fame is that an unknown Andy Murray won in 2005 before going on to win the 2012 US Open and then Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, so you never know if you are seeing a future star.
What caught my eye was first that there were so few people on this Saturday. Granted it was not the finals and it was a miserable 85 degrees and 90+% humidity.
Next were the signs that basically cut down on all internet fun even though it certainly was needed to help stir up some publicity. I’m sure the reason goes back to some lawyers making sure that no one tries to livecast from the US Open, but this event is a little off that track and should actually encourage this these tournaments to be experimental platforms for broadcasting (text or video) from a live event.