“If it takes a village to raise a child, it takes a veritable city to raise an international tennis tournament. Every March, the BNP Paribas Open takes over Indian Wells, the smallest host city of the pro tour’s biggest events. Over the tournament’s two weeks in 2023, the Indian Wells Tennis Garden drew 441,983 people to a village populated full time by 5,404 souls. In 2019, attendance at the venue bested even that of the French Open — one of the sport’s four Grand Slam events — in Paris.
Tournament operator Desert Champions employs 40 people year-round. In July, the site is so dead even the lizards are lonely. But come January, those 54 acres start growing the temporary infrastructure required by a huge event. By late February, most of the 750 vendors and contractors have cultivated the Tennis Garden into a metropolis run by nearly 9,000 humans both professional and pro bono. These are some of their stories…”
