U.S. Open’s Arthur Ashe Stadium In Midst Of Major Remodel

A look wrong Arthur Ashe Stadium during the 2026 U.S. Open pinch a wholly updated seating bowl.

Chris Krusberg/USTA

Parts of Arthur Ashe Stadium, the largest tennis-specific venue successful the world, look marque new. Others person a impermanent feel. That’s each portion of the scheme arsenic the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center pauses awesome building to shape the 2026 U.S. Open.

“It is each there, it is each functioning. The seats are in, location are each caller restrooms, concession stands, retail, but galore are not 100% yet,” Daniel Zausner, main operating serviceman of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, tells me. “We knew location would beryllium a batch of impermanent things. It is not 2027, erstwhile we’ll beryllium each done.”

The $800 cardinal upgrade to the halfway is portion of the scheme to “reimagine” Ashe and springiness players a wholly caller capacity center. Announced successful 2025 arsenic a $550 cardinal task to upgrade the stadium and a $250 cardinal effort to create a caller subordinate halfway required the USTA to get imaginative pinch building timetables. “We knew we had astir 18 months-worth of activity to compression into 10 months,” Zausner says. “My extremity was to make judge erstwhile group locomotion into the seating bowl, they person an adjacent aliases amended acquisition than what was there. That is wherever we are.”

The building betwixt the 2025 and 2026 U.S. Open events was mostly structural. The concourses expanded 40% and the little seating vessel roseate from 3,000 to 5,000 seats by wholly reworking the design—no spot is successful an identical location to 2025—and pushing the 2 levels of suits higher. To make room, 2,800 seats sewage pulled retired of the precocious loge and promenade levels. The full stadium’s capacity now sits astatine 23,933.

MORE: The U.S. Open Player Walk-Out Starts In Ashe Stadium

Still, there’s a batch near successful the Rossetti-designed plan. “This is simply a activity successful progress,” Zausner says. “It is unfinished, but it functions.” He utilized the affinity of building a location and getting the instauration and the building successful spot but still needing to adhd each the finishings. Ashe has that feel. The clip betwixt 2026 and 2027 gives the USTA clip to complete the process.

After the 2026 tourney ends, the USTA has 2 weeks to adjacent retired the tract and move retired of Ashe. Construction resumes astatine the commencement of October. “It’s not lighter astatine all, it’s different,” Zausner says astir the workload. “Last twelvemonth was each astir structural alloy and concrete. This twelvemonth will beryllium overmuch much astir finishes. They are overmuch much intricate, and things person to look perfect. It will beryllium a push.”

Even pinch plans for 40% much restrooms and 30% much points of sale, overmuch of the updated fan-facing activations—such arsenic hospitality and concessions—won’t return formation until 2027. Part of the overhaul includes the caller subordinate capacity center, connected to Ashe by a skybridge. The apical 2 floors are dedicated to the 2,800 players and their guests who sojourn the Queens tract complete the 3 weeks, featuring expanded indoor and outdoor fittingness and warmup areas, redesigned and expanded locker rooms, lounges, a caller subordinate courtyard and dedicated café and eating spaces.

Much of the building is built, but thing successful the tract is yet open. Once this year’s tourney ends, activity will move each subordinate accommodation to the caller center, freeing up back-of-house abstraction successful Ashe for repurposing. Current subordinate locker rooms will move into administrative offices, subordinate eating and lounge spaces go hospitality and existent administrative offices go bunker suites. Restaurants and clubs will move around, pinch plentifulness much abstraction for some successful 2027 compared to 2025 (let unsocial 2026, which is successful a pinch for hospitality abstraction wrong Ashe).

Clues to the caller sculptured expansive entrance, designed by Daniel Libeskind, show up successful 2026, a flimsy precursor to the last version successful 2027.

The original stadium was built successful 1964 arsenic a impermanent venue for the World’s Fair. The U.S. Open moved to the tract successful 1978 and turned the stadium into a tennis venue. It was rebuilt successful 1997, and since Arthur Ashe Stadium started to show its age, particularly pinch tight concourses sparse connected points of waste since original plans called for fans to sojourn the grounds for amenities betwixt matches.

“I americium wholly excited for this year,” Zausner says. “I’m ever excited to spot if the fans are going to respond arsenic positively to the changes we person made arsenic we envision they will. Next twelvemonth will beryllium spectacular.”

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