The United States Tennis Association has approved a sweeping overhaul of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (the home of the U.S. Open) that will include tearing down and replacing Louis Armstrong Stadium and building two mini-stadiums. The new Louis Armstrong Stadium, the facility’s No. 2 court, will not have a roof built immediately, but will be “roof-ready.” The total redevelopment cost is said to exceed $300 million, but only the first $30 million has been formally budgeted. Construction will begin immediately on a 3000-seat mini stadium, which will be built adjacent to the hospitality building on the property's less busy southeast corner. That mini-stadium may or may not be ready for the 2011 U.S. Open, but will be ready for 2012.
The USTA does not expect to begin the demolition of Louis Armstrong Stadium and the much-loved court next door, the Grandstand, for six to eight years. Armstrong currently holds 10,200 people and the USTA is looking at the new stadium to seat 12,000-14,000 fans. The USTA has been told that Armstrong, which sits on an old marsh, will begin to crumble in six to eight years. Both courts functioned as the U.S. Open's two main stadiums when the facility first opened in 1978.
The Grandstand, which currently seats 6,100 people, will be replaced by by the second mini-stadium, which will hold at least 7,000 fans. It will likely be built near the same location.
At this point, it is unlikely that the main stadium, Arthur Ashe, will get a roof, as it's considered too wide and not strong enough to support one without some major, possibly cost-prohibitive, reconstruction.
Also, given that Ashe Stadium holds 22,547 seats, even if the USTA manages to eventually put put a roof on Armstrong, it still has to figure out what to do with the excess fans that bought seats for Ashe, if there is rain and a main court match is moved over to Armstrong.
—Matthew Cronin