Every summer I await the email from SPG inviting me to an “Exclusive Card Member Event at the US Open”. This event consists of a dinner with cocktails, meet-and-greet with a famous tennis player and a ticket to the match. Tickets were limited to two (2) per cardholder and I believe the first time I went (2013); the tickets were $165 each, and this year they were $185. The email came on 8/19/15 and tickets were going on sale the next day at 2:00 PM. I diligently set a reminder on my phone and sat at work during my lunch break to get the tickets. There was a bit of a hold time when I called in, but I was able to get my two tickets and put in a request for kosher food. A couple of days before the event I called in to confirm the kosher food, got that confirmed and we were ready to go.
In 2013 I was unable to attend the match due to a prior commitment, but I was able to sell them to a friend. You receive separate tickets for the hospitality event and the match, so selling the tickets is no big deal. This year we were unsure if we would be able to stay for the match as well, and did not want to risk being asked to leave since we had our kid, so I had a friend put the tickets up for sale to see what happened. A day after they were posted, they sold for a little below market value (tickets were selling over $300 online) and we were in business. Now I had tickets to the SPG event, covered my costs and had some extra after the sale.
The drive into Queens was uneventful at 4:00 and we were parking outside Citi Field ($22 later) and walking towards Arthur Ashe Stadium. At this point it was raining pretty heavily, match play from the morning session had stopped, and the SPG pedi-cabs had stopped running as well. So we walked down to the gates and were told we could not enter until 5:00 for the evening session and we would have to wait thirty minutes in the rain. After finding some shelter under a tree and waiting fifteen minutes, my wife went back over to the hospitality entrance and we were told we could enter (shelter!!). After going through security, we approached the hospitality pavilion and were told we could only get in there at 5:30 and we would have to wait. With 40 minutes to kill, we walked around outside the stadium and checked out the different booths and interactive events that had been set up.
View and Pedi-cab Station:
Entrance:
We started out at the Mercedes Benz tent which had some cars on display, a take-a-picture with the US Open trophy and an interactive something with “Rafael Nadal”. From there we went through some of the stores on site, got some free Lavazza samples, some other snack type sample and saw some of the side courts. At this point we were ready to head back and try and get into the SPG event we had come for. On the way over, they had an event space setup by Amex for all ticket-holders to experience some virtual reality tennis with some players and some other activities in the area. We spent some time walking around and then finally got into the hospitality pavilion and our event.
Hospitality Entrance:
Mercedes Tent:
US Open Trophy at Mercedes Tent:
Kosher Stand:
Event Standings/Bracket:
Rain Delay:
After the Rain:
Side Court:
Amex Room:
Virtual Reality Station:
VR:
The event space is very nice and classy (they had musicians playing after entering the “inner sanctum”. Once past the musicians, we walked past a few other event rooms and arrived at the SPG room. After checking in and requesting our kosher food, we walked around the room, got some drinks and sat down. I then struck up some conversations with some of the people from SPG and other quests while waiting for our food. While waiting, I took a look over at the check-in area and noticed a familiar face checking in with his mother. I was fairly certain I knew who it was, but was not running over like a fan girl and harassing him. So like any other sane person, I took a picture of him and sent it around some WhatsApp groups to garner other people’s reactions. Answers ranged from “yes, that is him” to some other comments essentially saying they did not think it was him. Once I saw him talking and yucking it up with some SPG staff, I was now even more convinced I knew who this guy was. Before I had a chance to go over and introduce myself, they announced the special guest was there and would be speaking. The famous tennis player was Andre Agassi this year, and was right on par with other years (Monica Seles in 2013 when I last went and Billie Jean King 2014). Andre (look at me talking about him like I know him) spoke for 15/20 minutes (very interesting speaker) and then took some questions from the crowd. The first question was from our mystery guy’s mother who removed every inch of doubt once she started speaking with a German accent. After the Q and A there was an opportunity to get a picture with Andre Agassi and meet him. While waiting to get in line, I headed over to the bar and bumped into and met our mystery guest and introduced myself and family. Turns out Lucky (Ben Schlappig) from One Mile at a Time is a very nice guy (not that I had any doubts) and very personable as well. We spoke for about ten minutes, grabbed a picture or two and then parted ways (for now). We went in line, met and got a picture with Andre Agassi and then went back to our table to eat our meal.
Entrance:
Hallway:
Bar:
Room:
Guess Who:
Andre Agassi:
The food was catered from Kay Caterers and under the supervision of the OU. We got a salad, one chicken and one salmon dish was offered (perfect for us) and then cake for dessert. The food was nothing special, if not probably a bit heavy handed with the salt, but we were happy to have something and thank SPG for accommodating us. Once done with our food, we headed over to get our gift bags and start heading home. At this point the SPG pedi-cabs were back up and running which we took and then headed over to our car and beat any traffic home.
The Food:
Heading to Car (Go Mets):
The gift bags had a $50 Ralph Lauren GC, a $10 AGC, signed Andre Agassi book, bag, Nalgene water bottle, Centurion lounge pass, passport case and some other random stuff. Overall I was very happy with the event and would do it again, even if I didn’t sell my tickets and come out ahead.
Gift Bag:
