The J.P. Morgan Tournament of Champions — a major stop on the Professional Squash Association’s World Series tour, featuring top players from the United States and all over the world — installed a 10,000-pound glass court in Vanderbilt Hall at Manhattan’s Grand Central Terminal from Jan. 18-25.
That’s one way to bring squash to masses.
“The fact that people can see a world-class sports event in Grand Central Terminal, host a guest, host clients and then take the train home, is an asset that is unique to the Tournament of Champions,” John Nimick, a former top-ranked pro squash player and founder of the Boston-based sports marketing firm Squash Engine, told MediaPost.com.
For Nimick, the very public squash court is just another crucial step in bringing the sport to the Olympics. “With Grand Central Terminal and other squash events we oversee that are in energetic, iconic, community-oriented and economically vital places, that is the strength of the message we are sending,” Nimick said. “If there is squash in the Paris Games, we can build a glass cube court under the Eiffel Tower. That would be an ‘A-ha!’ moment for squash and the world.”
The Grand Central Terminal Court offered seating for several hundred people, although MediaPost reports that several hundredthousand people are estimated to have witnessed part of the Tournament of Championsduring its New York City run. The terminal is one of the busiest transportation hubs in the world.
According to WPIX, New York’s CW Television Network affiliate, the tournament is now closely identified with the Grand Central Terminal, where it was first presented in 1999.
The Scenes from New York video channel has some neat footageof the court.