BEHIND THE HEADLINES Jeff Purser

With the Breakers’ tennis season now over, we turned to Jeff Purser, the team’s executive director, to give us his personal scorecard on how this initial year of Hoag Hospital’s involvement went.

Question: Now that the season’s over, what’s your early assessment of how things went?

Answer: We had an amazing run at Breakers Stadium. The fans, the sponsors, the team and the visiting teams came with so much energy and enthusiasm every night. I think the 2007 season has set the stage for continued success in future seasons.

Q: How much did the event raise for Hoag?

A: We’re still letting the dust settle from the event, so I don’t have a hard number at this point. You never expect an event to be revenue-generating in its inaugural year; that comes once you establish the event and make it something that people — sponsors, community members, fans — want to be a part of, and we definitely did that with our first season.

Q: What was the community feedback on the stadium and its facilities?

A: It’s all been very positive. We have a strong relationship with Newport Beach Country Club stemming from the Toshiba Classic, so they were very supportive from the beginning and committed the space we needed to create Breakers Stadium. In terms of set up, people who attended Breakers matches were always surprised at how intimate the stadium was — there wasn’t a bad seat in the house, and really what more could you ask for when you’re watching some of the biggest names in tennis compete in your own backyard?

Q: So what was the average attendance per game? The total attendance?

A: Available seating in Breakers Stadium, exclusive of the skyboxes, was 2,200. Our average attendance over the seven matches was approximately 1,840. On our finale night, attendance reached 2,358, including those in the skyboxes. Over the course of the season, nearly 13,000 visited Breakers Stadium to watch World TeamTennis.

Q: What are some of the lessons you learned? What may be different next year?

A: We’ll make some modifications to the stadium to provide a few more VIP areas without eliminating general admission seating. And, we’ll want to continue to build on the new tradition of a social and unique summertime event by creating new programs on special nights — such as the Women’s Tennis Night with Tracy Austin, and the Bank of America Junior Tennis Night.

We want the community to know that this is an event for everyone — singles, couples, families, kids — it’s something they can look forward to every summer. With the tremendous amount of support we received this year, we know that we can push the envelope even further next year. It’s a little early for details, but you’ll definitely hear about next season from us soon, so stay tuned.