The BTA Board of Directors announces there will be no Austin Scott Memorial Tournament in 2024 due to lack of a suitable location.
A USTA-sanctioned tournament like the Austin Scott requires a facility with at least six (ideally more) courts that are available for a weekend of all-day play and a week of evening play, and are lined for tennis only (no pickleball lines). There are only two facilities in Boulder that currently fit that description: the CU South Campus courts and the Centennial Middle School courts.
The CU South courts have been the tournament home for a number of years. But with the closing of the Rocky Mountain Tennis Center (RMTC), all RMTC operations have been moved to the CU South courts for the summer, making them unavailable for our tournament. In addition, the CU South courts are slated for eventual removal to make way for new CU South development, so it’s probable these courts will not be around for future tournaments.
(As for the Centennial Middle School courts, the school district has indicated that using the courts for a non-school tournament would be incompatible with their need to keep them available for school teams and activities.)
When we learned of this, the BTA Board of Directors explored other options for holding the tournament this year – all of them involving moving the tournament to a neighboring community. Although scheduling difficulties made that impossible this year, the board is holding this option open for future versions of the tournament.
It is notable that the City of Boulder, unlike Longmont, Thornton, and other nearby municipalities, has no public park tennis venues that offer more than five courts at any location. And though there are now plans to change that state of affairs, they won’t come to fruition for several years. So at the moment, the future of the Austin Scott Memorial Tournament, a 56-year-old Boulder tennis tradition, is in question.
Attention: the Boulder Tennis Association has been actively advocating for more and better courts for the last few years : organizing group attendance of public meetings, speaking at city council meetings, contacting public representatives, working with Parks and Recreation leadership, publishing editorials, and other outreach campaigns. And we are getting results! Check out this page to see what we’ve accomplished. But these results require constant diligence and effort. If you are concerned about public tennis in Boulder, please support our efforts by joining BTA. BTA is not just for league members – it’s for everyone who wants to improve tennis in Boulder. Go to our BTA Membership page and sign up now!
See you on the courts.
