JMTA Holds Ribbon Cutting Ceremony As SPORTIME Randall’s Island Expansion Officially Complete

This April, SPORTIME Randall’s Island became the largest indoor tennis training facility in the world as it officially opened the doors to its latest expansion at the flagship location of the John McEnroe Tennis Academy.

The club held a ribbon cutting ceremony featuring top executives from SPORTIME, New York City officials and local dignitaries, as well as many of the hard-working SPORTIME staff members from clubs on Long Island and Westchester, which was followed by Johnny Mac Tennis Project (JMTP) Community Day, which brought in hundreds of children from across NYC’s boroughs for a fun day of tennis and other activities.

Now home to 33 courts—up from 20 at its inception—SPORTIME Randall’s Island features 15 Laykold hard-surface courts housed in two permanent buildings and in one seasonal air-structure, in addition to 14 Har-Tru soft-surface courts in one permanent and one seasonal air-structure. The facility also includes a dedicated Community Welcome Center with four 36’ red ball courts. The $75 million project was privately funded completely by SPORTIME, and represents a major achievement in public and private partnership; as it remains a club open to the public at large.

“It’s sort of my proudest professional achievement,” said SPORTIME CEO and Founder Claude Okin. “It’s rare in business that you can do something that is good business for your company but do so in partnership with the public sector, to create a win-win for all. It’s right here in NYC, and I am a native New Yorker, so I am very proud to do this here.”

Because Randall’s Island is a public New York City park, expanding the JMTA reach would require to do so in conjunction with the City itself. And while many deals between the public and private sectors involve infrastructure that already exists, in this case, SPORTIME built the expanded facility from the ground up.

“While this isn’t something that we retro-fitted, we had to build something ourselves on a plot of land that was quite literally a pile of dirt,” Okin added. “We wanted to build something gigantic and have it be operational year-round, both as a SPORTIME facility but also a public park. We took the model that a business that co-exist with a park and where both parties benefitted, and raised it to a whole new level.”

Ben Schlansky,  Executive Vice-President, Chief Operating Officer, General Counsel & Sr. Managing Director at Sportime, added:

“We embarked on the journey to expand our great facility, to provide more facilities and more tennis programming to NYC residents of all ages and playing levels, including youth from local schools in East Harlem and the South Bronx, NYC Parks Tennis permit holders and many more.”

And to demonstrate that this new expansion is not just good business for SPORTIME but will also have a substantial impact for New York City residents, the ribbon cutting ceremony was followed by JMTP Community Day, where kids played tennis and got a tour of the new facility.

“It was a fantastic celebration of everything JMTP stands for—access, opportunity and spreading tennis to those who otherwise wouldn’t have the opportunity,” said JMTP Executive Director Ryann Cutillo. “JMTP had 600 kids through our community partnerships show up to enjoy the day with us. The energy was incredible, and it was inspiring to see so many young kids, families and supporters come together. Our team is thrilled about this new chapter at Randall’s Island with the new expansion. It represents another step forward in our mission, and we’re excited about what it will mean for all the kids in our programming—more access, more court time, more resources, and more chances to affect the lives of New York City kids both on and off the court.”

The Ribbon Cutting Ceremony and subsequent Community Day marked the beginning of a new chapter for tennis in New York City, and reflected SPORTIME’s commitment to growing the sport and using it as a vehicle to enhance the lives of the city’s residents. SPORTIME Randall’s Island is now the largest indoor tennis facility in the United States which provides an exciting outlook for the sustained success of tennis in the area.