US Open Stadium Complex Owes City At Least $311K In Rent: Audit

FLUSHING, QUEENS — The owner of the Queens tennis stadium complex that hosts the US Open owes the city more than $311,000 in rent, according to an audit released Thursday, days before the tournament begins.

The USTA National Tennis Center, which runs the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, has underreported its revenue by at least $31 million between 2014 and 2017, an audit by Comptroller Scott Stringer's office found.

That translates into roughly $311,000 in unpaid rent, according to Stringer's office. Under the tennis group's 99-year lease with the city, the USTA's annual rent is $400,000 plus one percent of its net gross revenues over $20 million.

Stringer's office says the audit discovered another $8 million in unreported revenue, suggesting the USTA owes the city an additional $82,000 in rent.

"The Tennis Center collects more than $300 million annually, and yet, it shortchanges city taxpayers," Stringer said in a statement.

The USTA acknowledges underreporting $14 million of the $31 million in underreported revenue but has otherwise contested most of the findings, according to Stringer's office and THE CITY.

The city's parks department, which monitors the stadium lease, has long faced an uphill battle getting access to USTA's financial records, according to Stringer's office; the 1993 lease allows the USTA to deny city agencies electronic versions or paper copies of its financial records.