USTA changes membership structure - Adults bear the brunt of the costs? Last minute discount this week!

I received an e-mail this morning from the USTA announcing changes to their membership structure.  The e-mail was titled "Key Changes to your USTA Family Membership" and I received it because my wife and I play USTA and I signed us up under a family membership several years ago.  I don't know if members not using a family membership received this (or a similar) e-mail or not.

I signed us up using a family membership for a few main reasons.  First, it was a discount over two individual memberships, and related, it meant we didn't get multiple copies of Tennis magazine which we don't need.  Second, it got our memberships synchronized.

Well, it appears the family membership is gone, and they will only offer individual memberships going forward.  So there goes the discount families can get and I'm guessing once we are changed to individual, we'll begin getting two copies of Tennis magazine which is no value to us and just contributes to wasting another tree.

Additionally, it e-mail says memberships will only be one year, apparently the multi-year renewals, and associated discount, are now gone and we'll have to renew every year at the regular rate.  Now, in my case the family membership we got was a multi-year one and doesn't expire for a few years so these changes won't affect us right away, but I imagine a lot of members will be impacted in the next year or two.

The olive branch the USTA offers is a 50% discount on extending/renewing your Adult/Senior membership one year, but the offer is only for three days as it expires at the end of 2020.  As my family membership is still current, I can't take advantage of this offer, but if you can, use promo code GOPLAY50 during the checkout process.  Please let me know if this works for you or if it doesn't, what your situation is.

The above changes are a bit of a downer, so was there anything good in the e-mail?  After all, the e-mail leads with this:

"The USTA’s mission is to promote and develop the growth of tennis. We are pleased to announce that we are making key changes to our membership, which we believe will lessen barriers, provide better value, and overall create a better experience with the USTA."

What I just highlighted doesn't seem to promote the growth of tennis as it does away with discounts that we've had in the past (not withstanding the 3 day discount I can't take advantage of) which increases barriers and provides less value.  So what in what they are announcing is going to aid in the growth of tennis?

The good seems to be for Juniors and Organizations.

Junior membership will now be no cost and Juniors will be able to sign-up and play in sanctioned tournaments or leagues without first purchasing a USTA membership.  This is good news and should make it easier for parents to get their kids involved in USTA sanctioned events.

Starting in early 2021, USTA Organization membership will also be no cost.  This also seems like a good thing but I'm not sure what the cost structure was like in the past.

The e-mail includes a link to a page titled "Important Membership Changes" which summarizes things like this:

• Junior membership (under age 19) is available at no cost
• Adult membership is $44 and Senior membership (70+) is $42
• Organization membership is now available at no cost
• We no longer offer the following memberships: Family, Adult 3-year, Adult 5-year, Senior 3-year, Senior 5-year, or Lifetime.

It also states a reason for the changes is to "simplify our membership offerings to better service our customers and open up opportunities for better benefits".  If there really is better service and benefits, Adult and Senior members may not miss the discounts and convenience of family and multi-year memberships, but the USTA will need to deliver on that for folks to not walk away from these changes feeling they lost something.

If you have an existing family or multi-year membership, those will be honored, but you will have to convert to individual memberships renewed one year at a time once that expires.

The FAQ also notes provisions for pro-rated refunds for those memberships recently paid for that are now free.

To be honest, I'm not sure why the USTA didn't just do away with all fees to be a member, well, I do, they didn't want to lose those membership fees from Adults and Seniors who they figure are able to and will keep paying.  But the key segment to the shrinking of USTA League play is those under 40, notably those in their 20s, and having to pay a membership fee just to gain access to leagues where they then have to pay another fee per league, is certainly a barrier and may contribute to why younger players are not joining as quickly as older players are leaving.

What do you think?  The no cost memberships for Juniors and Organizations seem good and should lower barriers to playing tennis, but did the USTA need to do away with family and multi-year memberships for Adults and Seniors at the same time?  Were you taking advantage of those and will their absence change your view or participation in USTA events?