INDIAN WELLS

Indian Wells is a fortnight of tennis in the Californian desert in March, and the best-attended tournament in the world that is not a Grand Slam. Men and women play the same draw, at the same site, for the same money, which only a handful of tournaments in the year manage.

It is played on fifty-four acres of what used to be sand.

The Desert

Its own history begins in 1976, when it found a home in the Coachella Valley at the Mission Hills Country Club, and Jimmy Connors won it; it moved to Rancho Mirage in 1979, to La Quinta in 1981, and to Indian Wells in 1987.

A flood in 1980 left it in trouble, and the tour meant to move it to Florida. Charlie Pasarell, a former American number one who lived in the valley, persuaded it to wait, and a resort at La Quinta built a stadium to keep it. In 1987 Pasarell and Raymond Moore, a South African who had played the tour with him, moved it to a resort at Indian Wells, and in 2000 to a site they built for themselves.

That last move was the gamble. The four majors sit in great cities: Paris, London, New York, Melbourne. Pasarell and Moore bought eighty-eight acres of desert between Palm Springs and nothing, and spent seventy-seven million dollars on the assumption that people would drive out to it.

They were right. The main court is now the second largest tennis stadium on earth, behind only Arthur Ashe in New York.

The Purple

The courts are violet, and the reason is optical. Purple sits opposite yellow on the colour wheel, a hundred and eighty degrees away, which makes a tennis ball easier to follow against it than against any other surface. Indian Wells was the first tournament to use it and the colour has spread since.

The same instinct runs through the place. It was the first tournament anywhere to put electronic line-calling on every match court rather than only on the show courts.

The money behind that belongs to one man. In 2006 an approach came from Qatar to buy the tournament and move it out of the desert, and Pasarell and Moore found investors to keep it. When foreign bids came again in 2009, Pasarell would not have it. Moore knew Larry Ellison, who played tennis and had built Oracle, and put the idea to him instead. Ellison bought the tournament and the site together, and has been spending on both since.

Which makes this the rarest thing in professional sport: a major tournament owned outright by a person rather than by a federation.

What to Know

A grounds pass is good value. Twenty-nine courts, and in the first week the top fifty are practising on all of them, a few feet from whoever is standing at the fence.

March in the Coachella Valley is eighty degrees and dry, with the Santa Rosa mountains on three sides. The evenings drop sharply and the stadium gets cold.

Both draws run together, so a single ticket buys the men’s tournament and the women’s. Very few events offer that.

The first week is the better week. Larger draws, smaller crowds, and a day of the qualifying rounds costs ten dollars.

Questions

When is Indian Wells in 2027?

The 2027 BNP Paribas Open is scheduled for 28 February to 14 March at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Qualifying runs from 28 February to 2 March, the first round begins on 3 March, and the men’s and women’s finals are both played on 14 March.

How do you buy tickets for Indian Wells?

Tickets are sold online at BNPParibasOpen.com. All tickets are digital, managed through AXS and accessed in the tournament’s mobile app. Verified resale tickets are available only through AXS, the official ticketing partner, where they appear alongside standard tickets. Children aged three and over need a full-priced adult ticket.

What does an Indian Wells grounds pass include?

A Grounds Pass gives full-day access to non-reserved seating in Stadiums 3 to 9, all practice courts and on-site activities. It does not include Stadiums 1 or 2, which are fully reserved; from 2027 Stadium 2 has no general admission seating. Gates open at 10am and matches begin at 11am.

How much are qualifying tickets at Indian Wells?

As of October 2026, for 2027, all tickets for the qualifying days, 28 February to 2 March, are 10 dollars, with proceeds going to The Champions Volunteer Foundation, the tournament’s non-profit arm. A qualifying ticket covers a full day of matches as well as practice sessions.

What can you bring to Indian Wells?

Each fan may carry one clear plastic, vinyl or PVC bag no larger than 12 by 6 by 12 inches, or a one-gallon clear plastic bag, plus a small clutch no larger than 4.5 by 6.5 inches. Alcohol, outside food, umbrellas, glass, open drink containers, hard-sided bags, tablets, portable computers and cameras with detachable lenses are not permitted.

Is there a dress code at Indian Wells?

The tournament’s published FAQ sets no dress code for spectators. Umbrellas are not permitted on the grounds, and evening session play in Stadium 1 typically begins at 6pm. The Court wears smart casual, as it keeps it: a jacket without a tie, proper trousers and shoes, and no logos.

The Court

Indian Wells is not the Court’s own. Boxes, grounds passes and rooms across the valley are sought on a member’s behalf, and the Court arranges the whole of it: getting there, where to stay, and the table afterwards. Palm Springs is twenty minutes away and holds most of the houses.

How one becomes a member is set out under Admission.