Prize Money Increase Request Too Much

Written by: Staff on 10th September 2012

Prize Money Increase Request Too Much

epa03220507 Serbian tennis player Novak Djokovic returns the ball to Australian tennis player Bernard Tomic during their match at the Italian Open Tennis Tournament, in the Foro Italico, Rome, Italy, 15 May 2012. EPA/CLAUDIO ONORATI |

The ATP and the Grand Slams are continuing to bat back and forth potential prize money increases for 2013, with the Australian Open first in the line of fire as it will be the first major staged since the men’s players declared at the US Open that they would be willing to boycott the event if their demands are not met.

ATP Players Council vice president Eric Butorac recently told TENNIS.com that the players would not decide what action to take until they see how much the Australian Open increases prize money for the 2013 event. The Aussie Open is supposed to announce its 2013 prize money sometime in early October.

Butorac added that the ATP Masters Series tournaments have agreed to 10% increases in the next three years and that the Grand Slam should increase it further as they take in much greater revenues.

While the ATP has not decided on specific numbers for its desired prize money increase, Butorac said that a 20 % spike would be close to what they are looking for.

The 2012 Australian Open increased prize money to A$26 million, up from $25 million in 2011 (3.8 percent).

The tournament has begun a major expansion and it’s doubtful that it will be able to meet a number anywhere close to 20%, which would be a whopping $5.2 million increase. Moreover the ATP is only negotiating for itself, and not the WTA, so if the Australian Open and other Slams keep to their pledge of paying equal prize money, the increase would be 40% (around $10.2 million).

“I think it’s important for everyone to understand what the business model is,” Tiley told the New York Times. “For us to add that much money into compensation in one year is just not feasible from a business point of view. We would have to completely change the way we do business. It’s not something our shareholders would support or our board would be able to do..We do agree that we should be increasing prize money. We’ve never shied away from that, and it’s just a question of what we can afford and just how satisfactory that is to the player group.”

It is estimated that the Australian Open’s total revenues are about $150 million annual, but the vast majority of that money is said to go to supporting tournament infrastructure as well recreational programs throughout Australia. Those programs would conceivably take a huge hit if a whopping prize money increase is given. Tiley said it’s doubtful that his federation’s board of directors would approve an increase of that size.

“If you have a look at 1998 and the consumer price index increase on prize money per tournament the Slams have gone up 1,095 percent, the ATP Tour has gone up 216 percent, and the challengers have gone down 15 percent. So there’s a big gap,” Tiley said. ” The Slams have stepped up in their prize money and we believe they can step up more, and of course we will step up more, but the question is just by how much.”

Topics: ATP tennis news, Australian Oprn 2012, Eric Butorac, Sports, Tennis News, tennis prize money, Tiley, WTA tennis news