ATP Players Council Takes Aim at US Open Percentage of Revenue

Written by: Staff on 29th January 2013

ATP Players Council Takes Aim at US Open Percentage of Revenue

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The reason why the ATP Players Council continues to press the US Open on increasing prize money despite the tournament already promising a $4 million raise in 2013 is they feel it isn’t giving enough of percentage of its overall revenue

The US Open has exactly matched the Australian Open’s increase of $4 million and the players decided not to boycott that tournament, but there still has been some saber rattling over the US Open, most publicly coming from ATP Board member Justin Gimelstob who said that the USTA should not think they can wait out the players this year and said that there could be serious consequences.

While reports have a potential boycott of the tournament have been at least temporally shot down, the player are currently in negotiations with the USTA and have not backed off on their demands.

USTA Executive director Gordon Smith has pledged that the USTA will increase prize money by 75% between 2012 and 2017. If the pledge holds, by 2017, total US Open prize money will be somewhere around $45 million.

But ATP Players Council member James Cerretani told Daily Tennis that the player were pleased with Australian increase because overall prize money in Melbourne is worth roughly 20% of the overall revenue generated, while at the US Open “it is only roughly 11% (5.5%men/5.5%women), even with the current improvements that they have announced for 2013. These are rough estimates, but widely accepted to be fairly accurate within the industry. Essentially, talent (player compensation) is a variable relative to the overall revenue generated by the event. So the question we should be asking is: What is the percentage value of talent relative to the overall revenue generated by the event? This variable in the formula should remain constant. Based on this formula, it is easy to see that in fact, it is Craig Tiley, Steve Wood and the entire Australian Open staff that is currently leading the way for the other Grand Slams to follow in terms of their prize money allocation.”

What the player have not spoken to yet is the amount of re-investment that the Grand Slams put into their facilities, many of which are used by the players: the USTA is planning a $500 million expansion of its 42-acre Flushing Meadows complex, which is located in the New York borough of Queens.

Total US Open prize money in 2013 will be $29.5 million, up from $25.5 million in 2012. Singles prize money at the US Open has increased by 34% since the 2011 US Open.

But the Cerretani said that at its meeting in Melbourne the player body expressed “overwhelming disappointment” regarding the US Open’s plans.

He also said that the Tennis Australia’s decision to give all qualifiers and main draw players $1000 apiece for travel expenses was looked upon kindly.

“We just don’t feel this type of player appreciation from the US Open at this point,” he said. “That being said, we remain united as players and confident that more productive and positive discussions will be held in the near future.”

However, the USTA’s Smith has noted that one of the reasons why Tennis Australia has been able to afford a larger increase as a percentage of revenue is the Victoria Government has given it $363 million for capital improvements. The USTA does not receive direct financial assistance from the City or State of New York

“If we had half a billion in the bank from the government, of course I could pay more prize money, but I don’t, Smith told the Times. “We are borrowing that much money for all the improvements we are seeking to make to the US Open site. We really think we are being fair.”

©Daily tennis news wire

Topics: Atp, Australian Open, Justin Gimelstob, Melbourne, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News, US Open, Usta