Wimbledon Says Yes To Increased Prize Money And No To Ticket Price

Written by: Staff on 24th April 2013

Wimbledon Says Yes To Increased Prize Money And No To Ticket Price

epa03311494 Photo dated 24 June 2011 shows a general view of the All England Lawn Tennis Club Wimbledon during third round action for the Wimbledon Championships in London, Britain. London will be host for the 2012 Olympic Games which will take place from 27 July to 12 August 2012 and the Paralympic Games from 29 August to 09 September 2012. EPA/KERIM OKTEN |

The All England Club not only announced a series of massive prize money increases, but also said it won’t raise ticket prices this year.

Prize money wise, the only category not to get a raise was mixed doubles, which will stay the same in 2013. Doubles player did see an increase with first round losers getting a 42 percent rise to $11,845 dollars. Overall, doubles prize money jumped 22%. The winning teams will receive $457,000 US dollars, up from $396,000 last year, a 15% increase.

Those who lose in the final round of singles qualifying will get a 41 percent increase, to just over $18,000 dollar. Surprisingly, that is more than a mixed doubles team that reaches the second round makes.

Players who enter and lose in the first round of singles, doubles and mixed will take in around $43,000.

Some 88% of singles players lose in the first three rounds of Wimbledon, which is one of the reasons the club listed for giving over a 60% rise to players in the first three rounds.

All England Club chairman Philip Brook said that the club can afford an overall 40 percent increase in prize money. Total prize money will be $34.4 million dollars.

The club also announced a new multi-tiered media partnership in China, where Wimbledon will be broadcast live on CCTV5, China’s national sports broadcaster, leading to an increase in the number of viewing homes in China from 85 million to 250 million. Other media partners include regional sports channels and Tencent, the largest internet portal in China.

However, while Wimbledon also announced plans to add a second roof by 2019 when it will put one on Court 1, it will not be pushed into playing matches at night. Both the US and Australian Opens play matches at night and Roland Garros has said that once it gets a roof on its center court that it will add night matches, too.

The BBC, which is Wimbledon’s primary broadcaster. told Bloomberg that it would love to see more tennis played at night as it attracts more viewers. Centre Court does have a roof.

But Brooke said that Wimbledon has no plans to do so.

“Fundamentally, we are a day-time outdoor tournament,” Brook said. “We don’t need to be a day-and-night tournament in terms of revenue generation, and our roof on Centre Court was built primarily for rain protection, and the same will be true for No. 1 Court.”

©Daily Tennis News Wire

Topics: All England Club, British tennis news, Philip Brook, Sports, Tennis News, tennis prize money, Wimbledon