Tennis Has An Income Inequality Problem

[marmar]

Tennis Has An Income Inequality Problem
By CARL BIALIK


Tennis is played and followed in most nations worldwide. But professional players aren’t making much money. Fewer than 1,000 pro players break even at the sport. Far fewer make a decent living.

The opportunities to make good money are dwindling. More players are competing for prizes that are growing slowly, especially at the game’s lowest levels. Earlier this month, the ATP World Tour, which runs the most lucrative pro men’s events, announced it was increasing prize money significantly over the next four years. But the most exclusive tournaments will get the biggest boosts. After adjusting for inflation1, prize money on the ATP’s Challenger Tour — the equivalent of baseball’s AAA minor league — has fallen by 25 percent in the last six years.

Soon after the ATP’s announcement, the International Tennis Federation released results of its analysis of the pro game’s financials. Among the sobering findings: Only 336 men and 253 women made more than they spent playing tennis last year.

......(snip).....

Tennis’s problem is that its fan base is wide but not deep. It has fans in countries around the world, but rarely enough to support a major tournament with sellouts and big TV ratings in any single market.

The ITF is considering how to divide the revenue among players in a way that’s best for the game. The nonprofit body is studying the sport’s economics to make sure that players who are good enough to break through don’t quit the game before doing so — and to hasten the departure of those who aren’t good enough. The ITF’s data shows it takes about a year longer now than it did in 2000 for a player to go from his or her first ranking to reaching the Top 100, which is another year during which promising players might get discouraged and drop their rackets. ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://fivethirtyeight.com/features/tennis-has-an-income-inequality-problem/

[ProfessorGAC]

1. Like Pro Bowling

Guys now are winning tournaments for about 10% more than what they were winning in the late 70's. And, there are 60 million league bowlers in the US. Seems like a marketing problem to me, especially for how low the cost of televising a bowling event is.

And, there is no women's pro tour at all anymore.

[joeybee12]

2. And the travel...

It's not cheap getting to tournaments that pretty much cover the entire planet...