The All England Club (AELTC) paid the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) £48.1m last year, under an agreement in which they distribute 90% of each year’s surplus to the governing body.
But executives at the club disagree with the premise that prize money should be linked to tournament revenue, and argue a lot of that revenue needs to be reinvested in the championships.
They point to a successful business model which has enabled them to more than double player prize money over the past 10 years, and do not enjoy suggestions they are exploiting players “like some Victorian mill owners”.
The AELTC voluntarily distributed £10m in prize money to 620 players who would have featured in the 2020 Championships had they not been cancelled because of the Covid pandemic.
A 9.5% increase in prize money at the recent French Open was not enough for some players, who limited their pre-tournament media commitments to just 15 minutes in protest.
And, like the AELTC, the French Tennis Federation also takes exception to the principle of linking prize money to revenue.
“I believe that these figures are not the ones we should really look at, but we’ll have that discussion with the players,” tournament director Amelie Mauresmo said on Sunday.
“I believe that everybody has to make a step in the other’s direction, and we’ll have to change the mentality. So we’ll need goodwill from everyone.”
The US Tennis Association (USTA) offered $90m (£67.2m) – and a 20% increase – in prize money last year. The prize fund for this year’s US Open, which begins on 30 August, is expected to be announced shortly after Wimbledon.
It will comfortably clear the $100m mark and could well exceed the players’ demands for 2026 prize money to represent 16% of tournament revenue.
The players are enjoying increasing leverage, and have highlighted the US Open’s new star-studded mixed doubles event in negotiations with the USTA.
The point has been made that the competition is more important to the commercial success of the US Open’s ‘Fan Week’ than it is to many of the players – who may need to arrive earlier than scheduled as it takes place the week before the main draw.
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