I’ve been wondering about the business model of the tour. The big problem for tennis seems to be the travelling required. I really think it is holding back the tour, not really helping it.
I came across this tweet
Sarah Borwell @sarahborwellAnother article about the money situation on the Tour. Its becoming a major problem. Impossible to break into the…fb.me/3vYaCUk1G
30 Jan
ATP and ITF, is it time for a change?
Outside of the top 200 of the world, the life of professional tennis players is far from easy, this is why a campaign and a petition have been launched to change things. Keith-Patrick Crowley is a 25 year old tennis…
An excellent article. What I notice is that the 1100 ranked footballer in the world is probably on £1 million a year. I say this because while you can’t figure out exactly who is ranked 1100 you can have a fair guess at what they would earn. Given how many rich football leagues there are in the world you won’t even have to dig into the lower echelons to find the answer. Take the premier league.
It has:
- 20 teams
- Each team has say 20 contracted players
- that’s 20 x 20 = 400 players
If you just do the same for 2 more leagues and add the numbers you have 1200 players. Not one of them will be on less than £100k per year and their employers pay travel and accommodation costs. Otherwise they live at home.
There a re plenty of rich leagues to choose from
- Germany: The bundesliga
- Italy: Seria A
- Spain
- Franch
In Europe alone there are plenty without even considering the lower leagues or the rest of the world.
The players get paid whether they are injured or not and all travel and accomodation costs associated with playing football (their employment) are covered.
Tennis is the complete opposite. A band of self employed competitors. At the very top everything matches the top at football. But this is only open to the very top of the sport. Not really very many people. Football supports many many times more than this financially.
I basically think we need more local tennis leagues to watch. Something to support lower ranked players before they try the pro tour.