WTA total comp for staff exceeds ATP's for first time
ATP revenues are more than twice WTA's
The WTA Tour in 2024 paid out $26.9 million in compensation, six percent more than $25.3 million the ATP paid out, according to the two tennis governing bodies tax returns. This despite the ATP having revenues of $293.7 million in 2024, 105 percent more than the WTA’s $142.6 million, those tax returns show.
This news emerges as the two tours are in advanced discussions to merge their business units, a long running negotiation that has consumed years with the biggest issue of how the tours would split revenue. The ATP has given the WTA a deadline of two weeks from Thursday, which is December 18, to sign a letter of intent, a source said.
The WTA, which has faced difficult financial burdens in the wake of their ultimately unsuccessful boycott of China sparked by the Peng Shuai situation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disappearance_of_Peng_Shuai, has reported on its tax returns rapidly accelerating compensation for several years. In 2020 the WTA paid out $13 million in comp, a figure that jumped into the $16 million range for the next two years, then rising to $21 million in 2023 before last year’s leap. The tours compensation total were the same for the first time in 2023, with the WTA the bigger spender in this regard last year.
The ATP paid in 2024 seven figures to only one executive, chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, who earned $1.7 million in 2024, according to the tour’s tax return. The WTA had four executives (two are no longer with the tour) with seven figure paydays in 2024 https://danielkaplan.substack.com/p/wta-paid-ex-prez-14-mil-in-severance.
Other top earners at the ATP include long time chief legal counsel Mark Young with $990,000, and now former CEO Massimo Calvelli who earned $840,000, according to the tax return.
A key issue in the merger of the business units is how the money will be split. Women’s sports are booming, but like in basketball and soccer, the WTA still trails the ATP by a wide margin financially. What makes tennis different is many of the events are combined, and those are easily the most successful, giving the WTA more fuel for their arguments of more parity in the merger. The proposal under consideration would let the WTA’s share grow based on certain business metrics, but the initial split would constitute far far less than an even split.
The ATP in 2024 reported a $52 million surplus (this is simply revenues minus expenses), while the WTA reported negative $4.9 million, better than the negative $10.9 million in 2023, according to the tax returns. On a brighter note, the WTA’s net assets turned positive at $4 million, possibly a beneficiary of the sale of 20 percent of WTA Ventures to CVC Capital Partners for $150 million. The ATP’s net assets for 2024 the circuit reported at $427.4 million.