As you know, one of the joys of blogging is getting to open up a new can of worms from time to time... Here is the big one for today: the pay scale at Wimbledon.We would love to hear your comments as to the equity or lack of equity in the pay scale. Here are the pay scales:
2009 Wimbledon Pay (In Pounds)
Singles winner: 850,000 Singles Runner Up: 425,000
Doubles winner: 230,000 Doubles Runner Up: 115,000
Mixed Doubles winner: 92,000 Mixed Doubles Runner Up: 46,000
Things to consider:
1. Amount of time on the court.
2. Quality of play and level of competition.
3. Effort given by the players.
Things not to consider:
1. How old Billie Jean King is and how much she sacrificed for women's tennis.
2. How obnoxious Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe were during their playing days.
3. How much more a sports bra weighs than unliners for the men.
We will welcome any and all comments...
18 comments:
I want to turn the can on it's side to point it in a slightly different direction. You wanted suggestions about the pay scale for singles, doubles, mixed, etc. What about equal pay for equal work? The women play best of 3 sets, the men play best of 5 sets. Does the equal pay for equal work complaint by many also apply to tennis. If anyone agrees with equal pay for equal work, do they think the women's purse should be lower, or do they prefer that the women play best of 5 sets? Just be consistant.
Great post there Jaguar...
Personally, I don't think a chair umpire should be paid the same for a 2/3 set match as a 3/5 set match.
But then, that is only my opinion.
If the pay scale were adjusted it wouldn't matter if the official was a male or a female.
Lets Toast Equal Pay For Equal Work!!
But in the tennis world EQUAL doesn't = EQUAL.
Wimbledon Championships:
Women: best of 3 sets. = 850,000 pounds.
Men: best of 5 sets. = 850,000 pounds.
Women Finals Time: 87 minutes = 850,000 pounds.
Men Finals Time: 254 minutes = 850,000 pounds.
Women's Finals: 21 Games
7-6; 6-2
Mens' Final: 77 Games
5-7; 7-6; 7-6; 3-6; 16-14.
Just another example of the proverbial DOUBLE-STANDARD.
You do the math and draw your own conclusion:
1) Roger Federer busted his butt for 4 hours 16 minutes and got paid the same amount as Serena Williams for her 1 hr 27 minute romp on center court against her sister.
2) Andy Murray took 3 hours 7 minutes to get beat by Andy Roddick, but Darina Safina was able to get off the court and claim her paycheck for the same amount after only 51 minutes of torture from Venus Williams.
3) It took 2 hours 42 minutes to crown the Men's Doubles Champions, but the Women's contest was decided in only 1 hour 34 minutes for the same amount of money.
Bottom line - Billie Jean King is laughing in everybody's face at how stupid men are for agreeing to equal pay amoung the sexes, although she is well aware of the differences in competitiveness and athleticism between the Men and Women players.
Thought To Ponder: Maybe that's why most of the female chair umpires have big butts. They have much more time to eat since they are definitely not on court chairing matches.
Personally, I'm glad the female umpires work Women's matches so I don't have to hear their obnoxious voices for over an hour plus or minus 15 minutes.
In my unbiased opinion, I think women officials should work women's matches and male officials should work men's matches at the pro level.
I'm still formulating my thinking on this issue in the ITA ranks.
You guys are a bunch of whiners. Why don't you quite worrying about what tennis "stars" are paid and start worrying about what the officials made who were standing out there for hours? Any information on that?
I was hoping someone would ask that question.
I don't know what the chairs and linespeople were paid but I'll check my sources today and get back to you as soon as I can.
Randy
Let's not forget though that Serena and Elena played a semi-final match that was probably one of the best women's matches in recent memory. Was this match worth more or less than watching a men's match that encompasses 40 or more 130mph aces? I would say that the women's match was worth more to watch and worth more to the players that left it all on the court. However for this ONE part of the world to have equal pay for both sexes is a single victory in a world full of inequities for women.
Let's not even talk about the pay difference between the PGA and LPGA tours or the NBA and the WNBA leagues. Granted there are quality of play differences but the Monday morning talk around the water cooler was of Tiger's AT&T victory and not the sudden death playoff between Morgan Pressel and E. Yi. This was a playoff forced by a chip-in eagle by Morgan on hole 17. To me this tournament was more exciting coming down the stretch.
WNBA or NBA? NCAA Men or NCAA Women BBall? So many discussions on so many levels. Not the least of which is the quality of the person that is playing the game. How about pay level of women coaches vs men? Pat Summitt vs Mike Krzyzewski? College graduation rates vs leaving early for the NBA draft.
Oh, I could go on for hours. There are valid arguments and discussions for both sides. Let's just agree that these are all games and that the real inequities lie in the daily Joe's and Joan's that get up every morning, drive to work, put in 10 or more hours per day and hope that it is enough for the senior management to allow them to keep their job and to keep putting food on the table at home! All while the senior management draw salaries and bonuses larger than some people will bring home for several years of dedicated service to the company.
WNBA vs NBA???!! Have you ever endured the agony of watching a WNBA event? Women's collegiate basketball is exciting and fun to watch, the WNBA is a cruishing bore. No wonder their frasnchises are folding like the cheap seats.
The Serena and Elena match was memorable since Elena essentially blew the match. What a joke. Serena never would have been in that situation if she would get off her lard ass and actually exercise and train. Just imagine how good she could really be if she dedicated her time to HER sport like the top MEN players do. It must be a female thing not to want to work for what you get.
It is not a simple black and white issue. It is very gray. On one side, If I were a woman and was being paid less I would inadvertently of course feel less than and insulted. But you must admit, in the last five years, how many women's finals have been thrilling? A handful? Two, Three? They have been downright lame and you all know it. I started watching tennis as a kid because of women's tennis, Seles, Graf, Hingis, those were memorable matches. But now I can barely bring myself to watch these boring top ten women. An all Williams final is more effective than any sleeping pill. How many women's finals have even gone to three sets in recent years??? Not so many. Almost all of the men's finals have been outstanding, many going to five sets. So in this sense, no, you cannot compare the effort between men and women. You can't compare the grit and physicality of a one hour match (most women's finals) and a four hour match (many men's finals). Thank you.
For years, men have been getting paid more than woman (sic) for the exact same work. Be it on the police force, fire department or the board room." that much has been and is still, unfortunately, in all too many instances true. To be sure, actual disparities and inequities in amounts paid for work rendered that simply should not exist should be dealt with appropriately under the law. That said, equally true is that two wrongs certainly do not make a right. Equal work for equal pay should mean exactly what the phrase says, and the women do not perform the same work as the men do in tennis. Take this past Sunday's Men's Wimbledon final, for example. There is no justifiable reason as to why Serena and Venus should get to collect the same amount as Roger and Andy do. They, Serena and Venus, did not do the same amount of work, period. I'm a lib, but it's disgusting when a radical feminist agenda like the one promulgated by Billie Jean King and her pals supersedes plain old common sense...
I do not see women's tennis as performing the same work. If I have to use a comparison, I would say that women tennis does 30% less work than men. If you have a co-worker that only work 5 hours vs your 8 hours and get paid the same, would you like that.? Women should be paid the same for doing the same work but I don't see it in tennis as doing the same work. There is even talk of having less tournaments for women so they wouldn't have to play as many tournaments as men. Where is the fairness in that. As for TV time, you are looking at 1-2 hours vs 3-5 hours for men. You can also almost always know who the top women to make it to the final 8 vs the men, where there is more competition, it can be anyone's game. BTW, I am a woman.
"It must be a female thing not to want to work for what you get"
Wow that's a very generalized and sexist statement and one you should be careful using.
My unimpeachable sources tell me that this is the going rate for professional chair officials:
$145/day plus hotel, airfare or mileage, meals, and $40 for days off.
They also mentioned that badges receive a slightly higher rate.
Interesting that the winner receives over a million US dollars and this is what the chair official is paid...
Haha - This confirms that professional chair officials are idiots!!! My cousin Paco makes more money flipping burgers at McD's and he even gets partial health care.
To be honest, I've never understood why people would work these lower level pro tournaments calling lines. They get paid basically nothing, are abused regularly, and ridicule is a part of their life. I know they love the game of tennis but this is way over the edge.
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