LONDON – Several of the world’s top tennis players are likely to avoid leading tournaments in Britain because of the UK government’s policy of taxing their endorsement income, according to the man who runs Wimbledon. Wimbledon organisers said on Tuesday that this year’s prize fund would be 14.6 million pounds ($23.81 million), an increase of 6.4 percent on 2010, while the singles champions will each pocket 1.1 million pounds — up 10 percent. Those numbers and the kudos of the tournament mean there is no risk of any player staying away from the grand slam but the pre-Wimbledon Queens event and the ATP finals could suffer, Wimbledon’s CEO Ian Ritchie told Reuters in an interview.
“Of course we have no problem with players being taxed on prize money but there is no doubt that the tax on endorsement income is a big disincentive,” Ritchie said. “There are plenty of places wanting to take the ATP finals. We want to keep that here, and we want the best players at Queens but it seems individual sports are the only events where sportsmen are taxed for endorsement income.” Government rules state that sportsmen and women competing or even just practicing in the UK are taxed a proportion of their income from endorsements and sponsorships even if those deals have nothing to do with Britain.
The rules are the reason triple Olympic champion sprinter Usain Bolt stayed away from last year’s London Diamond League meeting while there are also fears they could affect some of the country’s smaller golf tournaments. “Of course we understand that people might wonder why, at a time of economic difficulty when everyone is making sacrifices, we should be trying to do this for multi-millionaire sportsmen,” Ritchie said. “But I think the overarching view is that what will happen is that these guys will choose not to come — it is definitely on the players’ radar — and so the public are deprived of a chance to see them and the UK economy also misses out on what are huge benefits.
“We all want to see big sporting events come to this country but this is a negative that could and should be addressed. “We reckon the money gained on tax is about 7 million pounds a year but inward investment on Tour Finals alone is 100 million so it’s a matter of balance. “We also find it somewhat incongruous that team events aren’t charged in the same way.” Ritchie said tennis officials have been lobbying the UK government for two years on the issue but have yet to receive any reply. The Wimbledon chief also defended the hike in prize money. “We are aware of the sensibilities in the current climate but we think we’ve got the balance right,” he said. “We’re competitive with the other grand slams and the foreign exchange rate has a big impact.
“We don’t want to chase the exchange rate and to necessarily be the highest prize money but economically the Championships is doing very well as you can see from the new contracts we’ve been able to secure.” As the sun beat down on the hottest day of the year so far, the June 20-July 3 Championships, the 125th edition, suddenly seemed a lot closer. New number three and number four courts will be used this year, which will increase the overall capacity by 1,000 to 38,500. Court Three, which will have a capacity of 2,000, will become the fourth court to be equipped with Hawkeye technology.
Plans were also revealed on Tuesday for a new glass-domed players’ facility resembling a mini-version of the Press box at Lord’s cricket ground that is bound to spark controversy. “This is a facility for people who are roughly aged 16 to 30 and they want a modern light and airy facility with plenty of space,” Ritchie said of the building planned for 2013. “With anything you put up some people are not going to like it. Of course this place is steeped with history but if you look at what’s happened over the last 15 years it’s actually unrecognisable. “Having history doesn’t mean you don’t have excellent facilities.”
