Men’s tour to benefit most from ATP and WTA merger, women set for only 20%

The ATP and WTA will vote on an ‘80/20 split’ of revenue in a potential merger between the men's and women's tennis organizations. According to The Telegraph, the women’s tour would only receive 20% of the earnings if merged with the men’s circuit.

The discussion around equal prize money has been particularly prominent in recent months, and the ATP and WTA are preparing to vote on a commercial merger, although this will primarily benefit the men.

While the split may not seem fair, the ATP generates significantly more revenue than its counterpart. Its income was around 238 million euros as of 2022, while the WTA brought in 'only' 90 million euros. However, the ATP and WTA presidents emphasize that this is a starting point to increase future earnings and distribute them 50/50. This means any additional revenue will be split equally.

Thus, the WTA will start with a large revenue gap, though it is expected that they could achieve better benefits over the years following the merger, as they will share resources from commercial and marketing departments that will benefit both men and women.

The merger will make TV rights more commercially attractive, though it won't be possible in the early years. The WTA's current agreement with Stats Perform ends in 2026 for broadcasts and in 2029 for data acquisition, meaning combined rights won’t benefit until at least two years from now.

The merger is set to be voted on during the end-of-season championships, with the WTA Finals in Riyadh and the ATP Finals in Turin. Members of each Tour’s board will not be the only ones voting, as the men’s Masters 1000 tournaments will also need to approve the details.

In a joint statement from the ATP and WTA, they announced they are "exploring discussions that would enable us to leverage assets across both Tours via the creation of a new joint commercial entity, delivering more value to players, tournaments, and fans, while remaining as separate Tours.”