The Paris Major of Premier Padel is one of the most important tournaments of the season. The Philippe Chatrier at Roland Garros host, for the third consecutive year, the best padel players in the world. We have wondered about the prize money difference that may exist between Roland Garros and the Paris Major that takes place on the same venue, resulting in some quite striking results.
What is the difference in prize money between Roland Garros and the Paris Major?
Taking advantage of the situation, we have investigated the prizes obtained by professional tennis players who play Roland Garros and those received by padel players at the Paris Major. The difference is, without a doubt, abysmal:
Ver esta publicación en Instagram
The amount of money to be distributed in the tennis tournaments is more than 100 times the amount to be distributed in the padel tournament (53,500,000 € compared to 525,000 €).
If we go to the amount that the winner of one tournaments or the other receives, we find that in the Grand Slam, the player who lifts the salad bowl gets €2,400,000, while the players who are proclaimed winners of the padel tournament get €47,250 each. In other words, the winner of the tennis tournaments earns 50 times more than the winner of the padel tournament.
Padel has a long way to go to catch up with tennis
The figures are eye-catching, no doubt, but the reasoning behind why there is such a big difference is also extensive. Here we look at some of the factors that make the difference so great:
Olympic sport vs. non-Olympic sport.
One aspect to take into account is that tennis is an Olympic sport, while padel is still struggling to find its place in the next Olympics. It is well known that tennis is a world-renowned sport and, although padel is expanding very rapidly, it is still being introduced in many countries.
Television viewership
The number of television viewers is much higher for tennis than for padel. To get an idea, the last final between Alcaraz and Zverev was watched by an average of 2,213,000 viewers. In total, 5,444,000 unique viewers tuned in to watch the match at certain times. This makes the television rights for broadcasting tennis much more expensive, and therefore more prizes can be awarded in the end.
Crowds of fans in the stands during the tournament
The number of fans who turn out for one tournaments and another is also large. Tennis stars such as Djokovic, Nadal or Federer bring together a large number of people who fill the stands of the tennis courts. The 2023 edition of the Paris Major had an attendance of 37,000 people for the whole week, while Roland Garros 2024 registered 675,080 fans in the stands.
The history of tennis has a much longer history
Tennis has been with us longer. That much is undeniable. According to many historians, tennis originated in England in the 12th century. However, in 1926 the first professional tennis tour was established with a group of American and French players playing exhibition matches and people paying to watch. Padel, on the other hand, was born at the end of the 1960s when Enrique Corcuera adapted a 20 x 10 metre area of his estate, placing walls at the back and sides.
|
You may be interested in: |
