Sports Final Paper - Grade: A PDF

Preview

Summary

Final paper example....

Description

Sam Greenberg Professor Levey Friedman Sports in American Society 8 May 2018 Equal Pay in Golf and Tennis Golf and tennis are two longstanding sports with a tremendous history, except when it comes to equal pay for their athletes. While golf has never had equal pay, tennis has made marvelous strides in recent years to achieve this equality. Female tennis players over the years have battled for their right to equal pay. Most notably, Billie Jean King has been an advocate for over four decades for this issue. Her memorable “Battle of the Sexes” match with Bobby Riggs became a cornerstone in the argument that women can perform at the same level as men (Ott). While tennis has had icons pushing for equal pay for years, golf has not seen this same level of vigor. Golf is undoubtedly a male dominated sport in terms of viewership and notable athletes. This dominance has hindered the progress for equal pay. For example, Augusta National, the host club of the Masters, has been an exclusively male club for most of its history (Grinberg). Only recently did the club admit female members. Golf and tennis are two sports that can be easily compared due to their popularity, segregation between male and female tournaments, appeal to similar demographics, and the idea that they are sports played into old age. While these similarities are important, one glaring difference is the inability of golf to give out equal pay whereas tennis has seen equal pay at major tournaments. Golf has a long history of shortchanging women when it comes to prize money for major tournaments. From 1937 until 1966, women golfers competed for a fraction of the prize money at Augusta Country Club. For example, in 1947, Babe Didrikson Zaharias received $300 for winning the Titleholders while Jimmy Demaret received $2,500 for winning the Masters a week later (Saffer). According to reporter Max Saffer, as Didrikson wrote in her memoir, “I was the leading women’s money winner for 1948 and my winnings totaled just $3,400. As you can see by

that, the amount of [events] available to a woman golf pro was still pretty limited” (Saffer). As a result of this limitation, in 1950, Didrikson and 12 other women golfers formed their own tour, the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA). Thirteen years later, John F. Kennedy signed the Equal Pay Act into law to end pay discrimination, but the women golfers saw things take a step back. Women golfers continued to make a fraction of their male counterparts. Title IX was then passed in 1972, but there was still no positive impact for equal pay in golf. Over the past 40 years, the pay gap has shrunk significantly, but not anywhere near enough. Women make at most 45 percent of the male winner’s prize money (Saffer). The men’s game has better ratings, more sponsors and more broadcast dollars, but the efforts made by the United States Golf Association (USGA) have been abysmal. As a result, the gap is as noticeable as ever. While golf still struggles with pay equality, tennis has managed to achieve this equality in major tournaments because of the history surrounding the sport. Billie Jean King is one of the most recognizable figures of the sport, regardless of gender. In 1972, King earned $10,000 for her US Open win, which is a mere 40% of Ilie Nastase’s $25,000 prize (Popovich). As a result, King threatened to organize a boycott for the 1973 tournament. Because of her popularity, the tournament could not afford to lose her, so they offered equal pay, becoming the first tennis tournament to offer equal pay. While the US Open, with the help of King, created a standard for equal pay, it took 28 years for another grand slam to consistently award equal prize money. In 2001, after years of flirting with equal pay, the Australian Open became the second tournament to commit to parity (Popovich). The French Open followed shortly in 2006 with Wimbledon holding out for another year. Wimbledon, however, was stubborn in its ways. Venus Williams played a key role in this final push for equality. In a 2006 article, Williams wrote, “Why does Wimbledon choose to place a lesser value on my championship trophy than that of the 2005

men’s winner Roger Federer?” (Williams). This history of iconic female athletes has allowed tennis to push for equal pay in many tournaments, most notably grand slams. Tennis has these historic female players while golf noticeably lacks well known female athletes, which hinders their ability to fight for equality on the public stage. Understanding the history of the fight for equal pay in both sports helps to understand the current situation. In golf, there are four major men’s tournaments and five major women’s tournaments; however, only three of these tournaments overlap between the men’s and women’s games. These three tournaments are the US Open, the Open Championship, and the PGA Championship. The US Open has the highest payout of any of the major women’s tournaments at $900,000; the men’s prize money for the equivalent tournament is $2.16 million (Nudelman). While this seems like a large gap, it is not the most egregious of the three. The Open Championship awards the women’s winner $490,000 whereas the men’s winner receives $1.85 million (Nudelman). Similarly, the PGA Championship gives out $530,000 to the women’s winner and $1.89 million to the men’s winner (Nudelman). Since the US Open has the largest prize money for both tournaments, it is interesting to compare players’ total earnings from this one tournament. Karrie Webb won the US Open in 2000 and 2001; her total earnings as the champion came out to $1,418,533. By contrast, Tiger Woods won the US Open in 2000, 2002, and 2008, and his total earnings are $4,000,685 (Romero). While this may seem fair since Woods won the tournament three times compared to Webb’s two, Martin Kaymer won the tournament in 2014 and earned $200,000 more than the amount Webb received for her two victories (Romero). On the other hand, the current situation in tennis grand slam events exemplifies equal pay. Because of this achievement, eight of the ten highest paid female athletes are tennis players (Edmond). This level of success is a result of the large amounts of prize money from these

tournaments and the fact that these tournaments have to have the same prize money totals for men and women. Similar to golf, in 2018, the US Open has the largest grand prize at $3.7 million for the winner (totalsportek.com). After the US Open, the largest grand prize is at the Australian Open at $3.2 million followed by Wimbledon at $2.9 million and then the French Open at $2.7 million (totalsportek.com). The most interesting breakdown is the prize money awarded at each round of these events. The French Open has the second largest money pool at $48 million, but has the smallest prize for the winner. By awarding more money at each round, they enable early losers to make a sizable payday (totalsportek.com). Between all of these tournaments, the minimum earnings a player can make are $30,000, which happens if they lose in the first round of the Australian Open (totalsportek.com). A major step for increased pay in general will occur at the US Open, as the total compensation for players will reach $50 million (Telegraph Sport). According to United States Tennis Association President Katrina Adams, “In addition to unprecedented prize money increases, players also will see a host of new amenities at this year’s tournament including upgrades to player dining, a more generous meal allowance, upgrades to all player workout facilities, and additional quiet room space” (Telegraph Sport). The goal of the US Open is to make the experience for everyone involved as “world-class” as possible (Telegraph Sport). Tennis has committed to equal pay for its players as well as making the experience of playing in these high-pressure tournaments memorable and enjoyable for all involved. While tennis has seen several women’s players challenge their male counterparts, this occurrence is much more rare in golf. As mentioned earlier, Billie Jean King challenged and defeated Bobby Riggs in a tennis match known as the Battle of the Sexes. This victory implanted the idea that women could compete on the same level as men in the minds of the public. While

Billie Jean King is the most famous Battle of the Sexes match, there were several other occurrences of female tennis players taking on their male counterparts. While none were as successful as King, these challenges increased the popularity of the sport and created an additional level to the sport. In golf, however, there has been a lack of success for women challenging their male counterparts. In 2006, Michelle Wie attempted to qualify for the men’s US Open. As a 16 year old, Wie entered a local qualifier in Honolulu to begin her quest for qualification (Adelson). After advancing to the sectional qualifying in Summit, New Jersey, Wie bogeyed three straight holes that essentially ended her run (Fox News). Supposedly, the USGA does not have a gender restriction on qualification for the men’s Open; however, no woman has ever played in this tournament. Had Wie won the qualifier, she would have played at the US Open, which in this year was held at Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck, New York (Adelson). According to a Fox News article, “Winged Foot is one of the most daunting US Open courses, with sever greens, thick rough and deep bunkers” (Fox News). Because of this established difficulty of the course, golfer Mark Brooks stated, “I don’t think it would be a good experience unless you’ve really been whipped by a golf course. I don’t think Tiger Woods was ready for a US Open when he was 16” (Fox News). This comparison between Wie and Woods is not fair to the 16-year-old golfer. In 2006, Woods was unquestionably the best golfer in the game. Comparing Wie to Woods applies unnecessary pressure as well as unrealistic expectations. Wie nearly qualified for the US Open, but the focus is rather that this person probably would not have been able to do it, so there was no way she could qualify. In golf, there needs to be more women similar to Wie who are bold enough to take the chance to level the playing field even if they fail on a public stage.

Increased efforts by female golfers will force the USGA to make a decision about equal pay at major tournaments. Golf should follow tennis and adopt equal pay for major tournaments. Understanding the history of the two sports is crucial to this argument; tennis has significant female icons that fought for equal pay while golf has lacked the popularity in the female game to force a change. Golf can adopt the approach modeled by tennis and create equal pay opportunities for its players. The tournament most likely to have the largest impact on this equality would be the US Open. Both the men’s and women’s tournaments are operated by the USGA and are the largest purses of the year (Alvarez). The USGA currently has a deal with Fox Sports for an estimated $1.1 billion over 12 years (Alvarez). Last year, the women’s tournament was held at Trump National golf club. With the history Trump has with women, the USGA had an opportunity to make a statement and quiet its critics; however, it missed this chance. The PGA and LPGA are separate organizations and have separate purse prizes as a result. On the other hand, the USGA represents both men and women and should do so fairly. In her article for The Guardian, Anya Alvarez argues that if the USGA cannot add funds to the women’s purse then the men should be paid less to match the women. Additionally, no male golfers have publicly supported equal pay while no women have boycotted the US Open. Conversely, in tennis, Andy Murray advocates for women’s tennis, which helps grow awareness in the public, and in turn, applies pressure to the USTA. The women’s golf game lacks this support, and the USGA should learn a lesson from tennis and award equal pay. There are several ways to make golf more like tennis in order to achieve this equality. In tennis, the men’s and women’s tournaments occur over the same stretch of time. By having the tournaments occur simultaneously, viewers are able to split their time evenly between both

genders. Conversely, in golf, each tournament occurs individually, with the women’s tournament usually occurring after the men’s tournament. The demographic of golf is predominately men, thus making it more likely that men will only watch the men’s tournament. This reality lowers the viewership of the women’s tournament, resulting in less revenue in the LPGA. The USGA looks at this lower revenue and determines that women deserve to make less since their popularity is significantly lower. There is a distinct lack of effort on behalf of the USGA to try to increase the popularity of the LPGA. Furthermore, in tennis, the men and women compete at the same venues in the same tournaments. Name recognition plays a large factor in popularity. Most sports fans can relay the four major grand slam tournaments of tennis; however, golf does not have this same parity. The men play four major tournaments while the women play five major tournaments. As previously stated, the only three tournaments with overlap are the PGA Championship, US Open and the British Open. The fourth tournament for the men is the Masters, which precludes women from playing. The other two tournaments for the women are the ANA Inspiration (formerly called the Kraft Nabisco Championship) and the Evian Championship. The necessity of the women to have major tournaments named after sponsors indicates the lack of funds the USGA diverts to the women’s game. For comparison, none of the men’s tournaments have sponsors in their title. The USGA is seemingly more okay with selling out the women’s game to try to earn as much as possible rather than opening up the sport to the public in creative manners. In class, Jim Bell discussed advertising for the Olympics and how NBC has to focus on the characters to create storylines that would appeal to a broader audience. Golf should adopt this idea and emphasize the characters and stories that come along with the ladies tour (Oliver). Tennis has used this strategy to their advantage, most notably and recently with the movie

“Battle of the Sexes,” which relays Billie Jean King’s story to the public in an accessible and glamorized fashion. If tennis has been able to create iconic female stars that have achieved equal pay in major tournaments, then golf should be able to follow this path as well. There are simple adjustments that can be made to increase viewership, and it starts with the USGA putting in more of a collective effort to increase visibility to its players. A final way of attempting to achieve equal pay in golf is to change the demographics of the sport. Golf needs either to obtain younger fans or more women. The idea of improving pace of play has been on the mind of the USGA for quite some time. Making golf a shorter sport appeals to younger audiences in a world of headlines and quick news flashes. The attention span of the average viewer is significantly lower than when golf was in its prime. Younger fans are typically more receptive to equality in sports and would allow female golfers to rise in the public sphere. Appealing to women may be more challenging on the surface, but can be accomplished through advertising. The USGA should create an ad campaign using their female athletes to create exposure to the women’s game. These changes could help increase viewership, which in turn increases revenue for the game, allowing the women to receive equal pay. Golf and tennis are similar sports on many levels except with their attitudes towards equal pay. Tennis ensures that its players receive equal pay at major tournaments while golf sees its women earn 45% of their male counterparts winnings. Tennis takes several steps to create as level a playing ground as there can be in the sport. Both the men’s and women’s tournaments occur at the same location during the same stretch of time, increasing the probability of equal viewership. Golf, on the other hand, has five majors for women and four for men, none of which occur at the same time. Usually, the women’s tournaments occur after the men play, which decreases viewership for the women’s tournament substantially. If golf could figure out a way to

synchronize the men’s and women’s tournaments to occur during the same four days, they would see a spike in viewership of the women’s tournament. There could no longer be the argument that men generate more revenue from viewership if the tournaments occur at the same time as they do in tennis. Golf needs to create more opportunities for its women’s players to be on the national stage in order to give its players a voice. Tennis has established the model for this progress in equality, and now golf needs to follow this path towards equal pay.

Works Cited Adelson, Eric. “Wie Will Attempt to Qualify for Men's U.S. Open.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, 4 May 2006, www.espn.com/golf/news/story?id=2429837. Alvarez, Anya. “Why Golf Should Follow Tennis and Adopt Equal Pay for US Open.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 13 July 2017, www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/2017/jul/13/us-womens-open-golf-equal-pay. “Big Gap in Earnings between Men and Women Professional Golfers.” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures, www.espn.com/espnw/sports/article/15160220/big-gap-earnings-men-womenprofessional-golfers. Edmond, Charlotte. “How Women Won the Fight for Equal Prize Money at Wimbledon.” World Economic Forum, www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/07/wimbledon-women-equal-prizemoney/. Gaines, Cork. “There Is a Huge Disparity in How Much the Men's and Women's Golf Major Winners Earn.” Business Insider, Business Insider, 21 July 2017, www.businessinsider.com/mens-womens-golf-major-winners-purse-2017-7. Grinberg, Emanuella. “Augusta National a Powerful Holdout among Men-Only Clubs.” CNN, Cable News Network, 5 Apr. 2012, www.cnn.com/2012/04/04/living/augusta-nationalibm-ceo/index.html. Joe, et al. “Highest Prize Money In Tennis Grand Slams (2018).” TOTAL SPORTEK, 4 May 2018, www.totalsportek.com/money/highest-prize-money-in-tennis-grand-slams/. “Michelle Wie Fails to Become First Woman to Qualify for U.S. Open.” Fox News, FOX News Network, www.foxnews.com/story/2006/06/05/michelle-wie-fails-to-become-firstwoman-to-qualify-for-us-open.html. Oliver, Chris. “Pay Gap in Golf - Why Do Female Golfers Earn So Much Less?” The Golf Einstein, 31 Mar. 2018, thegolfeinstein.com/why-do-female-golfers-earn-much-less/. Ott, Tim. “'Battle of the Sexes': The True Story of How Billie Jean King Struck a Blow for Women's Sports.” Biography.com, A&E Networks Television, 24 Oct. 2017, www.biography.com/news/battle-of-the-sexes-true-story-facts. Popovich, Nadja, and Guardian US interactive team. “Battle of the Sexes: Charting How Women in Tennis Achieved Equal Pay.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 11 Sept. 2015, www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/sep/11/how-women-in-tennis-achieved-equal-pay-usopen. Romero, Yvette. “In U.S. Open Golf, Women's Earnings Are Not on Par.” Bloomberg.com, Bloomberg, 14 June 2017, www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2017-golf-us-open-earnings/.

Saffer, Max. “Dollars but No Sense: Golf's Long History of Shortchanging Women.” ABC News, ABC News Network, 15 Apr. 2016, abcnews.go.com/Sports/dollars-sense-golfs-longhistory-shortchanging-women/story?id=38424998. Sport, Telegraph. “US Open 2017 Prize Money: How Much Will Winners Earn at Flushing Meadows?” The Telegraph, Telegraph Media Group, 15 Aug. 2017, www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/0/us-open-2017-prize-money-much-will-winners-earnflushing-meadows/. Williams, Venus. “Wimbledon Has Sent Me a Message: I'm Only a Second Class Champion.” News | The Times, The Times, 26 June 2006, www.thetimes.co.uk/article/wimbledon-hassent-me-a-message-im-only-a-second-class-champion-f056h05hmzq....