Trading cards offer lifeline to low-income players
LONDON/NEW YORK, June 28 (Reuters) - A nearly year-old initiative to sell tennis players' trading cards is generating vital extra income for lower earners struggling to make ends meet, its backers said.
While the world's elite tennis players can earn fortunes, with Wimbledon for example offering a record 53.5 million pounds ($73.5 million) in prize money this year, those much further down the rankings often struggle financially.
Winners Alliance, the commercial partner of the Professional Tennis Players Association (PTPA) which wants to address the financial disparities, said the new cards had generated around $20 million since they were rolled out in August.
Some 70% of the income has gone to the 400 players signed up.
"You have the 100th best player in the world and they're struggling to make a living," Eric Winston, president of Winners Alliance, told Reuters. "That's not right."
Winners Alliance has teamed up with the Fanatics-owned Topps brand to produce trading cards for the next 20 years, hoping to emulate the huge popularity of such initiatives in other sports such as soccer and U.S. basketball.
The cards, featuring current and former players, are sold online, at hobby shops and on site at big tournaments including the U.S Open and Australian Opens. The latest release on May 15th sold out in 24 hours.
Founded in 2022, Winners Alliance, chaired by hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, manages commercial opportunities for sports players and their agents. Its aim is to generate a recurring annual income of $100,000 for all ranked players from trading cards, video games and other income streams.
"The level of players in the top 200 has never been so high... and some can barely make ends meet," said PTPA deputy executive director Romain Rosenberg, citing the example of a player near the top 100 who earned $25,000 one year after deducting taxes, coaching and other unavoidable costs.
Rosenberg contrasted tennis with other sports such as football where even lower-tier players earn large salaries, often without the high costs tennis players face with coaching, travel and health expenses.
"It is still early days but the aim is to emulate the success of U.S. basketball and baseball leagues... even reaching 10% of their revenue in five to 10 years would generate meaningful passive income for players," Rosenberg added.
The PTPA, co-founded by players Novak Djokovic and Vasek Pospisil in 2020, has backed various efforts to level the playing field between the haves and have-nots of tennis, including legal aid and health programmes.
Sports trading cards have enjoyed enduring popularity, buoyed by record-breaking sales such as a rookie card of baseball great Mickey Mantle fetching $12.6 million at auction in 2022.
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