|
23/07/2018
PSA News
PSA Announce Record Prize Money During 2017/18 Season
as Gender Pay Gap Drops Significantly
The Professional Squash Association (PSA) today announced that a record
level of prize money was available on the PSA World Tour during the
2017/18 season, with total financial compensation reaching $6.4 million
- an 11% increase on the previous season.
The pay gap between female and male players dropped by almost a third
last season, with total prize money on the women’s tour totalling
$2,599,000 million - a 31% increase compared to 2016/17 - while the
men’s has increased to $3,820,000.
This trend is reflected in both the men’s and women’s top earners. The
top earning female player on the PSA World Tour earned $218,814 last
season - a 93% increase since the PSA and Women’s Squash Association (WSA)
merged in 2015 to create a unified governing body.
The top earning male player earned $278,231 last season, which has
increased 72% over the past three seasons. There have also been vast
prize money increases for the world’s top 25 ranked players across both
the men’s and women’s tours during this period, with average earnings
rising by 37% in the men’s and 63% in the women’s.
The prize money was split across 227 events (146 men and 81 women) in a
total of 47 countries, while tournaments were staged in eight new
countries during the 2017/18 season: Bermuda, Bolivia, Brazil, British
Virgin Islands, Kuwait, Nigeria, Romania and Saudi Arabia.
"Squash has been through a period of unprecedented growth over the past
decade and we are delighted that we can back that up with these record
figures," said PSA Chief Commercial Officer Tommy Berden.
"One of the key goals of the merger between PSA and WSA was to strive
for equality in both prize money and playing opportunities and, since we
took control of the administration of both men's and women's squash
three years ago, we have made significant strides in both of these
areas.
"We believe that professional squash has never been in better shape and,
with the 2018/19 PSA World Championships in Chicago set to become the
sport’s first one million dollar tournament in February 2019, we are
confident that the sport will continue to grow during the upcoming
season."
|
|
