Wimbledon — financials and facts of the most iconic tennis tournament
Breaking down what makes Wimbledon unique and the business behind this prestigious tennis tournament
Ready to serve
Wimbledon, the premier tennis tournament, and one of the most renowned and prestigious sporting events in the world, is starting today at the All England Lawn Tennis Club (AELTC) in London, England. The oldest of the four tennis Grand Slams, with its inaugural edition held in 1877, is filled with history and is also the tournament every tennis player dreams of winning once.
Over 530,000 fans will descend on Wimbledon over the next two weeks to watch their favorite players dress up in all white attire (and only white, not off-white or cream) for the tournament. This is only one of the peculiarities that make Wimbledon unique and give it this special aura and its prestige.
The AELTC counts less than 500 members, but the 2 weeks every summer enable it to generate millions in revenues, as was the case in 2023 with £380million ($499million) and profits of £54million ($71million). Before Carlos Alcaraz sets foot on Center Court in a bid to defend his title, let’s see how Wimbledon generates this money, as well as what makes it so unique among the tennis calendar and in the broader sporting world.
(You will also be rewarded with some great Wimbledon fun facts in the end)
Game, set and dough
Wimbledon, unlike basically any other major sporting event or private sporting organization, publishes an annual report of 30–40 pages giving us a glimpse at their finances. It is a rather rudimentary breakdown, but nonetheless highly intriguing. Below you can see the revenue and operating profit evolution of Wimbledon over the last decade. Of note is 2020, where the tournament was cancelled as a consequence of the global pandemic. Despite only $5million in revenues they managed to generate $53.2million in operating profits, which seems odd. However, in 2003, following a SARS outbreak, Wimbledon decided to pay an annual £1.5million ($2million) pandemic insurance. After 17 years and over $30million in insurance premiums paid, COVID hit and the tournament had to be cancelled. However, they received $141million in insurance payouts (not a bad ROI).
To contextualize these figures, we can compare them against the most financially lucrative of all the four Grand Slams, the U.S. Open, with its highest tournament attendance (Wimbledon Center Court can seat 15,000 spectators whereas U.S. Open’s Arthur Ashe Stadium holds a significantly larger 23,771 spectators) and its most lucrative domestic TV deals.
With all these factors at its back the U.S. Open managed to generate the following:
U.S. Open revenues:
- 2023: $514.1million (+$14.8million over Wimbledon)
- 2022: $472.2million (+$17.0million over Wimbledon)
The difference is smaller than expected, given the structural advantages the U.S. Open has. This outlines the ability Wimbledon shows to leverage its prestige and generate outsized demand on every front for its tournament, be that in form of fan attendance or partnership appeal.
Revenue breakdown
Unfortunately, there is no further detail in their financial statements that breaks down their revenues, but a deep dive by Forbes uncovered that the revenues would be approximately split like this for the 2023 edition of Wimbledon.
Revenue breakdown Wimbledon:
- Broadcasting rights: $276million (~56%)
- Ticket sales: $81million (~16%)
- Sponsorships: $81million (~16%)
- Concessions and merchandise: $61million (~12%)
Let’s briefly deep-dive in each of these four revenue pillars to get a better feeling as to how they generate the related revenues
Broadcasting rights
Two markets are key for Wimbledon, its domestic UK market and the lucrative overseas market in the U.S. In the UK they recently extended their decades long partnership with the BBC by another 3 years, receiving £44million (~$56million) annually for the period of 2025–2027 for their domestic TV rights. As a fun little aside, the main reason Wimbledon is still available on a free-to-air (FTA) channel is the 1996 Broadcasting Act listing the tournament as an event of “national interest” with a “Group A” classification, meaning full live coverage must be offered by services that are free to view and receive by 95% of the UK population. It could probably fetch more money in the UK market if not for that rule, where the likes of Amazon, Sky and Eurosport could all bid on the rights, so they are missing out on some revenue here.
Wimbledon media rights in the UK
In the U.S. Wimbledon has firmly entangled itself with Disney and its broadcasting channels of ABC and ESPN (incl. ESPN+), having extended their partnership by another 12-years beginning in 2024 for $630million ($52.5million annually). An increase from the previous 12-year deal from 2012 to 2023 that brought in $480million ($40million annually), but is still below the $75million the U.S. Open makes annually in its domestic market.
Wimbledon media rights in the U.S.
Media rights values are driven by viewership figures and the subsequent advertising inventory the broadcaster can sell (or the subscriptions in case of an OTT channel). Last year’s final between Alcaraz and Djokovic pulled in a peak viewership of 11.3million in the UK, the highest figure since 2016 (13.3million), which was also the last triumph of Andy Murray. Highest peak viewership since 2012 was reached in 2012 (16.9million), 2013 (17.3million) and 2016, all involving the local favourite Andy Murray. So, the recent 2023 figures are a promising sign for the continued interest in the event.
Ticket sales
Wimbledon has the lowest attendance among all the four Grand Slams, by a quite significant margin as well. Its respectable 532,651 spectators over the two weeks last year are topped by nearly 150,000 additional fans attending the 2024 French Open (675,080), with the 2023 U.S. Open (957,387) and the 2024 Australian Open (1,020,763) nearly doubling Wimbledon’s figure. Of note here is that the Wimbledon figures only count the two weeks of the tournament, while the other three include the additional week of qualifiers, though this does not account for that many additional viewers.
The main reason for this is the limited space in the AELTC and their refusal to enlarge their existing Center Court and Court №1 capacities. Nevertheless, ticketing is among the second largest revenue contributors with around $81million, but there would definitely be additional potential for them to increase this if they so desired.
Sponsoring & Concession — Giving major Masters vibes
The Masters and Wimbledon give off very similar vibes with their history, own special rules and general aura of prestige they convey. This is most notable in the way sponsorship and concessions are handled.
While not quite as restrictive as the Masters with its six sponsors that share 4min of advertising time every hour without any visible logo on the course, Wimbledon has a total of 16 commercial partners, far less than any of the other Grand Slams. However, the logos on most courts are black and small, with the exception of Centre Court and Court №1, where they are white. In both cases, they are barely visible, all in service to maintain the focus on the pristine green grass of the courts and have minimal distractions to the overall presentation of the event.
Unlike that, the U.S. Open seizes every opportunity to stick another sponsor somewhere, with the court and even the net covered in brand logos. Mick Desmond, the commercial and media director of the AELTC, summarized Wimbledon’s approach in this way:
“Our clean court philosophy is at the heart of our brand and is respected and appreciated by our global partners […] Our objective, therefore, is not to maximize revenue in the short term, but to build relationships for the long term that will future-proof The Championships and our partners for years to come.”
In similar fashion to the Masters, Wimbledon is leaving sponsorship money on the table in an effort to control their brand.
In terms of concessions and merchandise, this makes up the smallest part of Wimbledon’s revenue, but still a respectable ~$61million, the majority of it coming from merchandising sales. Unlike the Masters though, they do offer their merchandise online, but, cheap, it is not.
On the concessions front, there is one classic and famous item, the strawberries and cream. They sell around 200,000 every tournament, and the good thing is, unlike the merchandise, they are cheap, running you only £3 per serving.
What can we learn from Wimbledon?
It is evident that Wimbledon is not following conventional wisdom in how it operates, prioritizing tradition and product quality over revenue maximization, rating tradition and their product above anything else.
Other sporting events can take some pivotal learnings from the Wimbledon model:
- Maximum exposure can help maintain interest in an event, avoiding the trap of pursuing short-term profit maximization and hiding a product behind paywalled services/channels. Wimbledon strategically prioritizes maximum exposure in TV viewership. Similarly, smaller leagues or events may benefit from offering free access to broaden their fan base.
- Consistency is key to generating a brand that sticks with viewers. Be clear in your identity throughout and convey that message in everything you do. Find your identity and let it drive every decision, even if it may not always maximize revenues in the immediate term, such as Wimbledon’s decision prioritize their brand rather than maximizing sponsorship revenues.
As a Swiss, Wimbledon naturally is my favorite event, having seen Federer break through against Sampras in 2001 and winning his first of a record 8 Wimbledon titles in 2003. It feels like the most unique event on the tennis calendar and always comes with an added level of gravitas and weight. It always feels like a special event when someone hoists the trophy, a must-see spectacle. I hope other sporting events emulate the deliberate brand and viewership experience focus of Wimbledon, so that we can get more unique and distinguishing events across tennis and sports in general.
Fun facts about Wimbledon
- Queueing for tickets is a tradition at Wimbledon and it remains one of the very few major sporting events where you can buy premium tickets on the day of play, resulting in long queues forming the usually every evening for the next day (there is even a 31-page guide on queueing)
- Wimbledon has a highly stringent dress code that requires all players to dress in white (no off-white, no cream and no color accents), a tradition that dates back to 1880, when sweat stains were considered improper, so a white dress code that hides such marks was written into the rules
- Andre Agassi, known for his love of bright outfits, refused to play at Wimbledon from 1988 to 1990 as they would not allow him to wear his branded personal attire on the court
- The London Olympics in 2012 held the tennis tournament at Wimbledon, where the usual dress code and “clean” grounds did not apply, and instead players competed in outfits of their national colors and there was purple branded signage everywhere
- Rufus the Harris Hawk flies around the grounds most mornings to keep it pigeon-free (would not want some pigeon poop ruining the pristine green grass
- 54,250 Dunlop Slazenger balls are used every year for the tournament, which are heavier and can repel 70% more water than normal tennis balls, to provide the best play on grass
- The longest match ever played in tennis was the first-round game at Wimbledon in 2010 between Nicolas Mahut and John Isner, which Isner won 6–4, 3–6, 6–7, 7–6, 70–68 in 11 hours 5 min, as back then the final set was played out until someone got a 2-game difference (nowadays a 10-point tiebreak is played if the fifth set is 6–6). The game stretched over 3 days and each player recorded over 100 aces
- Arguably, the greatest tennis match of all-time was played in Wimbledon, the 2008 Gentlemen’s final between Federer and Nadal that saw multiple rain delays, insane momentum shifts and a game that ended in near darkness before Nadal won it
- The court is a 100% perennial ryegrass mix cut to precisely 8 mm in height every morning
- 250 Ball Boys & Girls are selected from 27 nearby schools at the age of 15 and have to take a test to make sure they can stand completely still for at least 3 minutes, as well as being expected to attend weekly training sessions of 2.5 hours
- Most Wimbledon titles Gentlemen: Roger Federer (8), Pete Sampras (7), Novak Djokovic (7), Björn Borg (5)
- Most Wimbledon titles Ladies: Martina Navratilova (9), Steffi Graf (7), Serena Williams (7), Venus Williams (5)
- Most consecutive Wimbledon titles: Martina Navratilova (6, 1982–87), Roger Federer (5, 2003–07), Björn Borg (1976–80)
- Youngest Gentlemen’s winner: Boris Becker at 17 years old in 1985
- Youngest Ladies winner: Martina Hingis at 16 years old in 1995
Thanks for reading
I hope you enjoyed this breakdown and gained a new-found appreciation for the All England Lawn Tennis Club and the Wimbledon tournament they host and how its revenues are driven and simultaneously limited by its brand and quality focus. If you have, please consider sharing it with your friends and subscribing, much appreciated!
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