I read somewhere that Chen Hong collected just over $50,000 USD last year in prize money which was the second highest in badminton. :(

The other day, I was looking at the tennis rankings and noticed some players at the bottom of the rankings. Some players have competed in 3 events this year so far and has not won a single match and they made about $16,000 - $18,000 in prize money. That much money for losing 3 straight matches and no wins????!!!! :mad:

If badminton is so popular in Asia, where are all the sponsors? I live in Canada so I am not very clear about the Asian sports market. Please help make some sense out of all of this. Thanks. :rolleyes:

The popularity of Badminton is on par with Soccer in Asia? Not really. Soccer is more popular.

The sponsors in Asia are busy promoting soccer which is a sport that is not particularly strong in Asia. Doesn’t make sense, does it?

A lot of badminton fans in Asia try to make sense out of this for a long time.

Originally posted by ptang777
I read somewhere that Chen Hong collected just over $50,000 USD last year in prize money which was the second highest in badminton. :(

Some players have competed in 3 events this year so far and has not won a single match and they made about $16,000 - $18,000 in prize money.

I know what u meant, yeah, badminton pros did not get as much as tennis pros.

However, USD $50,000 can make a person live very happily in china (also, need to count the extra money, such as tv commercial, etc). USD$16,000 can't make a living in wester nations at all.

Does anyone know what Yonex pays em? I thought they made a tad more than that after reading Peter Gade's old site and seeing that he has an Audi TT.

Yodums

Originally posted by Yodums
Does anyone know what Yonex pays em? I thought they made a tad more than that after reading Peter Gade's old site and seeing that he has an Audi TT.


Like I metioned in preious post, pros make majority of their $$$ not from sponsors, but by selling their populairties. Such as participating in shows, events, and commercials.

In 1994, Michael Jordan was playing minor league baseball. His salary from baseball was just $10,000. However, he still gain $30 mil that yr. Why? TV commercial, like Hanks, Nike, etc.

Originally posted by LazyBuddy
Like I metioned in preious post, pros make majority of their $$$ not from sponsors, but by selling their populairties. Such as participating in shows, events, and commercials.

In 1994, Michael Jordan was playing minor league baseball. His salary from baseball was just $10,000. However, he still gain $30 mil that yr. Why? TV commercial, like Hanks, Nike, etc.

But does that come easy in badminton? I mean basketball is easy since Michael Jordan is very famous and baseball or basketball is a well known sport but are there TV commecials for Yonex in asia etc?

Originally posted by Yodums
But does that come easy in badminton? I mean basketball is easy since Michael Jordan is very famous and baseball or basketball is a well known sport but are there TV commecials for Yonex in asia etc?

Why just commercial for Yonex? I mean, pros can do any commercials. Like MJ doing commercial for Gaterade, Hanks, and some other stuff.

I am sure good badminton pros will involve a lot of commerical stuff in asian and europe as well. I think Lin Dan was involving in "Kason".

In China, I know a lot of pros shooting commericals, and gain $$$ just as pop stars. Liu Xuan (Gymnastics), Fu Mingxia (diving) are the good examples.

Originally posted by LazyBuddy
Why just commercial for Yonex? I mean, pros can do any commercials. Like MJ doing commercial for Gaterade, Hanks, and some other stuff.

I am sure good badminton pros will involve a lot of commerical stuff in asian and europe as well. I think Lin Dan was involving in "Kason".

In China, I know a lot of pros shooting commericals, and gain $$$ just as pop stars. Liu Xuan (Gymnastics), Fu Mingxia (diving) are the good examples.

I said Yonex since most of the asian players are sponsered by Yonex and it might create some heat between the players and Yonex if they were doing commercials for like another badminton racquet manufacture. I guess you're right but can someone in Asia actually give examples?

I'm mainly focusing on badminton itself :)

Originally posted by Yodums
I said Yonex since most of the asian players are sponsered by Yonex and it might create some heat between the players and Yonex if they were doing commercials for like another badminton racquet manufacture. I guess you're right but can someone in Asia actually give examples?

I'm mainly focusing on badminton itself :)

I see ur point.

Yeah, if they carry a contract but doing commercial for the sponsors' competiters, sure they will get trouble. Imagine, MJ shooting clips for Reebok, hehehehehe...

However, if they shoot clips for no sports related stuff (I believe this the majority), it should be perfectly fine. If I did not remember wrong, Liu Xuan was doing some for medicine, and Fu Mingxia used to represent Sprite.

It's surely good the pros can shooting clips with somethign related with their sports. Well, u know, $$$ is the same, regardless what the product is.

Yes, it is a fact that there is a great disparity in the rewards system for many of the individual sports and I guess much of this has to do with the popularity of that particular sport and how well it is received and marketed in the "wealthy countries", which are generally the western developed countries. Even though badminton is hugely popular in Asia, the compensation to world-class players who participate in the world badminton circuit does not seem to commensurate with the mass support for the game.

When compared to Tennis, as pointed out, the prize money for Badminton is paltry. But Tennis is still far off the mark when placed side by side with Golf! However, it depends on who the prize-winner is and where he comes from. LB has emphasized that to the Chinese player, the winnings from badminton is still very good but this will not attract professionals from the West who expect to earn much more for their efforts.

Its seems a contradiction that golf should be in the limelight and is the star performer. It used to be a rich-man's sport, thereby limiting its popularity. The golf course, granted that it is often spectacular in view, does not have huge seating capacities to accommodate big numbers of spectators. Yet, sponsors are prepared to pay fantastic prize-monies for such an individual and self-centered sport!

Perhaps the real driving force for the promotion of any sport lies in the very hands of
the promoters themselves and their fanancial backers! Here, the rich nations of the West, particularly the US as the world's number one nation, with her access to vast resources, especially technology vis-a-vis the mass media like television, through which it can bring the peoples of the world to its door-step and her marketing expertise to attract both audiences and sponsors alike, have the ability to turn a lesser known sport like golf into a winner! So, these 'key-holders' are the ones who can turn badminton from a 'backyard' sport to a world-class one which it rightly deserves. It depends on how effective the IBF and our own respective country badminton associations are in influencing these promotors to bringing the game to a higher level and a world-wide audience. Threats of reducing the number of badminton events, such as the XD in the Olympic Games, do not bode well.

Badminton has always been a darling to a relatively populous region in the East comprising China, Indonesia and Malaysia. Except for Malaysia, the other two countries are still economically poor by western standards. Although badminton is not as popular in Japan, as a first-world country, she has made a significant contribution all these years by having Yonex as the main sponsor to many international events. In the end, sponsors, whether they are from the East or West, do care about the bottom-line and somehow, badminton perhaps has not been that 'profitable' to them yet.

So it may seem that the prospect for badminton at the world stage is not too bright for the foreseeable future. Yes, with the introduction of the sport into the Olympics, many more hitherto non-badminton playing countries have taken to the sport to try to win more Olympic honours for their respective countries. But with so many other virtually unknown sports vying hard for a place, badminton is still at the risk of
being eliminated. With only a small token force from economically mighty US, her representation at international levels is no consolation.

China is the silver lining. With her emergence into the world economy and her dominance on world badminton, it can only do well for badminton if she manages to strengthen her financial position and improve the general living standards of her people. Even now, China is beginning to play a bigger role in hosting IBF events if the success of the recent China Open in Guangzhou is anything to go by. The current problem with China is that there is uneven economic development within the country. In general, the Eastern and Southern regions are much more prosperous than the Western and Central ones. Shanghai can now be compared with the more advanced cities in the West and therefore boosts of some of the very rich businesses in the world. When China's businesses are able to make good money, and if the people behind such organisations love badminton as much as the general populous, they will be more than willing sponsors. Then this will hopefully rub off to the world community and interest western promoters to join in the "multi-million dollar game". For as they say "Success breeds Success". Then prize-monies will soar! And Badminton may even overtake Tennis!

Another issue I just thought about, but some ppl might not agree:

1. The badminton dominating forces, usually it's the nations provide the player's traing facility, staff, equipment. For example, china, ind, Ma's. At least in china, when u get to city/providence lvl, u can even own salary on this. Therefore, many talented kids can even use badminton as a career. Top lvl ones, won't have to worry about the career after they retire. They can be coaches, advisors, sales representatives, staffs in various fields. Of course, before they can become a champ, the $$$ they received can't make them a very good living, however, still a career. Even now days, make just USD$200 per month in china, still can survive.

On the other hand, in western nations, most of the pro athlete have to pay out of their own pockets before getting famous. Therefore, it might be a risky business, especially in "minority" sports like badminton. Yeah, we see sooo many pros getting millions this days, but how many of them still living in poor houses, and can only play in the parks? (I mean, play ground hoop players, minor league NFL, NHL, MLB players.) Many of them have to work part time, just in order to get a place to stay and some bread to eat.

Therefore, if we not taking about how much $$$ the "stars" make, but just looking at the "unsuccessful stories", badminton players in asian might end up in a much better and respectable lives than hoop players in US.

not this dude, he got it made before he even started his career. All $ in USD.
-------------------------------
LeBron James Lands $90M Nike Endorsement
7 minutes ago

By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer

CLEVELAND - High school basketball star LeBron James signed a multiyear endorsement deal on Thursday with Nike, which outbid Reebok and Adidas for the 18-year-old star, who is expected to be the NBA's No. 1 draft pick next month.

Terms of the deal negotiated were not released, but a source close to James, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the deal was worth more than $90 million.

Originally posted by cooler
not this dude, he got it made before he even started his career. All $ in USD.
-------------------------------
LeBron James Lands $90M Nike Endorsement
7 minutes ago

By TOM WITHERS, AP Sports Writer

CLEVELAND - High school basketball star LeBron James signed a multiyear endorsement deal on Thursday with Nike, which outbid Reebok and Adidas for the 18-year-old star, who is expected to be the NBA's No. 1 draft pick next month.

Terms of the deal negotiated were not released, but a source close to James, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press the deal was worth more than $90 million.

Well, to me, his career is well set already. True, he did not sign the contract yet. However, I won't be surprised when his name will be the 1st called in NBA draft.

By the way, NIKE??? I thought he would sign with REEBOK (my favorite, ;) )

LeBron James is awesome, that guy has so much verticle. His heads over the rim when he drunks, its crazy.

The money will never be there if super power country like US is not actively involve in badminton. And to get those rich sponsors from US involve will require a consistent champion which we do not currently have, and our future prospects ... ;-) IBF need to understand the inlfuence of rich countries toward this sports and do whatever necessary to make badminton excel and prosper even bending some rules like encourage top foreign players with champion caliber to play for US. When winning comes, fan gathers so will sponsors hence the big money.
Sounds simple for years but no action has taken toward this direction, no wonder after so many years badminton still struggling while other sports excel.