I think many of us are unaware of the reach of international badminton until we see this international calendar. Although badminton is gaining popularity worldwide, in financial terms, it is a poor cousin of tennis. Hence the IBF Council recently set out to work to make the game more popular with the sponsors. You can add up all the year's prize monies provided by world badminton and still the total may not even come close to just one major event of a tennis grand slam. Forget about golf. So there's a lot of work to be done by the IBF to raise its financial profile. Badminton professionals are just not getting what they are worth by today's standards. Unfortunately, badminton is perceived as a backyard (or even backward) game by the West for quite some time now. Just take a look at the prize monies and you'll find that the richest sponsors come mainly from the East. All the 6* events are held in Asia: China, Hong Kong, Indonesia and South Korea. And only one Western nation, the strongest, Denmark, is 5* among the many in Asia: Singapore, Malaysia, Chinese Taipei, China and Japan. Even the All England, as the birthplace of world badminton, is only a 4* event (had been 3* for a long time), despite enjoying such a long history and colourful tradition. Compare badminton to tennis in England and you will find the gap so enormous! What has England been doing? What has the West been doing? No wonder badminton is dominated by the East and the longer the domination, the less will the West be willing to promote the game! Yet, in terms of vote which equates power, the West is almost on par with the East and certainly some less badminton powerful countries from the West are getting more votes than their Asian cousins if you have read Taneepak's recent post on IBF votes. In other words, their vote is worth more. A lopsided arrangement indeed and this inequality must be corrected to put every badminton-loving country on an equal footing so that each of them feels wanted as an equal partner to promote the game worldwide. Here are the details which you can find from the IBF website: IBF 2006 CALENDAR (Major Events) JANUARY 03-08 Swiss Open (Basel) 4* US$120,000 09-15 German Open (Mulheim) 3* US$80,000 17-22 All England Open (Birmingham) 4* US$125,000 FEBRUARY 09-12 Thomas & Uber Cups: Continental Stage: Oceania (Auckland, New Zealand) 13-18 Thomas & Uber Cups: Continental Stage: Pan America (Lima, Peru) 14-19 Thomas & Uber Cups: Continental Stage: Europe (Thessalonica, Greece) 15-19 Thomas & Uber Cups: Continental Stage: Asia (Jaipur, India) 20-22 Thomas & Uber continental Stage: Africa (Rose Hill, MRI) Minor Events: Iran Fajar International, Austrian International, Mauritius International. MARCH 01-05 Philippine Open (Manila) 4* US$120,000 07-12 China Masters (Chengdu) 6* US$250,000 16-25 Commonwealth Games (Melbourne, Australia) 28-02 Asian Badminton Championships (Johor Bahru, Malaysia) 4* US$125000 Minor Events: Croatian International, Swedish International, Dutch Open International, Cuban International, Romania International, Peru International, Finnish International. APRIL 28-07 Yonex Thomas & Uber Cups Finals (Sendai/Tokyo, Japan) Minor Events: Jakarta Satellite, European Mixed Team & Individual Championships, Canadian Open Masters, HCMC Vietnam Satellite, Portuguese Badminton Championships, Southern Pan American International, Thailand Satellite, Israel International, MAY 31-04 Indonesia Open (Surabaya) 6* US$250,000 Minor Events: European Senior Championships, Spanish Open International, Hanoi Satellite. JUNE 05-11 Aviva Open Singapore (Singapore) 5* US$ 170,000 13-18 Malaysia Open (Kuching, Sarawak) 5* US$ 150,000 20-25 Chinese Taipei Open (Taipei) 5* US$ 170,000 28-02 Vietnam Open (HCM City) 1* US$30,000 21-25 2006 Europe Cup (Rinconada-Seville, Spain) Minor Events: French Open, Bahrain Satellite, Estonia International, Syria Satellite, North Harbour International (Auckland). JULY 14-16 MVP Cup: Asia vs Europe (Manila, Philippines) US$100,000 19-23 Macau Open Championship (Macau) 4* US$120,000 25-30 Thailand Open (Bangkok) 4* US$120,000 Minor Events: Asian Junior Championships (Colombo, Sri Lanka), European Badminton University Championships (Lisbon), Central American and Caribbean Sports (Santo Domingo) AUGUST 01-06 Equinox New Zealand Open (Auckland, NZL) 2* US$50,000 02-02 US Open (Los Angeles) 1* 22-27 Invitational World Cup (Beijing) 30-02 Yonex Sunrise Hong Kong Open (Hong Kong) 6* US$250,000 Minor Events: Nepal Satellite (Kathmandu), India Satellite, Milo Junior International ABC President Cup (Batam), Waikato International (Hamilton, NZL), Singapore Satellite. SEPTEMBER 18-24 World Championship (Madrid, Spain) Note: WC used to be a biennial event but has been changed to annually this year. Minor Events: Latvia International (Riga), Surabaya Satellite, Belgian International, Iran Satellite, Mongolian Satellite. OCTOBER 03-08 China Open (Guangzhou) 5* US$170,000 10-15 Japan Open (Tokyo) 5* US$ 170,000 17-22 Yonex Korea Open (Seoul, S Korea) 6* US$250,000 24-29 Bitburger Open (Saarbruken, Germany) 1* US$30,000 Note: IBF has an International Training Centre here. 31-05 Denmark Open (Denmark) 5* US$170,000 Minor Events: Slovak International (Presov), Polish Open (Spala), Hungarian International (Budapest) NOVEMBER 02-05 World Junior Team Championships (Incheon, S Korea) 06-11 World Junior Individual Championships (Incheon, S Korea) 07-12 Yonex Dutch Open International (Hertogenbosch, Nederlands) 2* US$50,000 Minor Events: Sri Lanka International Satellite (Colombo), Iceland Express International, Nowegian International, Malaysia Satellite (Alor Star), Scottish International (Glasgow) DECEMBER 02-09 Asian Games (Doha, Qatar) 06-10 Bulgarian Open (Sofia) 1* US$ 30,000 12-17 Syed Modi Memorial India Open (Lucknow) 1* US$30,000 12-17 Greek Open (Thessalonki) 2* US$50,000 Minor Events: Irish International, Italian International
I have to say the All England prize money is really dissapointing, to me it'll lose its prestigous nature in a few years if the prize money stays this way, it has been considered a "grand slam" kinda alongside world champs and olympics and at the rate its goin even the New Zealand Open would overtake it in a few years, and taufik no longer has interest in playing it(he skipped it twice already didnt he?)BE shld really do smth about it...sigh
In fact, if you look at IBF's publication : http://www.internationalbadminton.org/IBF Marketing and Development Review.pdf you might see that though the East has better results, a lot of the biggest national federations are in the west. And if you look at things, you'll realize that promoting the game will advantage the West, as young talented children will then go more often for badminton (rather than football or rugby as they do now), and East might lose its dominance in the game. So if we are talking about pure results, asian countries have more interest in not promoting the game around the world, and things staying as they are. About the calendar, the equivalence between stars and prize moneys needs urgently to be changed, so do the world ranking points that are attributed. There are much too many equivalent tournaments nowadays.
Perhaps because of this, there are more registered players resulting in more votes for the individual countries. And maybe many of these federations have been established much earlier, considering that badminton has been dominated by the West, especially Europe, for long periods during its early history. As such their setups and facilities should be more superior and may be one reason why Europe has professional leaques while the East is lacking in this respect. But the question is why with such a headstart and obvious advantages, many of the European federations are unable to increase the prize monies for their major international tournaments. Is it because they knew that their own players will not be able to compete with their Asian counterparts for the top spots? Then why work so hard to get sponsors? And if you look at things, you'll realize that promoting the game will advantage the West, as young talented children will then go more often for badminton (rather than football or rugby as they do now), and East might lose its dominance in the game. So if we are talking about pure results, asian countries have more interest in not promoting the game around the world, and things staying as they are. I think this is a myopic and rather selfish approach and runs counter to what the IBF is trying to do to popularize the game and raise its standards. We must agree that generally, competition is good in the end and IBF certainly wants to capture a bigger market share for badminton than is presently the case in the West. Hopefully with a more solid base of badminton fans, more sponsors can be cajoled into promoting the game further. It will be a happy day indeed if sponsors themselves compete for a slice of the badminton action. About the calendar, the equivalence between stars and prize moneys needs urgently to be changed, so do the world ranking points that are attributed. There are much too many equivalent tournaments nowadays If the changes can lead to something positive and can benefit the national federations, the players, the badminton fraternity and the IBF, why not give it a go? Many organisations have to 'reinvent' themselves, make major or minor changes periodically, to stay in the competition and to remain relevant. In the end, it is the leadership which counts and whether they have the vision and gumption to make those changes. But I don't think having too many tournaments is necessarily bad as they can cater to the different needs and requirements of the professional player who needs an income to survive. If the player is ambitious enough, he has to work harder and smarter to compete against the best for a much higher prize.
I think we need some black americans to play badminton on international circuit They will definatly bring in new flavor into the sport, and moves that are out of this world... And then it will be perceive as cool sport rather than lame sport Anyway, no popularity = less prize pool money... thats the basic concept... so no matter how much u pump money into the competition... no popularity = cannot sustain such expansive tournament = hence the current status
In fact, badminton development in France (for example) is very recent and is constantly increasing. Therefore there is a big lack of setups and facilities, a big lack of decent coaches, etc... and government help is very inferior to older established sports. Same thing for sponsors which all go to football, rugby etc... The lack of good europeans competing at the highest level could be an explanation, but the general image of badminton, and the very "messy" pro circuit don't help it either... (plus scoring system changing every year or so doesn't help badminton looking serious... ) As I said, "if you are talking about pure results"! Obviously this is a myopic and selfish approach, I agree completely, but you can't expect dominant national federations to not defend their dominance as they can... Too many tournaments is certainly not bad, too many equivalent tournaments without any top ones is bad. Currently, the only tournament which (just about) all the good players enter is the All England Open. IBF has been going on about "Superseries" for more than ten years now, but without ever doing anything concrete about it, probably for political reasons. (everyone wants to be part of it) The minimum action would be to reexamine the stars scale with higher prizes. I think now IBF should wake up, stop internal political fights, and start really promoting badminton.
Can you elaborate on 'equivalent' tournaments? Do you mean that there are too many current IBF Grand Prix events like the AE, Denmark Open, China Open, Indonesia Open, etc? How different do you want them to be? These events are bread and butter to the professional. As you know they are different from the TC, UC, WC, Sudirman Cup and Olympics. What do you mean by "re-examining the star scales" ? Are you suggesting that the better ranked stars (you must also agree that the current World Ranking sytem, although good as a guide, is not perfect) should have a separate tournament with a much higher prize money? Of course now we do have invitationals like the Masters.
Maybe the IBF can coordinate with the national badminton associations/federations to come out with a more 'agreeable' world badminton schedule, with events carrying attractive prize monies (like the 6* Opens) being better spaced out and not clumped together as in the month of October. Players will be thoroughly exhausted having to play in so many events within a relatively short time, with hardly any rest in between. But the organizers need to take into account the individual country's own timetable and plans/assignments, their relationship to other national sports to avoid clashes, the geographical distances and the weather (playing in Winter may not suit some players and spectators, esp those vistiors from overseas). So it is not as easy as it seems.
I should have maybe said "too many tournaments of equivalent importance" Yes, there are too many 4, 5 and 6 stars events, which have approximately the same importance. Resulting in none of them filling up their entries correctly, except All England because of its "historical" importance.... Yes, this is why prize money must be increased! As I thought you would know, the current stars are attributed directly in function of total prize money. The current scale is : 30.000 $ => 1 star 50.000 $ => 2 stars 80.000 $ => 3 stars 120.000 $ => 4 stars 170.000 $ => 5 stars 250.000 $ => 6 stars 5 and 6 stars events were rather rare a few years ago, but they are getting more and more common with there being more money in badminton. Reexamining the scale would give for example : 50.000 $ => 1 star 90.000 $ => 2 stars 150.000 $ => 3 stars 250.000 $ => 4 stars 400.000 $ => 5 stars 600.000 $ => 6 stars
If instead of having four equivalent Opens in a row, there were two "major" ones and two "minor" (or one major and three minor), you would be sure to get all the best players in the major ones. (and the second to best players in the minor ones)
World ranking points Other changes needed : the world ranking points. Currently the winner of an event wins : 600 points for a 7* event 540 for a 6* event 480 for a 5* event 420 for a 4* event 360 for a 3* event 300 for a 2* event 240 for a 1* event 180 for an A grade event 120 for a B grade event This scale could be changed to : 600 points for a 7* event 520 for a 6* event 440 for a 5* event 360 for a 4* event 280 for a 3* event 200 for a 2* event 120 for a 1* event 90 for an A grade event 60 for a B grade event And the other players get points as follow : runner up get 85% of winner's points semi-finalist gets 70% quarter => 55% last 16 => 40% last 32 => 25% last 64 => 10% last 128 => 5% last 256 => 2% last 512 => 1% last 1024 => 0.5% The scale should give more importance to winners, for example : runner-up => 80 % semi-finalist => 60 % quarter-finalist => 40 % last 16 => 20 % last 32 => 10% last 64 => 5% etc These are only examples of what could be done of course... (not THE solution)
How popular do you want Badminton to be? It could never be as big as Tennis as a spectator sport; there are many reasons....example could you stage a badminton tournement in glorious summer weeks in open air like Roland Garos or Wimbledon ? I believe Badminton has been progressing steadily in term of popularity and general public awareness, I know in France it is closed to 100 OOO registered players and the number is increasing as it is stated by FFBA. Do I really care about the prize money? All England is always THE Tournement even it has 1 star prize money.....
Updated Calendar 01-05 Mar Phillipine Open 2006 4* 07-12 Mar AVIVA-COCSO China Masters 2006 6* 28-02 Apr Asian Badminton Championships 2006 4* 28-04 May Thomas & Uber Cup Finals 2006 7* 31-04 June Djarum Indonesia Open 2006 6* 05-11 June Aviva Singapore Open 2006 5* 13-18 June Malaysia Open 2006 4* 20-25 June Chinese Taipei Open 2006 5* 28-02 July Yonex Vietnam Open 2006 1* 14-16 July MVP Cup: Asia vs Europe 19-23 July Macau Open 2006 4* 25-30 July Thailand Open 2006 3* 25-30 July Invitational World Cup 01-06 Aug Equinox New Zealand Open 2006 2* 02-08 Aug US Open 2006 1* 22-27 Aug Yonex Korea Open 2006 6* 28-02 Sep Yonex Sunrise Hong-Kong Open 2006 6* 18-24 Sep World Championships 2006 7* 10-15 Oct Japan Open 2006 5* 17-22 Oct China Open 2006 5* 24-29 Oct Bitburger Open 2006 1* 31-05 Nov Denmark Open 2006 5* 07-12 Nov Yonex Dutch Open 2006 2* 02-09 Dec Asian Games 2006 06-10 Dec Bulgaria Open 2006 1* 12-17 Dec Greek Open 2006 2* 12-17 Dec Syed Modi Memorial Open 2006 1*
The "star" is just for individuals, not for teams. TUC finals should be "See Regs" as well as Invitational World Cup 2006.
Opps...a slight mistake there Yup....I think you don't get ranking points for the World Cup 2006 and MVP Cup since they are both invitational tournaments. However, player does earn ranking points by playing in Thomas (& Uber) Cup as well as Sudirman Cup.
Thank goodness we have such a great variety of sports to cater to a multitude of interests. And there are always new ones coming into the scene to attact new followers. Some sports can slowly die off but could re-emerge again after some time. Some people may like the open-air, sunny atmosphere of Roland Garos, others may prefer the aircon comfort of a brand new, hi-tec indoor stadium. So I wouldn't completely rule out badminton as being unable to compete with tennis for all time. Much depends on the leadership and how they sell or market their ideas and products to turn things around to thier advantage. Now that is why we have the IBF to tackle such issues and to popularize badminton worldwide. In Singapore, both tennis and squash can't compete with badminton. The question is how is it so. Why is this not the case in many European countries where tennis reigns supreme? Will the situation remain the same forever? To the professionals, the prize money is important. How many top-class pros would want to enter a one-star tournament? The prize money should commensurate with the status of the tournament. If the All-England degenerates to a 1* tournament, how many world-class players will want to participate? Without such participants, would people continue to show up in great numbers to support. Will sponsors feel it profitable to finance such tourneys as well? You will then have to change your mind about going to watch the matches!
I think the prize money of the various Open Championships reflects on the management quality of the different national federations. No body is going to give you money. You have to work for it. If the AE were to lose one star every two years they should fire the whole English federation. If less well off countries like Indonesia and Malaysia can run their national federations and still stay in the black, despite paying out much high prize money, then I don't understand why the West cannot do better.
My own impression is that there is more prize money in badminton now than ever before. Most of the growth is in Asia of course. Unfortunately, it is still rather slow in Europe. However, a good sign is that many small events are springing up in unlikely places, especially in Europe. Anyway, there is no use comparing prize money with tennis. Since the beginning, we were never in it. I think the problem is not with the events. It is with the players. There are so many events now and not enough players. In tennis, players would normally play in events in run-ups to major events. In badminton, players tend to train at home and all the schedule seems geared towards the few major events in the year.
They moved the HK Open dates I'd already booked my annual leave for the original date and unless I have a huge stroke of luck, I won't get to attend lots of the matches this year.
