Sport Talent, Media Value and Equal Prize Policies in Tennis

Given the economic and commercial implications of sports, the media value of players and teams is considered a major asset in professional sports businesses. This paper aims to assess the economic value of intangible assets in the tennis industry. In order to rank the media value of professional tennis players (both men and women), we measure the intangible talent of players based on their exposure in the mass media. We use the ESI (Economics, Sports and Intangibles) methodology to examine some issues related to the competitive structure of tennis. Then, we explore whether policies regarding prize money could be more efficiently designed to account for the economic contribution of the players. The paper uses weekly data on the media presence and popularity of 1,400 professional tennis players (700 women and 700 men competing in 2007, espectively, in the WTA and ATP).