Elite sport: Where is the contentment?

Sport has been plagued by conversations about money in recent years, exacerbated by golf’s high-profile breakaway LIV tour [a professional men's golf tour] and recent demands from elite tennis players for their prize money to be increased.

Golf

The formation of the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf circuit in 2022 sparked furious debate in the golfing world, as some of the sport’s top stars departed from the PGA Tour [PGA is an organiser of professional golf tours] for the far greater sums on offer at LIV. This was seen by many as a betrayal of the established structures which had given the players their living, and paid them fairly handsomely already.

Two-time major champion Bryson DeChambeau joined LIV for a contract reportedly worth $125 million in the summer of 2022, with many others following suit for their own eye-watering sums, including Jon Rahm, who joined for $300 million, claiming the sums on offer would allow the players to set their families up for the future.

Attention has centred on the ramifications of the split in the elite men’s game since then, with an apparent deal to merge the two warring tours over two years ago having seemingly failed to reach a resolution.

Debate surrounding whether the LIV players have given up on the essence and ideals of golf continues unabated, with ongoing disagreement over whether they should be able to compete in major championships after giving up their places on the PGA Tour solely for monetary concerns.

Tennis

More recently, in the world of tennis, the top 20 players on the men’s and women’s tours demanded more prize money from the four Grand Slam tournaments, believing they deserve a greater share of the revenue they generate.

This development came despite the fact that each tournament’s overall prize pot ranges from just less than £50 million overall to more than £65 million, with the winner of each major [Grand Slam tournament] pocketing several million, and the losers in the first round earning tens of thousands.

It should be noted that the players publicly said they were taking such action to promote better pay for lower-ranked players, but given that they also believe they deserve a “fairer pay ratio” themselves, it irritated some, given their already lucrative careers.

Where is the contentment?

I highlight these two examples - which go alongside countless others - to raise a simple question, which seems more timely as we celebrate Christmas: Where is the contentment in elite sport nowadays?

Now, I am not saying money hasn't been a concern in the past. Nor am I saying it shouldn't be, given that sport provides a short career and is ultimately the way players earn their living. However, it feels like there has never been such a shameless clamour for more and more, seemingly with no regard for impact upon the sport which has made the players who they are, or for the fans who prop them up with their hard-earned cash.

Claims from players who are already multi-millionaires, of needing to set families up for life or receive a fairer share of generated tournament revenue, and moans about supposedly gruelling schedules they must commit to in order to earn bonus cash, ring hollow and leave a bitter taste in the mouths of less-wealthy fans who bankroll the players' fortunes and can only dream of the careers the sports stars enjoy.

There appears to be less contentment than ever in elite sport, as it increasingly becomes a solely lucrative and commercial venture for many - rather than one of joy, and gratitude for the fact that they are able to do what so many others can only dream of doing.

We can only hope that, this Christmas season, the wonderful display of humility and contentment seen in Mary and Joseph at the birth of our Saviour can pierce through all of the outward, temporal aspects of how Christmas is celebrated, and make sports stars reflect on - and become content with - the gifts God has given them. May they rediscover the joy in the many amazing talents and fantastic commercial opportunities they already have.