The WTA Tour paid $1.59 million last year to former CEO Stacey Allaster to buy her out of her contract. The tour disclosed the payment in its annual tax return, and the WTA confirmed the payment bought her out of her old deal.
The buyout and the fact that Allaster had time remaining on her contract had not been disclosed. In 2015, the last year she served as CEO, she earned $1.02 million.
A footnote in the tax return referred to the 2016 payment as a “voluntary separation agreement.”
Allaster also earned $397,441 in 2016 as the CEO of pro tennis for the U.S. Tennis Association, according to the group’s tax return, bringing her total pay for the year to nearly $2 million.
The WTA is now led by Steve Simon, who took over for Allaster in late 2015. He earned $1.31 million in 2016, according to the tax return. In 2016, WTA revenue grew by $2 million to hit $74 million overall, with the tour’s net surplus at $6 million, according to the group’s tax return.
But the tour is still searching for a lead sponsor, and Simon so far has failed to convince the board of directors that an overhaul of the calendar is necessary even as the economics of women’s tennis are sluggish.
Of Simon’s pay, nearly all of it, $1.24 million, is listed as base compensation, and he did not receive a bonus, according to the tax return.
By contrast, the ATP Tour, which has said it has sold all of its sponsorship inventory, saw revenue jump 16 percent to $126 million, from $109 million. The men’s circuit’s surplus came in at $13 million.
The ATP paid its president, Chris Kermode, $1.34 million in 2016. Of that amount, $935,212 is listed as base compensation, $187,043 as a bonus, and $213,022 as other.
At the USTA, the top paid executive was Executive Director Gordon Smith, who earned $1.31 million.
