Martina Navratilova Says BBC Pays John McEnroe 10 Times More Than Her for Wimbledon Coverage
In a BBC Panorama report titled "Britain's Equal Pay Scandal," Martina Navratilova says she is "angry" over BBC's wage gap between her £15,000 salary and John McEnroe's reported £150,000 earnings for Wimbledon broadcasts.
McEnroe was listed on a list of the network's highest-paid personalities. Navratilova claims that she was told that she was receiving a comparable amount to the men with a similar role.
Here's what Navratilova said in a clip from the show:
"It's hard to really compare exactly because some people work longer days, maybe a few more programs whatever but overall, it was a shock because John McEnroe makes at least £150,000," Navratilova says. "I get about £15,000 for Wimbledon and unless John McEnroe's doing a whole bunch of stuff outside of Wimbledon, he's getting at least 10 times as much money than I am for very comparable work."
"I mean, it's shocking. If really this happens to me then, you know for it's a part-time job, it's two weeks of my life but for the women that work there full-time, maybe the discrepancy's not that large but it adds up over a lifetime. It adds up to an amazing amount of money. So it's extremely unfair and you know it makes me angry for the other women that I think go through this."
BBC responded with a statement to Panorama that said McEnroe and Navratilova perform different roles on the team and that "John's role is of a different scale, scope and commitment." The network added that "they are simply not comparable."
The full statement from the BBC can be read below:
The Panorama report estimated that McEnroe made 30 appearances on last year's Wimbledon broadcast while Navratilova made 10.
