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Thread: BAM's Monetary Incentives
01-22-2009, 11:47 AM #1
BAM's Monetary Incentives
The New Straits Times
Friday, January 23, 2009, 01.22 AM
It pays to be successful on BAM's payroll
By K.M. Boopathy
THERE are no national sports associations (NSAs) which can rival the BA of Malaysia's monetary security to its players. BAM has efficient incentives, world ranking and match bonuses as well as allowances which promises all players a comfortable life as long as they work hard and be successful in the international arena.
The world ranking bonus is the most attractive as players ranked from World No 32 to World No 1 get a quarterly payment ranging from RM4,500 to RM45,000.
The women's singles players enjoy between RM4,500 to RM36,000 in the same ranking bracket.
The men's doubles are restricted to the top 16 where the highest payout per quarter is RM80,000 if they rank No 1 or No 2, while the pairs ranked from ninth to 16th get RM24,000.
The women's doubles receive between RM12,000 and RM60,000.
The lack of success and focus in the mixed doubles means only the top eight benefit but an amount of RM40,000 for a top or second ranked pair quarterly is a substantial amount (for full list refer to graphics).
A successful player or pair can earn from the match bonus scheme RM10,000 for a Super Series title and RM5,000 for a grand prix win, and there is another attractive sum in the form of a presidential bonus which guarantees an additional 25 per cent of the winning purse.
BAM has also not neglected incentives for winning major events as an Olympic gold is worth RM100,000 while at a lower level, a player can earn RM10,000 if he wins a Sea Games individual or team gold.
Monthly salary, or allowance as it is called, ranges from RM500 to RM3,000 based on the achievement of players.
Although BAM has not made it too difficult for the national shuttlers to earn a decent living, it remains a mystery why they are struggling to make the grade.
The exceptional players like World No 1 Lee Chong Wei, men's doubles Koo Kien Keat-Tan Boon Heong and Zakry Latif-Fairuzizuan Tazari, and women's doubles Wong Pei Tty-Chin Eei Hui have been reaping the benefits consistently.
For example, if Chong Wei wins five Super Series (offering US$200,000 or RM720,000 in total prize money) titles and maintains his World No 1 status this year, he will earn about RM297,000 on BAM ranking, match and presidential bonuses alone. This does not include the total prize money he earns from these events.
Likewise, Kien Keat-Boon Heong and Pei Tty-Eei Hui are set to earn about RM202,000 each for similar achievements.
This is just the tip of the iceberg, but strangely the incentives doesn't seem to encourage the majority of the national shuttlers.
The least BAM can offer a national senior who has not been involved in tournaments due to injury or poor form, is RM3,000, while a back-up player gets RM500 a month even if he fails to show progress.
A successful player or pair can earn from the match bonus scheme RM10,000 for a Super Series title and RM5,000 for a grand prix win
01-22-2009, 11:54 AM #2
wow, that's not bad at all.
rm300k from BAM, about usd 50 to 60k in prize money plus whatever sponsorship deals he gets.
a cool rm600 to 700k a year, so between 50 to 60k a month, that's a good living although it's only for a few years, of course.
then again, kaka refused 500k pounds a week, so money can't be everything!
01-22-2009, 01:47 PM #3
I concur cannot fault BAM and financial support from the malaysian govt for not having done her part for baddy. LCW must be laughing his head off looking at all the debates about him winning this or that and being WR#1...really, Dato is a pro player, it is a business and a job to pay bills, start a business, save for future and Dato has only a few good years to do it...I estimate Dato made close to RM1mil between August 2008 to now...that is not bad, not bad at all for a baddy player or any malaysian citizen even though in pro sports that is low. Dato should commission LYB 5% for keeping LD and CJ away as long as possible, those 2 fellas are trouble makers
I reckon LD, TH and ZN earnings would be close to LCW...I am not sure of the Korean players though
01-22-2009, 04:39 PM #4
I have to say...it is a very nice incentives....wish PBSI could do same the same thing...
01-22-2009, 07:59 PM #5
FYI LCW has made more than 1M already. In a way that made him a 1st true Millionaire Athlete thru out the years for Malaysia. Not like the Over Night Thomas Cup Millionaires. No offense to them... what i mean is LCW consistently earning his bonuses thru titles etc..
01-22-2009, 08:24 PM #6
01-22-2009, 08:46 PM #7
I think this is the first time I've seen professional badminton players' financial incentives being made so transparent and public.
Kudos to BAM for setting such a good example and let's hope other badminton associations who have not been too fair with their professional players can do something along these lines. Of course we don't expect them to have everything identical as conditions and the cost of living, etc, are different in each country.
As others have said, BAM's incentives are attractive and should spur more juniors to take up professional badminton more seriously. The professional player's career span in badminton is relatively short as most players are forced to quit when they reach 30 or thereabouts. But if he is able to remain in a top-ten world ranking in general, he should be doing pretty well in Malaysia, provided the incentives are not downgraded.
Talking about world ranking in the Malaysian case, I wonder how they would ascertain this on a "quarterly basis" since within 3 months or a quarter, a player's ranking could possibly fluctuate from 1 to 20 or lower if injury should set in and he could not participate in as many SS tournaments. Like what WCH went through because of an Achilles tendon injury. And will BAM take the ranking at the end of the quarter?
Now Malaysian badminton fans should not criticize BAM for not taking the initiative!
It will be good to know if they have similar schemes in other countries such as Japan, South Korea, even China and especially Europe. Of course some of these countries provide additional incomes to the professional in the form of professional league games, which is lacking in Singapore.
01-22-2009, 08:49 PM #8
Well BAM is good when comes to money. There are also some untold stories.. . But at least they are taking care of the players.
01-22-2009, 09:15 PM #9
01-22-2009, 09:18 PM #10
It is indeed good to see cash being poured into the game. But it would be nice for us to see some returns like us winning the OG gold, WC and AE in a consistent manner.
However, on a side note, I maintain that rewards should be carefully dished out based on results and performance. And LCW's Datukship was a wrong thing.
01-22-2009, 09:27 PM #11
01-22-2009, 10:42 PM #12
01-23-2009, 12:19 AM #13
01-23-2009, 12:31 AM #14
LD earns at least ten times as much as LCW, most of it from corporate sponsors and endorsements. LD earns about US$1.7 million in 2007, maybe more after his 2008 Olympics gold medal.
01-23-2009, 12:35 AM #15
01-23-2009, 01:00 AM #16
very good idea
at least better than erm, malaysia cap ayam brand level type of football and the M-league
01-23-2009, 01:08 AM #17
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