The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Navratilova hits out at BBC over pay
Tennis legend says male pundit McEnroe is paid 10 times her salary
Tennis legend Martina Navratilova has hit out at the BBC after discovering that fellow Wimbledon pundit John McEnroe is paid at least 10 times more than her.
McEnroe’s pay packet, of £150,000 to £199,999, was revealed in a list of the BBC’s top-paid talent last summer.
Navratilova, 61, told Panorama she is paid around £15,000 by the BBC for her commentator role at Wimbledon.
“It was a shock because John McEnroe makes at least £150,000... 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,” she said.
Navratilova said that she was told she was getting paid a comparable amount to men doing the same job as her, adding: “We were not told the truth, that’s for sure....
“(I’m) not happy... It’s shocking... It’s still the good old boys network.... The bottom line is that male voices are valued more than women’s voices.”
Navratilova, who was crowned Wimbledon ladies’ champion nine times, said that her agent will ask for more money in future.
BBC Sport told Panorama that “John and Martina perform different roles in the team, and John’s role is of a different scale, scope and time commitment,” adding: “They are simply not comparable. John’s pay reflects all of this, gender isn’t a factor.”
Panorama said it estimated that McEnroe, 59, who was crowned Wimbledon champion three times, appeared around 30 times for the BBC at Wimbledon last year, compared to Navratilova’s 10 appearances.
Meanwhile, former China editor Carrie Gracie, who resigned from her role in protest at inequalities and now works for the BBC in London, said she could leave the corporation.
“I haven’t made a sacrifice... I may still have to leave the BBC,” she said.
Fran Unsworth, the BBC’s director of news and current affairs, told Panorama: “We don’t think we have acted illegally in regard to equal pay.
“That doesn’t mean, however, there won’t be instances and cases where there is inequality and we need to address those.”