John McEnroe’s BBC wage for Wimbledon work leaves fans baffled | Tennis | Sport
John McEnroe’s BBC earnings for just two weeks’ work at Wimbledon have left fans staggered. As usual, the tennis icon was employed as one of the corporation’s lead pundits during the tournament, which saw Carlos Alacaraz defend his men’s crown while Barbora Krejcikova took the ladies’ title.
As the BBC published the salaries of its highest-paid stars as part of its annual report, it emerged McEnroe pockets just under £200,000, which is the equivalent of £14,000 for every day of the tournament. His pay of £195,000 is actually down from the £205,000 he earned in 2022/23.
However, it still left tennis followers shocked. One posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Wow, 2 weeks work at nearly £100,000.00 a week. Come on, all kids’ hard work does pay.”
Meanwhile, amid Wimbledon host Clare Balding’s omission from the list, another said: “John McEnroe meanwhile took home £195,000 for his two weeks at Wimbledon…”
A third asked: “How can the BBC justify paying John McEnroe £195,000 to commentate for a few hours per day over 14 days?”
On the list in general, another opined: “All seems fair, apart from John McEnroe £195,000 for 2 weeks work!” A fifth pointed out: “That is the worst one imo. And he doesn’t do the men’s final as he does it for US TV.”
A sixth fumed: “John McEnroe got £200k for being part of Wimbledon for 14 days?? The licence fee really needs to be scrapped.”
Meanwhile, Match of the Day presenter Gary Lineker was again the corporation’s top earner with £1.35million. Colleague and pundit Alan Shearer received £380,000, having taken home £445,000 in the year 2022/23.
Alex Scott earned £220,000 (up from £185,000) for her work across Football Focus, the Women’s Super League, the Women’s World Cup, and Sports Personality of the Year. Another BBC pundit, Chris Sutton, who works across 5live Sport, 606, Football Focus and Final Score, banked £190,000.
