The PSA has announced that a record total of $8,947,290 worth of player compensation was on offer in the 2022-23 PSA Tour season, representing a 9.4% increase on the season before.
The announcement of record player compensation comes two months after a major investment in the sport by Squash SM&E Holdings – the Sports, Media and Entertainment Group led by businessman Mark Walter – who acquired a stake in Squash Media & Marketing (SMM), a commercial entity created and managed by the PSA.
The 2022-23 campaign saw 823 events take place across the PSA World Tour, PSA Challenger Tour and the WSF & PSA Satellite Tour – also a record figure – and that number is forecast to increase once again next season, with the investment enabling SMM to deliver more events and increase player compensation correspondingly.
Prize money on the women’s tour during 2022-23 totalled $4,075,779, while a total of $4,871,511 was awarded on the men’s tour.
Nouran Gohar was the top earning female player on the tour, winning $275,600 in total compensation, with her male counterpart Ali Farag winning $247,650 marking the second season in a row where Gohar has been the most successful player on the tour in terms of earnings.
Average earnings for the men’s and women’s top 10 totalled $151,663 an increase of 6.6% compared to the previous season.
There were 497 men’s events and 326 women’s events during the season, with 66 countries staging a PSA Tour event. Isle of Man hosted a PSA event for the first time.
“We’re delighted to announce record prize money off the back of a highly successful season for the professional game,” said PSA Chief Executive Alex Gough.
“This is testament to the hard work put in by our tournament promoters and the PSA Tour team and we expect these figures to increase further next season. SMM are set to deliver more events than ever before following the investment from Squash SM&E Holdings, while a number of new events will be added to the calendar for the 2023-24 season.
“It’s an exciting time to be involved in professional squash, and we look forward to announcing the calendar for the new campaign shortly.”