“That $350 a month is what I had to live on during the 2016-2017 season as the number seven on tour,” said Markie. “How can I realistically pay living expenses such as rent, car, gas, food, insurance, club membership, and so on with this kind of income? I cannot, I could not, and now I teach. Now, even on a meager salary of a teacher, I see my monthly income and, to me anyway, I am rich! I wonder why I played racquetball.”

Such thinking is hard to accept, but without external sponsors for players (and potentially for tours who can pass on some of that income to players), or funding from governments or sports federations as some countries have, living as a professional is almost impossible. With these numbers, Markie was below the poverty line in the United States, and he was eligible for food stamps (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program).

What Needs to Change

We asked Markie about personal sponsors. Why had he not secured individual sponsors rather than rely solely on prize money? “It’s a comment I’ve heard many times before,” he responded. “But until you’ve tried it, it’s hard to explain. Have you asked businesses to support an athlete in a sport few people know about and even less know is a professional sport? Why would a major company want to support me or a sport when we have no national or TV coverage? Even though I did pretty well on tour, and even won the US Open pro doubles with my brother, it doesn’t mean so much in a small sport.”

So what needs to change we asked him? “Tournament Directors also struggle to raise sponsors because they can’t identify a clear return on investment,” said Markie. “Current sponsors are those who love the sport, and we appreciate them so much, because they keep the sport alive, but they are not external sponsors independent of the sport. What happens when they cannot continue “donating” their funds as sponsors?”

“For me, the atmosphere of the sport and tournaments needs to change to attract new sponsors and keep players like myself in the sport. Why is basketball attractive? They have music, they have a younger generation playing, and it all relates to them. You must find a way to get out of the health club. A lot of players and fans like to drink beer, but we cannot have a beer sponsor. We need to attract a newer generation. I like a little what World Racquetball Tour (WRT) does in this respect, but I think they could go further. As a player, I do not want to change the speed of the sport, but as a viewer, we probably need to. Will changing the rules hurt or help us? I do not know what it would be like with slower balls or smaller racquets, but that does not mean we cannot experiment.”

Reality Bites