"A staggering miracle WTA still exists with such horrific business sense" - Fans aghast as WTA reportedly spends $6 million on new WTA Finals stadium

Tennis fans were left in shock by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) reportedly investing $6 million into building a new stadium in Cancun, Mexico, to host the 2023 WTA Finals.

With this year's edition of the WTA Finals set to commence on October 29, the construction of a new stadium is currently underway in Cancun. Tournament director Gustavo Santoscoy has revealed that the stadium is designed to seat 4,000 spectators, with two alternate practice fields available within the hotel accommodation for the players.

"It will be a stadium that can be assembled like in the past finals, it will be in the hotel zone on the land that the State government is providing us, at kilometer 15, in front of the hotels, it will be a main stadium for four thousand people and we have 2 alternate fields in the hotels where the players will be practicing," he said. (via Periódico Victoria De Durango)

Santoscoy also disclosed that the WTA Finals would have a prize money purse of $9 million, with additional funds allocated for the construction costs of the new stadium. That would result in a total expenditure of approximately $14 to $15 million from the WTA's budget.

"There is a purse of nine million dollars, it is a considerable sum for a Finals tournament and the stadium investment is another 50 percent of that amount. So we are talking approximately 14 or 15 million dollars, which such an important event requires," he added.

Several fans expressed dismay over the WTA's decision to spend the huge amount on the construction of the stadium, and raised concerns about the board's business sense.

"It is genuinely a staggering miracle the WTA still exists at all with such horrific business sense and money wasted. How does the WTA board keep getting away with this without ANY accountability? It’s an embarrassment," a fan commented.

"Does the WTA have a Board their executive team has to answer to? Their business sense is staggeringly bad," another fan chimed in.

One user questioned the justification for investing such a huge amount in a venue that would only be used once.

"$6 million construction costs for one-time event. With 4k people capacity. Not even a multi year investment. If true, Feds should start investigating wta finances at this point because this sounds like a front for money laundering," the user posted.

Here are a few more fan reactions:

Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek lead the list of players that have qualified for WTA Finals 2023

Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek at the 2022 WTA Finals

Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have clinched two of the eight coveted spots for the 2023 WTA Finals. Sabalenka qualified for the year-end championships for the third consecutive year after tallying 8,210 points. She has won three titles in the season so far, including her maiden Grand Slam title at the Australian Open.

Swiatek, meanwhile, booked her spot with 6,905 points to her name, having won four titles in 2023, including the French Open. The reigning US Open champion, Coco Gauff (5,620 points) has qualified for both the singles and doubles events, matching the Pole's total of four singles titles for the season.

Elena Rybakina rounds off the list of players who have already qualified for the 2023 WTA Finals, becoming the first woman from Kazakhstan to qualify for the event. The 24-year-old holds 5,476 points for the season so far, having won her maiden WTA 1000 titles in Indian Wells and Rome.