ATP Executive Chairman Chris Kermode is planning a large-scale review of the men's circuit once current talks on a new schedule have been finalized.
"My short‑term goal is to get prize money done for the three categories [of 1000, 500, and 250-level events], and the calendar sorted for the next four years, so that then going into next year we have a period of stability, a period of calm to then review our whole business top to bottom," Kermode told the media in Shanghai. "That's from challengers, 250s, 500s, 1000s. That's how we market our sport, produce it on TV, the whole digital arena."
The former Queen's Club tournament director said that previously tour issues have been looked at individually, while he wants to examine the organization as a whole. Kermode included the ranking system, saying he saw advantages and and disadvantages of bringing back bonus points for defeating top players, as well as topics like the length of the season, the location of the World Tour Finals and prize money for challenger tournaments.
One priority is deciding whether the Tour Finals will renew its current agreement and stay in London, or move to another location.
"It's financially very important for the ATP, for the tour. It's the one event we actually have ownership of," he said. "It's a combination of it's got to be financially viable and attractive. But equally, if we go anywhere, we want to be in a market that's growing, where fans are there, that there's an appetite for it, a demand for it. So we're looking at all various options and we will have an answer by, I would say, April next year as to what we're going to do. But I don't want to rush into making any quick decision because I think I have a responsibility to look at all the options."
With lower-ranked players frequently saying they cannot meet their expenses on the challenger tour, Kermode agreed that challenger prize money should increase, but also said that player incomes at that level should be limited. To get a balance, he indicated, "we need to do to define what ranking the ATP feels it is responsible for an ATP player to make a living."
"We have to get more money into challengers,'' he said. "There's no question about that. It's a very easy statement to make. But where does the money come from. We've got to put that all together in a plan."
"Clearly for players, it can't be costing them money to play the challengers," Kermode explained. "You play your challengers, then you go on to the world tour. It's meant to be a feeding mechanism, not a place where someone can earn a living."
Reducing expenses by putting groups of events in similar regions is another thing players have requested, something the tour looking at as well with Kermode saying, "So we've got to make sure we've got the right tournaments in the right weeks. That's probably the biggest one. It's not just about throwing money at it. It's about calendar flow.''
The ATP runs the 151 challenger events on the men's tour as well as regular ATP tournaments, with the ITF responsible for the lowest-level futures tournaments.
ATP vice president of the international group, Alison Lee, is in charge of the challenger committee, which began focusing on these issues during the season. "We're trying to get all the tournaments to move up from the bottom level. Right now, $40,000 plus hospitality is your minimum prize money category," she told SI.com.
The ATP wants the minimum level to be $50,000 plus hospitality, which includes player accommodation, within three years, which Lee said would be double the amount when the tour first began running the challengers.
There will also be more ATP presence at the bigger challengers, with Lee saying, "We're also sending more ATP umpires to the top-level tournaments. For tournaments with a prize purse of $75,000 and above, we'll send another ATP official. We're sending more ATP physios and ATP Tour managers to challengers as well...If they go to these low-level events they can educate these low-level players, who will eventually be on tour, and teach them how the ATP works."
ATP officials were in Shanghai for the Masters 1000 tournament.