What's the difference between a pro triathlete and a large pizza?

A large pizza can feed a family of four.

-Jot

LOL I am sure it does not cover their medical bills , dental and all else. If so not much left after.

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Official Polar Ambassador
http://www.google.com/...P7RiWyEVwpunlsc2JtQQ

Speak for yourself son. I can drill a large pizza in about 20 minuntes time, but thats probably why i cant lose that last 5 lbs or so. But damn pizza is THE BOMB.

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Jonathan
USA Triathlon Coach/Adventure Extraordinaire

This is my next major topic once the Pro Drafting at 70,3 World Champs has been dealt with but I will speak of it now too;

I have finished in the top 50 Professionals at 70.3 Ironman for the last two years (37th 2008, 48th 2009) I have not won any money at all in professional racing.

I have no salary/bonuses from sponsors. I receive no money from the sport. I am not funded. In England sponsorship is a joke. Comparable athletes to myself will typically have 10 product sponsors on websites in the US.(I do not know if this includes any salary/bonuses) The only free sponsorship I get is from whasp gels, the others are discounts. http://www.tritom.co.uk

In truth, professional triathlon is not a professional sport. I work to earn a living. Going to the Worlds cost me 800GBP of my own money. I would not see that back if I finished 8th in the World. Prize money is a joke and has not changed in 15+years.

Incidently the WTCs pro license is going to wipe the legs from beneath most pros. I know I can not afford a 750USD pro license then pay 300USD to race at the Worlds. When just getting there costs me 1200USD. I will not and can not afford to pay 2,000USD to race in a corrupt World Championships - see posts about Pro Drafting at World Champs or see my blog - http://www.tritom.co.uk

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http://www.tritom.co.uk
Pro Triathlete

My guess is 90% of the posters here make more than the average pros.

I'd like to hope they are all smart enough to know the sport is a huge sacrifice in the chase for glory.

There, I fixed it for you.

The "average" pro makes almost nothing, if I understand correctly. I would hazard a guess that there are maybe a couple dozen in the world who make a large amount of money (say $100,000 per year?) from the sport. But that is just a guess.

I also don't see anything wrong with that.

A talanted young triathlete figured that out about 20 years ago, and decided bicycle racing was where the big bucks were. He did pretty well. You may have heard of him, Lance Armstrong.

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"It doesn't get any easier, you just go faster"

Whatever they are able to earn from their day job?

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If it's a YMCA pool, the lightning wanders around the locker room naked for an hour, then uses the blow dryer on its junk. -lunchbox

Here's the breakdown:

There are a handful at the very top who are living the truly Professional triathlon life and making a very good living directly off the sport of triathlon - $6 figure+ earnings. Athletes such as, Craig Alexander and such. It's a small group - perhaps with a maximum size of 10 in the whole world.

It then starts to drop of pretty preciptously from there. You then have a modest sized group that is covering expenses to doing "OK". But that's it. They live pretty precariously. Maybe 40 - 50 world wide in this group.

It then drops down to a group that really makes pocket change( a few thousand dollars a year) it's not really a living. How can you live off of that?Typically these folks supplement their income/needs from other sources - more have full time jobs that you think, totally supportive spouse/partner( big with the Pro women) or family. In this last group you'll find people who have finished top 5 in IM races around the world and in some cases at IMH as well. Perhaps 50 - 100 plus in this group.

Below, this there is the group that makes nothing from the sport of triathlon, but they are still good enough according to the current standards to get a Pro card.

It's interesting what the new WTC Pro Rules are going to do. I am guessing the all of those in the last group and a good portion of those in the 3rd group, may just start racing as age-groupers, or just pass completely on any WTC races next year.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I kind of envy the pro women who have spouses that make real money. But being a single young pro chick makes me more marketable to sponsors I'd like to think. ;)

I just turned pro in May and made about $5,200 in prize money this year so far, which is $5,200 more than I expected. One more race to go this weekend at IM Cozy.

I live at home with Mom & Dad when I'm not overseas at training camp. Not exactly glamorous but at least I'm only 27 and not 37 so I don't feel like *such* a loser. :) I also work part time at home when I am at home and make at most $2000/month from that. woohoo....

so where does a pro chick go to find a rich husband that wants to be her #1 sponsor? Slowtwitch or something?

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:: I came, I saw, I conquered. then I ran out of money, crashed into a car during an Ironman, and now work a bad-ass job making prosthetic legs for wounded warriors. ::

the blog: My So-Called Civilian Life :: theWongstar.com :: follow me @theWongstar

here here oooh oooh!!!!! im not rich yet, but I will be!!!!

Paging Chip. Paging Chip.

-Jot

I actually lied, ill never be rich.

like how I'm not fast yet, but I will be! sounds perfect ;)

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...........................................................................
:: I came, I saw, I conquered. then I ran out of money, crashed into a car during an Ironman, and now work a bad-ass job making prosthetic legs for wounded warriors. ::

the blog: My So-Called Civilian Life :: theWongstar.com :: follow me @theWongstar

heck yeah, off to a good start!!!

Imagine if people cared about triathlon as much as they do nascar or nfl. That would be awesome. Is that the gist?

I know right...I am trying to sell logo space on my race kit and wondering if it will be effective to start with "Well logo space on me is waaaay cheaper than on race car drivers. I am pretty cheap, I just want $10,000."

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...........................................................................
:: I came, I saw, I conquered. then I ran out of money, crashed into a car during an Ironman, and now work a bad-ass job making prosthetic legs for wounded warriors. ::

the blog: My So-Called Civilian Life :: theWongstar.com :: follow me @theWongstar

I was a pro bodyboarder from 1987-1998 and our sport, at the pro level, closely resembles pro triathlon. Very few making a good living, more making a basic living, and many making NO living strictly from the sport.
Look at Greg and Laura Bennett. I think they raked in the bucks last year doing the ITU circuit. That seems to be the cash cow for pro triathletes right now, but even that was prize money earnings, not salaries per se.
By the way, most contracts have confidentiality agreements in them. As a pro athlete, you are forbidden to share what you get paid or receive because it can cause dissension with other athletes who get more or less, not to mention start driving up the contract values with competitors who will "one-up" the other guy to steal away an athlete.

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My business-eBodyboarding.com

My brother is a professional surfer, my entire family pretty much works in the Surf industry as did I for a number of years growing up. It's more of the same really, very few make good money but I think the numbers are still a lot higher than Triathlon. My brother is no longer in the top tier levels but I'd say he still averages more than 10k a year in prize money alone, but there are a lot of other perks as well like essentially all of his clothing, boards, accessories as well as the majority of his travel being covered. He also gets a monthly salary from each of his sponsors plus photo incentives for magazine appearances.

All of that being said, he has been able to live the life as long as he has most likely because his long time girlfriend is a highly educated working professional who is making enough to cover the rest.

I was supposed to be the 'smart one' of the family. Went to college, got my masters, work as an Engineer for defense contractors, etc. I'll tell you, when I'm inside an office building for 12 hours straight and he is out surfing I certainly have a different opinion of who was the smart one.

Jocelyn....you and many female pros actually have it pretty good. Many guys will actually support a female pro athlete while they earn the real income. Very few women would be willing to be the primary bread winner while pro trigeek husband goes about making $5000 per year. Plus if I recall, you have a medical degree to fall back on after the gig is done.

I saw that Rappstar and Sam both won $8,500 for WINNING this weekend. That's just hideous and is a direct reflection on the completely incompetent marketing done by the WTC and companies in the industry.

Spectators drive sponsor dollars and I haven't seen a single initiative from within the triathlon community to drive meaningful growth. Some of the tier-one athletes need to be made into brands and those brands then promoted to a wider audience. Damn it, generate some excitement.

As a marketer (not related to tri), this is something that bugs me to no end and is brought to the surface by these threads and every time I pick up a triathlon magazine.

$8,500 to win a professional competition is simply unacceptable.

It think pro golfers make more for just making the cut.

on the other hand though, 8500 bucks is about what a grad student gets for a semester worth of loans, getting 8500 that dosent need to get payed back and getting to train as you please.....
....well its hard to feel to sad about his payday.

awesome job rappsatar BTW!!!

Supply and demand. I know he worked his tail off, I'd even wager the average pro triathlete works harder than the average athlete in leagues that have a 1 million veteran minimum. Triathlon just isn't popular right now.

Maybe there's hope though, its not like golf is entertaining, yet they make millions.