Endurance athlete pay.... where's the money? companies/agents dropping the ball for years now

Triathlon Forum
1

nike reportedly is paying ashton eaton $750,000 for the recent decathlon world record. the tears
at the finish line were for the mini lottery it turns out. 3/4 mill goes a long ways in yew-jean orygun.
http://www.cbssports.com/...ike-for-world-record

compared to the big sports stars driving sales, our professional/elite endurance athletes and their agents need to raise the pay standards across the board and not just for bonuses or our very best athletes. talking minimum salaries approaching those such as nba, mlb, nfl. imagine if elite runners had a “league minimum” salary of $200,000 a year say, for all athletes currently meeting an oly trials a/b standards and/or diamond league racing who are currently racing and maintaining a certain rank or whatever standardized method could be used. we would turn into what kenya is for distance running but in every event. we would not lose athletes to other sports or working careers after college. kenyan athletes take the money given by nike, addidas (a pittance by our standards) and they become rich back home. we need the same wealth equivalent here. some sort of cola equivalent for endurance athlete pay.

why not pay great salary’s to the likes of aaron braun, tyler moulder, scotty baus, ben true, jaeger, famiglietti, on and on, or any of the people at trials finishing say 2nd - 10th place… it is just absurd that these athletes train full time, mostly for nothing, while benchers and the lowest level pro sport athletes are assured fat minimums.

what do average eaton’s, rupp’s, tegs, ritz’s make? I’m betting coaching is covered, air fare, shwag and like 50k - 100k a year plus bonuses… weak all around. does anyone know? nike and the companies really have to break through this glass ceiling and across the board. agents need to demand much more. the roof needs to be blown off essentially. same for swimmers… and yes, tri geeks as well. what if shoemaker, huerta, collington, verzbicas… all got paid.and what about other pros racing full time not on the USAT radar? wonder what that would do for building the elite US tri scene?

if pay for pro sports was based on calories burned, self-inflicted pain, and a lifestyle of financial sacrifice, endurance athletes would be the wealthiest… pay is not set this way but the companies have money to burn, yeah? I understand lack of spectators for non-team sports keep the lay couch potato masses away marketing wise but who cares about them. the lay masses don’t care about a league minimum rookie, injured/reserved, or mediocre bencher who will contribute nothing, will remain unknown, but highly paid… our athletes need to get paid…

2

Until you have tens of millions of fans watching triathlons on TV twice a week and paying to stand course-side, it’s never gonna happen. The only reason athletes get a lot of money is because they generate a lot of money. They are not paid because they are good at their sport. They are an asset that generates television contracts and sells tickets. This simply does not happen in triathlon.

3

The only endurance athlete who can generate that sort of money is Lance.

More eyeballs = more ads = more money. This money could trickle down to everyone. Who knows some of these eyeballs may even stick around if the product is entertaining even if Lance wasn’t racing.

Instead, WTC shot themselves in the foot and hurt all of triathlon and triathletes, by banning him from racing. If he were allowed to race, that would bring more eyeballs to triathlon.

4

Yep. Basic business 101 stuff.

There’s no money to be made in triathlon. Even the mighty WTC, which seems to make a decent profit by our standards, is a little tiny entity compared to money made by everyone involved in the chase-after-the-ball sports and vroom-vroom-crash sports.

5

FFS kid will you please stop? I knew it was you before I read your name.

6

And don’t forget the merchandise that can be sold with their name on it. Lots of people wearing basketball, football, baseball and hockey jerseys and tees but I’ve never seen anyone sporting a Crowie Tri Suit (I’ve often wondered why team kit cycle gear is so popular but is unheard of in Tri, well I guess it wouldn’t be “team” kit but you know what I mean).

7

if pay for pro sports was based on calories burned, self-inflicted pain, and a lifestyle of financial sacrifice, endurance athletes would be the wealthiest… pay is not set this way but the companies have money to burn, yeah? I understand lack of spectators for non-team sports keep the lay couch potato masses away marketing wise but who cares about them.

Simply put the company who pays A Eaton the bonus cares. My guess is Eaton will get more pub during the run up to and during the OG than any IM winner has in there lifetime.

8

+1

To add on that and I know it wont be popular but it is the job of the Top Pro’s to generate more interest in Triathlon for themselves or to pave the way…75% of the Top Pro’s in triathlon seem so damn conservative.

9

The only endurance athlete who can generate that sort of money is Lance.

More eyeballs = more ads = more money. This money could trickle down to everyone. Who knows some of these eyeballs may even stick around if the product is entertaining even if Lance wasn’t racing.

Instead, WTC shot themselves in the foot and hurt all of triathlon and triathletes, by banning him from racing. If he were allowed to race, that would bring more eyeballs to triathlon.

Lots of endurance athletes generate significant money. Marathon record holders, mile/1500m record breakers, etc. I think the last marathon record that H Gebresallasie set his total pay (appearance, win, bonuses) was close to Eaton’s.

Tri just isn’t there yet.

10

Sorry when I mean that sort of money I was talking on the scale of pro football, basketball and baseball players.

http://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-athletes/lance-armstrong-net-worth/

11

The Crowie tri-suit actually exists, and I’ve seen quite a few folks here in Australia wearing it at races.

12

Until you have tens of millions of fans watching triathlons on TV twice a week and paying to stand course-side, it’s never gonna happen. The only reason athletes get a lot of money is because they generate a lot of money. They are not paid because they are good at their sport. They are an asset that generates television contracts and sells tickets. This simply does not happen in triathlon.

totally agree with you and the others posting. my write up is rather rhetorical, I know. still, the unknown bench warmers are making bank in big time sports yet they do not sell the jerseys or shoes… I know their sports do hence their min. salary assurance.

my point is, would be great to see the sponsoring companies start the process first because there will never be sales produced from individual endurance sport athletes compared to top paid pros in team sports or motor sports…

what is the bargaining leverage for endurance athletes as a whole? i.e. nba players union… athlete driven, not exposure/revenue potential driven… athletes collectively attempting to dictate their own terms rather than the market (revenue potential) dictating to them…

13

Notice how the pro sports you mentioned have 2 things endurance sports don’t have: huge demand & collective bargaining. There’s no business case for raising pay for athletes (costs) when there’s no revenue to support it.

Bottom line, sports is business, don’t let anyone tell you different, even in an Olympic year.

14

Notice how the pro sports you mentioned have 2 things endurance sports don’t have: huge demand & collective bargaining. There’s no business case for raising pay for athletes (costs) when there’s no revenue to support it.

Bottom line, sports is business, don’t let anyone tell you different, even in an Olympic year.

This is correct. I believe that there was a study or article or something along those lines done which tracked the marginal value individual players had on the value of a basketball team. If I’m not mistaken, they found that stars such as Kobe, LeBron, etc were worth something like $50-60 million per year to their teams when factoring performance, marketability, etc, while the 9th-12th guys on the team were worth much less than what they were paid. It’s the influence of the union and the existence of veteran’s minimum salaries that gets these guys paid.

As for endurance sports…athletes need to figure out how to connect to a larger audience. I don’t know how they’d do that. Maybe we should ask Nick Symmonds…he seems to have some ideas.

15

The Crowie tri-suit actually exists, and I’ve seen quite a few folks here in Australia wearing it at races.

Anyone want to guess how much Louis Garneau (Crowie’s current apparel sponsor) pays him?
Anyone want to guess how much Crowie is worth to Louis Garneau in terms of additional sales, revenue, or profit?
Anyone want to guess how many Craig Alexander kits Louis Garneau will sell this year?

My guesses to all three: in comparison to other lifestyle sports (even Motocross or Surfing)… not a lot.

Personal example: when writing this ST comment I actually could not remember Crowie’s real name. I had to google it. That’s for a guy that reads ST for at least 15 minutes every day. The defending and three-time (had to confirm that via google too) Ironman World Champion has little name recognition even with me :~<

16

Notice how the pro sports you mentioned have 2 things endurance sports don’t have: huge demand & collective bargaining. There’s no business case for raising pay for athletes (costs) when there’s no revenue to support it.

Bottom line, sports is business, don’t let anyone tell you different, even in an Olympic year.

At one stage New Zealands highest paid sports person was Tiger Woods caddie.

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