No not changing at all. How many people in the sport believe IM Pro Series will pay the payments they are doing if PTO goes away? Lots of people think / assume when big money T100 goes, IM will simply lower prize purse. Competition has essentially pushed IM to improve the wages and this is the basic golden era of pro triathlon. IM atleast has a plan of action that makes it somewhat sustainable (until they don’t need to make it sustainable), while T100 is only going to be around until the investors leave. One thing that occurs on all sports is “salaries” are easily known by everyone. Everyone knows what the stars are making, but in tri it’s always been this mystery. We read all the time X got a $50k “appearance fee” to race X race, yet we don’t know that, it’s just all guessing. So in that aspect the “salaries” likely aren’t that great. If they were large pto would be shouting it front top of mountain at how good it is. And then of course it’s probably tiered so is the 14th place guy barely getting above travel covered essentially? We don’t know. I thought all this info was suppose to be public knowledge so best estimate is that it’s not all that great. And again if it truly were large 6 figures no one in the sport would pass on that. And of course they don’t have that much investment. So again in a start up you need everyone willing to help and know they are doing it for long term success, but no one really sees this as anything but a 6 year period where the pro money was really good and then back to meh. So I can kinda not blame them for doing it this way but I can also say and that’s why it’ll also gursnteee to fail.
In regards to Long where did I say he should screw pto? I said cus he’s got a guranteeed 5 race salary with 5 race pay check gurantee if he races min pto races, he then would have the chance to focus more on his key weakness. If he didn’t have pto he would 100% have to race for pay checks and whatever assorted bonuses he can manage with that. With the salary he gets to double dip. Without pto he wouldn’t.
I didn’t think it was that complicated, one race series affords him a salary before even getting a race result. Every other race or series doesn’t offer that unless it’s backdoor appearance fees. But that’s part urban legend anyways cus people have no clue how much they really get paid (becoming similar to what the pto salary is).
But let’s say it’s $5k per race for 5 races for ~$25k Just low balling cus that’s on avg what an international travel will likely cost him. That would be roughly $75k for the year combining salary, race winnings (let’s say 10th) and end of year bonus (let’s say 10th). So take out the salary that covers anll travel and he makes $50k on 5 races. Not a ton but again travel is already paid for so that’s straight money into the bank (minus taxes). For all other events travel costs will come out of race winnings (on a broader scale, someone has to pay for it, whether it’s the athlete or a sponsor). PTO travel is basically net 0 so to speak if we are going on the assumption of lets say $5k salary per race. And again I’m using avg numbers there. If he pops a big time race result that helps said race winnings + end of year. And again for me it’s less about “racing less” and more about the philosophy behind it for an athlete with this much of an key weakness. Sam Long could go “all in” on his swim this year and still clear $100k with his race schedule with meh bike/run splits relative because it’s not as if he’s going to forget how to ride a bike or run. “Meh” bike splits for Long is better than half the field, and sorta likewise for his run. I’m pushing- use this year as a “development” year, and take out “I have to win to provide for my family” pressure he’s saying. And this starts to get into the weeds of financial stability, and so yes there is always pressure to provide. That’s sorta always going to be a given. But what the PTO salary affords should be now less pressure to “win” so to speak. You’ve already got money in the pocket regardless of how the race goes, that should give you the freedom to race with less pressure, not more.
So let’s multiple that by what 40 people (just for simple numbers) that’s $1mi in contracts with what I call “low salaries”. So the money likely doesn’t go all that far and again they have to produce or else investors will go away.
PTO originally came into the sport because there was no non-draft LC “series”. They were going to fill that niche, and everyone wanted that. So even if the salaries were “low” they could win on the idea that is is revolutionary and psstt we are the bag man and there is no other prize purses like this in LC…until IM quickly came in and took some of the shine.
IM pivoted very quickly that although they didn’t offer race salaries by coming in and offering enough races and enough end of year bonuses, it’s basically “free” money for the pros…cus guess what they were already racing these events anyway.
So PTO is sorta like what in the why world of sports has happened. They were the shiny new object for all of 8s in all of this. And yet they’ve invested so much and IM has only invested in what can be sustainable. But again no one in the sport that I’ve talked to thinks this will last on IM’s end if PTO goes away. So get the money while it lasts cus PTO is almost a given it’ll fail, and IM is almost for sure going to go back to less pro money if they can.
There is the chance that IM sees continuation of the pro series as maintaining a barrier against other PTO like upstarts and more importantly, holding themselves up as the pinnacle of sport to big sponsors. I think to the extent that IM makes the pro series part of its identity, it’s going to be hard to just walk away. BUT we don’t know how much the new CEO really cares with that. I would guess that Messick cared more about pro triathlon than Derue.
That said, there’s no reason why IM can’t just fold the prize package costs for the pro series into the sponsorship pricing to be the title shoe sponsor, etc. and expect to get it now that they can claim to generate so much more attention on the athletes and sport with the pro series.
I wonder how their broadcast partner (financier?), Outside is doing with this contract. There is zero chance IM self funds their what now 20+ Pro Series broadcasts. They need a partner most assured, and so has it been a good partnership with Outside?
So let me re-phrase one thing. I bet IM always has a “pro series”, I think the amount of money they put into it changes if PTO goes away. Like by default they can keep the pro series cus, it’s not really all that different than most pro’s schedule. So they could cut the prize purse in half, and guess what the pro’s still would need races to race. So I don’t necessarily think it’ll go away completely, but to the point that it’s this large purse…no way in hell it’s that if/when PTO goes away. There would be no reason to keep it; just look at how/why/when they started it in the first place. If this had been around for years it would be a different story, and I would have more confidence big pro purse sticks around.
Unlisted means it doesn’t show up in anyone’s feed so unless you have the direct URL you aren’t finding it.
New video up and what the hell is this dude doing swimming with a tether?! I’m no fish in the water, but I don’t think your elbow and hand are supposed to enter at the same time.
23-24 hours includes his “off season” so he’s likely doing quit a bit more “in season”. I don’t theink European pro’s are hammering 30+ hours for 52 weeks.
well they have sponsor commitments , physio, they have to coordinate their team ie while some full time pros have social media people and agents they still need to coordinate. some of them have investments they deal with . but its like a 2 day photo shoot there another 2 days somewhere else going 4 day to the usa to develop shoes with new blance for instance , wind tunnel testing there is a lot of traveling involved
in short only really anne haug who really is a tri monk and is happy to sacrifice income to perform , most atheltes while not doing 35 hours of work they still have a good bit on their plate .
and dont forget at some stage most of them where in the same position as you are and they made choices ie dont feel too disadvantaged , some of them make it work better than you do but just as many struggle more than you do.
unless you never have time to post during your work hours as you just did . against most you dont really lose more than 10 hours a week in real working time. so yes they have more time to invest into their non training performace and they certainly spend more hours a week in coffe shops than you do but still dont forget to make y tube and social shite is still work and takes a lot more time than most think.
and i guess if you where to work 25 hours in a proper job a you do are better of than most .
the cream does rise to the top and not all of them have rich parenets. and eve if you have rich parents they cant pay somebody else to do the hard training.
nobody has an easy ride to make it .
edit the question is more why would an engineer have to work 35 hours a week to pay the bills. the very least with 30 you should be able to do so .
He’s also showing up to the shootout on a tt bike. Despite being a pro triathlete, this seems like a pretty major party foul.
Sam has lost me as a fan over the last year plus. Like the tether, the tt bike on a group ride…there’s just these little things that make me unsettled. There’s other stuff specific to me that I need not get into since they’re my personal opinions but the kicker was coming on these forums to ask for a financial analysis of how to plan his season. That was the clear signal for me to say ok idk if I dig this guy’s vibe.
Look, I know we’re smart on these forums, but it was super weird for him to come here and ask us to plan his season for him and figure out what’s best financially. Either that or it was a ploy for attention and content which didn’t land. At least not with me.
I don’t like being a hater but this guy gets so much love but I just don’t get it anymore.
Ben hoffman and some others have been doing the shootout on a tt bike for years. Sounds like as long as you’re not on the skis while drafting, nobody really cares.
