The Wellington/Cannondale merger got me to thinking - why don’t we ever hear about the money given to these pro athlete’s from their bike sponsors. It seems odd - in most professional sports the public is aware of what the athletes earn. In a way, I think sharing this information helps to grow a sport or at least helps keep them interesting.
Is it because the amounts in triathlon are not “worthy” of publicity? I’d sure be interested to hear what Scott paid Norman etc…
You can find Craig Alexander’s home and cell phone number on his website. He has a formal resume as a tool to market himself. Seems like triathlons, even the big names like Alexander, aren’t getting sponsorship attention that other professional athletes get.
Chrissie’s deal with Cannondale is supposedly worth 6 figures.
6 Figures a year - or for the 3 year contract? I know it takes a lot of things to be a pro -but I have a hunch that if a young talented girl (or guy) out there knew he/she could earn 6 figures from a company in triathlon, that it would bolster interest in the sport quite a bit.
I just don’t get why its such a mystery…it seems a shame, especially for the top-level pro’s that its not more “open”. I think it would help them gain some leverage with the companies each year. Then again, maybe all this information is known on the “inner circles” of the sport and its just the fans who are left out.
Every contract I’ve ever seen / negotiated, has a confidentiality clause in it. Hence why you’re struggling to get clarification.
Sponsors don’t want athletes coming to the negotiating table with a figure in their mind based on what they’ve heard someone else is getting. They’re in business and they want as much bang for their buck as possible.
You generally find athletes exaggerate what they’re being paid. It’s a right circus of trying to ‘out do’ their rivals in any way possible, if they can convince them they’re on more $$$ than them, they think they’ve got one over on you. I’d be very surprised if any company at present is paying 6 figures? But Chrissie is in a class of her own so who knows.
At least some of them are performance-based, not a fixed dollar amount.
Ya, I thought 6 figures was pretty high as well. I guess its just one of those nuances to the sport that “will be”. I just think it would add a little more substance/spice to the “Bikes of the Pro’s” articles on ST, if we saw the amount each pro was getting to ride a given bike.
I’d wager at Chrissie’s being 6 figures net for three years. That’d be a lot, but still reasonable.
Macca’s deal is reportedly the largest ever in the industry at $100,000 per year from Specialized. That number was leaked to (I think) the SF Chronicle, which really only ran the story because it was such an exception. You can search the forum for it.
But they really run the gamut from negative-$ (basically, you get a discount, but still have to pay for a bike) up to something like Chrissie’s deal (25-30k base per year). That’s at least from the rumor mill. Macca is, from what I hear, an extreme outlier in terms of how much he gets. There are some other pros that may have made more than Macca in a year from a bike company, but it was probably based off heavy performance bonuses (perhaps Normann’s 2nd Kona win, but that’s a total guess).
It’s not really something that gets talked about too much (sponsorship amounts in general), either amongst pros or in any sort of public forum. I know what some of the deals of some of my very closest friends are, but it’s certainly not public in the way that baseball, basketball, etc. is.
*Sponsors don’t want athletes coming to the negotiating table with a figure in their mind based on what they’ve heard someone else is getting. They’re in business and they want as much bang for their buck as possible. *
**
I think this is funny…they don’t want it turning into basketball, football, and baseball contracts where a player/athletes are always one-upping each other. This would drive the prices way up. Once you get one company to pay, it turns into the going rate for an athlete at “x” level. Just like in baseball, if an athlete has “x” stats and get’s paid 100 million/yr for 6 years, another athlete with similar stats will want a contract for the same amount.
It is similar in almost every industry you can think of. What is the going rate for a particular profession?
Mat Steinmetz
www.msteinmetz.blogspot.com
Didn’t Mile Stewart from Australia used to have the biggest contract in the sport? Pretty sure it had something to do with family but not positive. Thoughthe was well into 6 figures and that was going back to the mid 90s.
It’s not really something that gets talked about too much (sponsorship amounts in general), either amongst pros or in any sort of public forum. I know what some of the deals of some of my very closest friends are, but it’s certainly not public in the way that baseball, basketball, etc. is.
Why do you think that is? I mean why is it kept so private?
Jordan is correct in that the base range for most pros that are decent, and great bike riders, is in the 20 to 30k range. In the past, a few made over 6 figures for a year, usually performance based. Norman when he won Kona on his Kuota, and Dave Scott when he had his Centurion deal…Like Macca now, those 6 figure deals are few and far between. More common is a 50k+ deal every once in awhile. I would guess that Norman’s new deal is at least that…
My guess is that Chrissie’s contract has that average salary range, with a nice bonus structure. If she stays healthy, wins most of her races like she did last year, and breaks a few course records, I could see it worth over 200k+ for the 3 years… Add in another bunch of money for the 15 to 20 bikes she will get over those years, and it is a nice deal…Just my guess… I know of a deal she passed on, so I would assume the one now is a bit better…
It’s not really something that gets talked about too much (sponsorship amounts in general), either amongst pros or in any sort of public forum. I know what some of the deals of some of my very closest friends are, but it’s certainly not public in the way that baseball, basketball, etc. is.
Why do you think that is? I mean why is it kept so private?
Two reasons:
- For the same reason you don’t post your salary here for all to see (i.e. athletes’ best interest and privacy)
- For the same reason you don’t know what the salary of your coworkers are (lack of information in triathletes’ case contractually driven allows for a more favorable balance of power to the check signers)
While that may be true in some cases, its not in mine. My salary is public knowledge and so are my co-workers. In fact, there are plenty of jobs where the salaries are public knowledge (many government jobs for example).
Regardless, this is pro sport and as a comparison to other pro sports, it seems odd that its so hush hush, since other pro’s salaries are often very public.
I can see how the confidentiality helps the sponsors, but shouldn’t it just be ‘the cost of doing business?’ Perhaps “open” knowledge would help the athletes get more $$$ as a whole?
The Wellington/Cannondale merger got me to thinking - why don’t we ever hear about the money given to these pro athlete’s from their bike sponsors. It seems odd - in most professional sports the public is aware of what the athletes earn. In a way, I think sharing this information helps to grow a sport or at least helps keep them interesting.
It seems the sports where these figures are routinely released the figures are big enough that the figures themselves create buzz and form part of the marketing. For example, letting the public know a ball player just got a $10 million per year contract will make a splash and may help sell tickets. Also, if a team, sponsor or athlete puts out a press release that the athlete is getting X million per year, it will get reported and, in being reported, get the sponsor mentioned. If a press release gets put out that a triathlete is getting $50K per year from some sponsor, its not very likely to get picked up and broadcast and, when its compared to some other sports, making the figure public may actually detract from the marketing cache. While I’m sure the bike sponsor is not keeping the number secret, they are not going to start bragging about landing a $100K athlete in the same way a baseball team would brag about landing a $10 million per year pitcher. they will just brag about the athlete and leave the money out of it. It may be a better marketing strategy to keep the numbers a mystery unless they are measured in millions, not thousands.
While I’m sure the bike sponsor is not keeping the number secret, they are not going to start bragging about landing a $100K athlete in the same way a baseball team would brag about landing a $10 million per year pitcher. \
That is part of the situation because a bike sponsor does not want the public at large to think an athlete is only riding their bike because they pay them so much. It detracts from the product itself. And what Chrissie is doing is exactly what a sponsor want, dont talk about the money, but talk about how great the bike is. Same goes for any product that an athlete uses…We all know about big time athletes salaries, but what about their Nike contracts?? Or thier other sponsorship deals?? Those are not so public. In our sport, there are very few that actually get salaries from a team budget, like other pro sports…It would be better to compare them to other endurance sports. So what exactly does Phelps, Lance, or any of the top runners get from their sponsors?? I bet that is not common knowledge either, just like the triathlete deals…
6 Figures a year - or for the 3 year contract? I know it takes a lot of things to be a pro -but I have a hunch that if a young talented girl (or guy) out there knew he/she could earn 6 figures from a company in triathlon, that it would bolster interest in the sport quite a bit.
I just don’t get why its such a mystery…it seems a shame, especially for the top-level pro’s that its not more “open”. I think it would help them gain some leverage with the companies each year. Then again, maybe all this information is known on the “inner circles” of the sport and its just the fans who are left out.
It’s a shame she can’t garner more money. I think if the contract is a 100k over 3 years- for the very best IM distance athlete - who dominates her field- is not much money at all. I would be surprised if it bolstered hardly ANY interest from younger triathletes. Triathlon is sadly, a very fringe sport in the U.S., compared to many other professional sports. It wouldn’t surprise me if the avg pro triathlete made less than 5k per year in income from the sport and had another full time job.
Most “pro’s” have regular jobs, the truly elite athletes do not. The reason why $100k over three years is probably realistic, is how many bikes is she going to sell for cannondale? They still need to profit off of her. Figure the average tri-bike purchased is $2000, then take off dealer markup, manufacturing, other marketing expenses, & overhead, now pay Chrissie. Now we look for profit. We are not that large of an industry. Trek wasnt selling 1000s of $4k bikes because of Lance Armstrong, they were selling 10s of thousands of $800 bikes.
While the profit made on a high-end bike is greater than an entry level, how many entry level are sold for every high end bike? 10:1? 15:1? I dont have a bike shop, so I do not know exact margins or the ratios.
Macca might be making money off of his bike deal but he is set because of UA, Under Armor, he deal is not just $$, its product development and a job for when he ‘retires.’ He has a company to go to and still continue to develop new products, plus he is an accountant by trade.
Just a guess: I think many elites are just lucky to get one nice bike for a season and that’s about it. If someone gets 8th place in a big race (say a 70.3) one year, but moves up to 3rd the next, then a bike company might give them a little money: The equivalent of a week’s work in a cubicle, maybe? Triathlon can’t be compared to pro team sports. It can’t even really be compared to running or bike racing.
Chrissie Wellington as said she is getting a few TT/Tri bikes, a road bike, mountain bike and a commuter which might be the mtn. bike as well. So figure 33k/year + 25k bikes in the first year and that 100k becomes 125k+ bikes over the next two years and incentive based pay. Could easily do 200k.
I would be happy with one bike…