I voted for him to do the Pro Series when he put up a poll, I don’t get why he’s doing this.
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Guaranteed $$. He hasn’t proven to be elite in IM distance and a top-10 in the IMPro series may have been tough. Outside the top-10 standings, IM pays next to nothing.
10th in T100 gets $5k/race plus $70k standings bonus plus whatever his contract was.
He still has his Nice slot and can race more often not having to do an IM.
He may also love the travel, competition, and vibe of the T100 races.
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At his age I think it is a smart career decision. Guaranteed contract $$$ ,top level racing, great brand exposure all without having to burn out doing multiple Ironman’s a year. He has plenty of time to shift to Ironman focus.
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For all intent purposes taking the contract in his case essentially pays for his whole year, and add in he can still race 70.3’s as desired, it’s as I said for months now, a get out of jail year to work on your key weakness with very little financial impact. The only real impact is psychological if T8th at every race would lead to the breakdown he experienced last year. But it sounds like he gets it.
He also spoke immediately after T100, IMPS essentially requires 3 IM’s at min to get top score, so he’s “only” 28(?) I think. So it’s as I said, go all in on the swim right now and it won’t really help t100 career but more long term improvement. But again he’s a made man already this year so his results are only icing on the cake. He’s covered being able to “support” his family this year w likely his contact ane ability by default to be in pro end of year bonuses (+ race result pay checks).
And when I say made man, his personally likely puts him in a position to get the larger contract options even if he’s only likely “mid pack” result wise. But he’s a key personality that the t100 likely needs so he likely was paid well.
Yeah I understand the financial benefit of having the T100 contract but I think Sam should have passed that up and bet on himself in the IM Pro Series. I think he could have made even more money from his sponsors by mixing it up in those races as they often pay more for IM performances than T100. And with all of the big names competing in the Pro Series, watching him mix it up with the likes of Ditlev and the Norwegians would have been super exciting as opposed to squeaking into the top 10 at a T100. It’s sort of academic as he is still so young and has many great years ahead.
Long basically addressed why he didn’t do IMPS at Signapore. To score well at IMPS you basically need 3 IM scores and so that’s probaly just 1 too many that he wanted to do. He’s also still in the phase of his career where he can max out his “middle” distance ability before truly moving over to more of an IM focus.
Again I think it’s really hard to turn down a guranteed contract that pays you a signficant wage before you even step on a course. Especially for him when he can garner that wage whether he’s mid pack at T100 or not right now. He’s a “big name” that PTO needs. I can foresee though he’s going to leave T100 likely post this year or next year at max. The writing is on the wall of where he will succeed at, but again this wage gives him a “free year” essentially.
So when you say sponsors pay more for IM performances, while true it also means you have to have a result (usually podium or win) to achieve those bonuses. So if you flat / get a drafting penalty / sick and miss a good performance, there goes your bonus. So saying he could get paid more is more of a gamble than a “sure” thing that the T100 contract was.
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Again, I think there is more money for an athlete with us skill set to make just as much if not more in the pro series but it requires a leap of faith. Watching him get out of the water DFL and then bike/run himself into the top 10 isn’t nearly as interesting as seeing him in a 70.3 with the current pro series cohort. For Sam’s brand, that’s far more compelling.
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Right and if you listen to Long’s videos over the last few years, probaly his biggest priority is taking care of his family (fun to watch that maturity in him). A guranteed paycheck goes a long way in taking off that pressure, much more so than any “leap of faith” pathway, especially when that pathway requires more races he doens’t want to do *now in his career- IM’s.
Of course the IMPS has to likely be more IM focused since well that’s their biggest pro brand likely and it’s the least amount of competition vs T100. If it was only 2 IM’s and 3 70.3’s, I think you would have seen Sam go to it. But add up 1-2 extra IM distances races year after year and suddenly the longevity of a career may get cut short.
I do not think he’s going to take a “brand” hit by racing T100’s this year and potentially only be a mid pack athlete. I don’t think T100 is long term in his career, so I think it essentially gives him a “free” year with very little negative conesquence (I guess his mental well being / psyche would be the potential biggest consequence).
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Yeah I have heard his thoughts, this paycheck is short term gain but he’s missing out on the larger opportunity. And if he finishes mid field in the T100 Series, he’s brand value won’t be as high 12 months from now as it could be with just one or two races where he is in the top 5 going up against multiple IM world champs.
He (and I) sees it differently so all good I suppose. He actually sees this short term benefit to benefit his long term opportunities / racing career- 70.3 and IM’s.
And if it’s lower in 12 months and then he wins IM branded events, guess what it simply goes back up the following year. So it seems like your doing tic for tac, idk.
I’m in support of him doing T100 this year if he goes all in to fix his swim. Because that will help him long term, his T100 career for big time performances are pretty much over unless it’s a “weak” field. But championship level events at T100, he’s going to be mid pack. But that likely large guranteed check then frees up his training to worry less about results this year and improve his training. So imo even if he loses his brand next year (which he’s not going to be broke next year, he’s still a “brand” your simply likely arguing max value of it), it’s well worth it from a coaching prospective.
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In my nearly 30 years as a financial advisor, I have never met someone under the age of 30 who make great financial decisions.
Fair enough, but if an athlete is telling you they don’t want to race a series because of it’s race requirements. To then get a “guranteed” check in the series they are likely weakest in, I would assume he’s doing something right.
T100 allows him a paycheck + ability to race every IM brand event he wants to (both 70.3 worlds + IM WC).
IMPS essentially requires 1 too many IM’s that he personally wants to do right now. So I’m kinda missing what the issue is. He’s not making a “bad” financial decision imo, he’s still going to be at IM branded events, both NA regionally and the biggest IM branded WC’s in the sport. This pathway essentially covers the best of both worlds imo, he gets a guranteed contract payout and still races likely a half dozen IM branded events (it may or may not end up being that many, but he’s hitting the NA 70.3 Regional Champs, and 2 IM WC’s, his “brand” will have lots of eyeballs at the biggest triathlon events in the world, it’s not going to fall off becuase he didn’t do IMPS or cus he’s mid pack at T100).
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Break out the champagne, I agree whole heartily with Brooks!!! I think that Bryan suffers from what many on here do, they pretend to know the unknowable. He states that ironman bonuses are larger than PTO ones from Sam’s sponsors, he really doesnt know. Its just a made up thing to bolster his argument. Fact is that Sam probably pointed most of his big bonuses towards T100, knowing that is where his focus was going to be.
And financial advisor, better check his numbers. Sam was not going to win either series going in, probably not even a podium, big long shot. T100 pays better price money further down where his is placing, and he can still do the odd IM to supplement. But he is not winning those either, those races are stacked this year, and money in individual races is not that great further down the lists.
Like you have pointed out, this is a time in his career to work on swimming, but he also has to keep racing well to stay in the game. Certainly his pool swimming is improving, there will be a time where he is 2nd/3rd pack in the big races, which allows him to attack podiums. And I really dont think his full Ironman is there yet to be top 3 or 4 in those big races, so that will also take some time to get there.
So as Sam’s current financial advisor, good job on closing the most lucrative, safest, and earning potential path for the year 2025…
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Me too!
@Bryancd - it’d be worth you going and reviewing Long’s “give me advice” thread.
I laid out the finances pretty clearly.
The idea that Long would take on a Series which absolutely requires two competitive IMs plus the IMWC is fraught with uncertainty, however much you think he has “potential”. A successful athlete in the IM Pro Series must be a consistent one: which is not Long, certainly over the full distance. Maybe when he’ll develop. And just remember these two IMs will be super-competitive, not an off season USA one so the chances of sponsor bonuses in IMs would have been low.
Which is why contracting to race the T100 Tour was a wise choice.
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In financial terms.
T100= 60/40 portfolio with low cost diversified ETF and bonds.
IM Pro series=stock picking. Could be NVIDIA and win big, could be bed bath and beyond and go broke.
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“The reality is that in the current climate of T100 vs. Ironman from a brand perspective and how brands support athletes, brands are paying, this is an umbrella statement here but it’s not false, brands are simply paying more in bonuses for athletes who perform at Ironman branded races. Period, end of sentence.” -Pat Lemiuex on today’s Pro Tri News podcast around the 51min mark.
So although I wouldn’t know personally, the agent who represents Kat Mathews, Taylor Knibb, Magnus Ditlev, and Lionel Sanders would. This is what the kids call a “dunk”.
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Yeah I like the analogy except it only capture risk vs return whereas for Sam there are intangible benefits he can derive from being part of really compelling racing in the Pro Series where he can feature as opposed to T100 where he’s really unlikely to be as prominent. So you forgo some of the return potential for better media coverage which can beget additional benefits.
I think you seem to want to see it more from a “fan” prospective that Long finishing mid pack is “meh” (which I’m not diagreeing with). So that seemingly automatically makes the other pathway better for him, when in reality it’s likely not the case for Long right now, is that your pov? Which then your saying that’s a foolish pov even though him doing T100 doesn’t keep him from any IM branded events essentially. He’s just not going to go all in on the IMPS right now based on the 3 IM’s needed.
So again if Long actually goes all in on the swim (which it sounds like he is doing or at min putting in more training than he was in '23), this imo was certainly the better play for him short term and long term imo. It was a “free year” to not worry about $$$ that usually comes from races and said bonuses come from said race results.
If your not going to race for the IMPS then why not take the money t100 gives and still race the IM branded events he wants. Seems a no brainer but I’m just an idiot coach.
No, that’s not my perspective. I think watching him go from DFL to 10th is remarkable, but that’s because I like him and follow him. But just using T100 Singapore broadcast coverage, he received next to no camera time the entire race. So I would posit he would be much more in the mix and in the coverage at a Pro Series race and that has a lot of value for his sponsors and his own brand. I don’t disagree that for him the full IM ask is a tough putt and I can appreciate why that would ave given him pause.
I agree, that’s why I mentioned this is sort of academic as he’s so young and has plenty of time to pursue the Pro Series. But I till feel the argument for the Pro Series vs. T100 leans towards the Pro Series for him.
Well demonstrably not: “Read my lips: No IM Pro Series”