Thank you for doing this, Letsrun staff. I think it's nice that aspiring athletes can have a better idea of what they might be getting into.
The criticism that this is garbage data is pretty unfounded. These are agents making educated guesses. Yes, many of those guesses have a wide range of values. But at least that gives you a range. And the truth may be that an athlete may be worth different amounts depending on many different circumstances.
And honestly, the range of values isn't so huge. Most of them only differ by a factor of 2 or so. It gives us a pretty good idea of what they're making:
-Almost nobody is making over a million a year as a base salary. Frankly I'm surprised Kipchoge/Rupp/Simpson/Bekele aren't making more than that. Especially when Bekele was completely dominant, setting world records and winning double golds -- wasn't there a shoe company out there willing to throw a few million his way? The (second?) greatest athlete of our sport of all time never made more than a mediocre basketball player?
-Most top athletes in the sport are making several hundred thousand.
-Most top Americans (who aren't internationally competitive) are making a comfortable salary but might have to get a different job when they retire from running.
-Africans make less than Americans
It also tells us that the agents think their athletes get pretty decent appearance fees at big marathons.
Question for the Letsrun staff:
What was the method you used for providing an estimate from LRC readers? Why are the numbers so round?