NY Times Article on Olympic Trials/Fall Marathon Doubles With Some Interesting Quotes from Ryan Hall

wejo · 2011-10-18T13:07:22-04:00

The NY Times has a piece online that will be in tomorrow's paper that discusses how it's hard for NY to attract top Americans with the Olympic Trials in January. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/19/sports/many-top-americans-will-run-olympic-marathon-trials-not-new-york.html It also discusses the financial hit marathoners take by running the Olympics. "If he runs only the trials and the Olympics, Hall would lose hundreds of thousands of dollars in appearance fees and potential prize money and estimated that his salary would be cut in half in 2012." Ryan Hall then says, "It’s a huge issue. It’s kind of a bummer. I love the Olympics, but we take huge hits to run in the Olympics.” The article got me thinking overall are the Olympics a net financial loser for Ryan Hall. I don't think they are. Hall's situation is pretty unique. First, he's in an Olympic sport where there actually is some money to be made from competing outside of the Olympics with prize money and appearance fees for the top guys. Second, he's a marathoner and the opportunity cost of running a marathon for free is huge - you can't run another one for a while. A tennis player goes to the Olympics and it's not like it prevents him from playing in Wimbledon right before it or the US Open after it. Same thing with Usain Bolt. I don't know what Hall's total take from last month's Chicago Marathon was in in terms of appearance fee/performance bonus from the race (let's ignore what he gets from Asics). I'll throw the uninformed figure of $200,000 out there. (With the Olympic Trials this January and lack of American runners available, the scarcity of runners likely drove up Ryan's price this fall so that may have helped him get more than he usually would have, but lets ignore that). So next year if Hall just did the Olympic Trials and the Olympics and no fall marathon he would lose out on $200,000 X 2. However, in 2008 when Ryan won the Olympic Trials he won $100,000 so let's assume he gets $100,000 this year. That would still leave him $300,000 short. With the Olympics in early August, Ryan could easily do a fall marathon after the Olympics and get his appearance fee. I bet he does one. But that would require him to work more (3 marathons in the year instead of his customary 2) so let's pretend he'll only does 2. Does the fact Ryan is an Olympian and he's trying to make the Olympics generate him an extra $300,000 every four years in endorsements? I would say most definitely yes. Big corporate brands like Nissan love the fact marathoning is an Olympic sport. Asics and the public love the Olympics. Without the Olympics, sure marathoning would be popular but not as popular and a lot of marketing $ would dry up. Talk to any sports marketer, they're already talking about London 2012. Everyone on letsrun is talking about the Olympic Trials, take out the Olympics and a lot of that chatter goes away. We haven't even factored in the long-term financial windfall if he could medal at the Olympics. Sure it would be much better for Ryan if marathoning wasn't so tough on the body and Ryan could run 5 a year. The Olympics wouldn't cost much short term. But I think long-term they still are a huge financial benefit to him. He definitely is in a unique situation as for two straight races he'll make less than he normally would ($100,000 max at the Olympic Trials, $0 for the Olympics). That is tough to give up when you may only compete twice a year in the marathon. Other Olympic non-marathoners don't have the same situation and most don't get nearly the appearance fees Ryan does. Top marathoners like Ryan Hall routinely skip the World Championships (where there is prize money but not appearance fees), they never skip the Olympics. Sure there is some love of country and love of Olympics going on but I think running the Olympics is in their financial interest long term. That doesn't mean Ryan might take home less next year. Feel free to agree/disagree with my logic.

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14 years ago 10/18/2011 8:23pm EDT

re: jaguar1

sorry didn't read the whole thread so apologies if already covered but........

Asics bonus for running 2:08 and finishing outside the top3 at chicago....negligible. Prize money won at chicago....$peanuts

Asics bonus for winning the Trials.....$50-100K. prize money...$100k

about the same as a $200k appearance, as I don't see him getting much more than that. not only that, but winning the US Olympic Trials gets you talked about almost as much as running 2:08 and towards the back of the top 5 in a major.....imo.

Olympics themselves are a diff story but it's not the big hit that most think it is, esp when bonuses are factored in....unless you had a LEGIT shot at winning a major, which i have my own opinions on....

Hall is a wash for the trials, maybe he loses some on the games but, as weldon stated, it's a necessary marketing angle to be able to call yourself an Olympian.....

dude-

14 years ago 10/18/2011 8:28pm EDT

re: wejo

Is that link free ? I don't pay for news, pictures, or videos. It's against my policy.

14 years ago 10/18/2011 9:36pm EDT

re: wejo

If Ryan Hall were to miraculously medal at the Olympics, it would pay for him big time.

Also, could Asics or other sponsors pay him a bonus for running in the Olympics? I have no idea, but doesn't seem impossible.

14 years ago 10/19/2011 12:48am EDT

re: jaguar1

jaguar1 wrote:
the cancer guy wrote:
or you could race less and eek out that extra 2-3% and get up a few spots higher on the podium.
This is what everyone assumes, but you don't know unless you try. Racing more frequently is how the non-Africans of the 70s/80s got better. The added benefit is you learn to recover faster too.

These guys running sub-2:05 are running marathons that are physiologically different from Bill's sub-2:10s. They're running with twice the concentration of lactic acid than classic marathoners of the past did, and that limits how frequently they can race at the level they do.

14 years ago 10/19/2011 8:05am EDT

re: bekene bekele

bekene bekele wrote:
Also, could Asics or other sponsors pay him a bonus for running in the Olympics?

Don't forget that Ryan Hall will be wearing a Nike jersey at the Olympics.

14 years ago 10/19/2011 8:46am EDT

re: Nutella1

Nutella1 wrote:
bekene bekele wrote:
Also, could Asics or other sponsors pay him a bonus for running in the Olympics?
Don't forget that Ryan Hall will be wearing a Nike jersey at the Olympics.

There's still a significant financial incentive for him to make the US team. It can come in the way of carrot (more money if he makes the team) or a stick (less money if he doesn't).

14 years ago 10/19/2011 10:35pm EDT

re: Statement of Work

Statement of Work wrote:
Is that link free ? I don't pay for news, pictures, or videos. It's against my policy.

Did you mean against your POLITICAL views?

14 years ago 10/19/2011 11:09pm EDT

re: wejo

Don't Hall's appearance fees depend on him being the best American runner? He gets the big cash because he won the Olympic Trials. That means to most people that he's the best we've got. Hall would be insane not to focus on the Olympics since he's built his entire financial career on that one performance.

14 years ago 10/19/2011 11:16pm EDT

re: Statement of truth

Wejo- Love the thread. It's a career-length 'income statement' decision: Earn X career dollars & max olympic efforts -OR- Earn X career dollars + 5% more & know you didn't max olympic efforts. (5% is guess-ti-mate- assuming he loses money.) Hall's legacy is to be largely decided by his Olympic races- Will Hall, who's shown thin-skin, be fine with being remembered, evaluated & ranked for doing less than he knew he could have? Would Hall be happier to use the extra 5% earnings for that new beach house in the Bahamas?

14 years ago 10/21/2011 6:50pm EDT

re: wejo

Lets see now , he will get shoe company bonus money for making the team at the trials if he does , he will bonus money at the games if he medals from shoe company , games/champs prize money for a medal , bonus money from his other sponsors if he medals , time bonus money as well from shoe company.

14 years ago 10/21/2011 10:26pm EDT

re: somerandomdude

People in every profession make career decisions with money in mind- and it's acknowledged by all w/o argument. But high-paid athletes don't get nearly the 'latitude' from fans this way- and don't argue. For Hall, who's rich, to give financial 'setbacks' of the Olympics, is to walk a fine line, pr-wise. Btw, if Webb said it, you guys would bash him for it.

14 years ago 10/26/2011 5:51pm EDT

re: ttc

Hall is full of BS and we should just kick him out of the country. He made plenty of money last year why does he need to make anything this year? I would give up my job and money to represent this country especially if I made over 100k. I will be rooting against him from no on.

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NY Times Article on Olympic Trials/Fall Marathon Doubles With Some Interesting Quotes from Ryan Hall

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