Abbey D'Agostino signs with New Balance

Hasay is probably making the most than any of these girls. Jordan has been in the spotlight since 12 years of age and despite her lack of times is still very marketable at age 22 (are you kidding?) and she is improving from race to race.

Haberdashers need work too! wrote:

I think a $40,000 salary is generous

$40k per week is booger money to the silver spoon rich Texans like Rojo and Wejo. $40k per year doesn't even cover their personal haberdashers.

Please find a dictionary.

DaveW wrote:

A runner does not produce anything, not a new product, not a new idea not even labor that goes into producing a product. A runner's value is simply if they entertain and motivate the public so that their sponsor sells more shoes or swim wear. If they don't understand that then perhaps they need another line of work.

Hilarious

Very few people actually produce anything.

Replace runner with basketball player, or football player, or baseball player. They are making millions.

Several posts in this thread show that the vestiges of amateurism are still strong. People feel runners shouldn't be earning anything.

In reality a women's look is important to the marketable and potential earnings down the "road". Kara Goucher comes to mind. At her peak she was easily making 100K plus race earnings yearly I'm sure. Good looking and personable. Lets say Abby turns to the roads in 5 years and runs a 2:23, ends up on the cover of Runners World a bunch of times and is coined the smart champion. That could pretty profitable.

And I hope to GOD, she is making 40K a year. That is just a guess. Nobody knows for sure except her and the team.

That may be true, but what does that have to do with the value of a runner? I assume that a runner will be paid based on their market value, otherwise they should get a new agent or get smarter.

I don't see why a runner would be paid a great deal of money in the name of a failed business or by virtue of recognition by a few thousand people. I hope money for these runners is not their main objective, because it is not a lucrative career for most. And in the end, they will need to find a real career for the rest of their lives.

I think there are college graduates with degrees that apply themselves to things that make a difference in this world and they should make a lot of money. But runners are like actors in Hollywood, only a few can be stars.

Maybe you don't understand the concept of creating revenues and earnings ... such as the billions that basketball, football and baseball players generate.

Are you really that ignorant that you don't understand the difference in the commercial value of a track athlete and athletes in sports that are worth 2 billion for a team of a dozen athletes?

If runners are generating multi-millions for companies based on their name and accomplishments, then why aren't these runners offered more money? Perhaps marketing shows that they aren't worth it and don't really impact revenues and earnings ... or maybe the runners just have very bad agents.

This thread is hilarious.

Where do these numbers come from? $40K for Abbey? $100K for Kara?

Couldn't be more wrong.

So $40k for AD, and Layne will take 6-8% and Coogan will take another 5-10%... To live in Boston and travel all over the place yearly.... Yeah $40k... Haha.

Kara made around $550k /yr at her peak. Rupp made slightly more. Wheating topped out over $600K before he was hurt. Centro makes more than anyone else at Nike but I don't know how Rupps salary changed after London.

Abbey would command six figures with performance incentives to add well above that. I bet she could be over $500K with time and championship incentives up to/including Rio.

This is all obviously with free shoes and gear.

No, shoes companies don't pay for housing or cars or travel, unless it's for a company obligation. This includes Nike.

DaveW wrote:

Maybe you don't understand the concept of creating revenues and earnings ... such as the billions that basketball, football and baseball players generate.

Are you really that ignorant that you don't understand the difference in the commercial value of a track athlete and athletes in sports that are worth 2 billion for a team of a dozen athletes?

If runners are generating multi-millions for companies based on their name and accomplishments, then why aren't these runners offered more money? Perhaps marketing shows that they aren't worth it and don't really impact revenues and earnings ... or maybe the runners just have very bad agents.

Track and field generates billions as well, it just goes into the pockets of the IAAF / national governing bodies / meet promoters pockets instead of the athletes' pockets

It is however very odd you want runners to be paid so little. Also hilarious you think Abbey making 40k is generous.

outside observer wrote:

Hilarious

Very few people actually produce anything.

Replace runner with basketball player, or football player, or baseball player. They are making millions.

Several posts in this thread show that the vestiges of amateurism are still strong. People feel runners shouldn't be earning anything.

Compensation is generally correlated to someone's ability to create wealth. Lebron creates considerable wealth for Nike and the owners of the Heat. Skilled programmers, engineers, and financial analysts can contribute more to a company's capacity to create and market products than a historian, teacher, or artist. There is a reason CEOs are so well compensated.

There are exceptions - physicians come to mind. However, if people value anything more than money it is their health.

Runners are essentially entertainers, just like actors, musicians, etc. Unfortunately, there are not very many people willing to pay much to watch them (Flotrack anyone?) This is not likely to change much, no matter what USTAF does.

I would love to see USA runners paid more, and if track runners in the USA are generating billions and they are not receiving a reasonable portion of this money, then they need to speak directly to their agents pronto.

Can you confirm the billions in track revenues for ticket sales and TV revenues in the US? Understand that only a handful of people in the US would even know what a DL event was.

Attractive? Dam, you all need to get out more.

SuzF wrote:

Attractive? Dam, you all need to get out more.

Is this Suzy Favor Hamilton?

I would not love to see runners compensated more, i would love to see more $50 running shoes and reduced race fees.

don't care how well abby d or any other pro runs, distance running is a personal sport, and regardless of what the guys at flotrak think, there is no next level in popularity, it is what it is (and aside from an outspoken few, most of us like it that way!)

This $40,000 estimate for Abbey's contract ...what are people basing this on? It's likely more than twice that.

Wossamotta wrote:

This $40,000 estimate for Abbey's contract ...what are people basing this on? It's likely more than twice that.

$40k is not a real number - from the outside, I would guess she'll get an $80k base and the ability to double that with various performance rewards.

Couple of things - the intangibles. It would be hard for a company like NB or Saucony to participate in the running business without a competitive team. The designers would not be excited, the marketers would not have as much to work with, etc..Competition provides an edge to a company that can't really be quantified.

(olde timers will remember that NB tried the 'no sponsorship' route in the 90s - that didn't work for them. I still have a NB shirt with the "sponsored by nobody" tagline from 1995 or so. I love that shirt)

and the cost of advertising. Abbey D is now a walking talking, charismatic billboard. She will be all over the media wearing the NB logo. That is important. A billboard advertising program in a middlemarket US city might cost $50,000 - having an attractive young woman wearing your brand is surely worth more than 3 billboards in Tulsa.

Finally, I believe NB cab deduct the cost of sponsorship - so cut a nice slice off the 'cost' to NB.

spot.on.

well said, sir.

What do you mean by deduct the cost of sponsorship? Isn't it a normal business expense like turning on the lights? All expenses by definition reduce taxable income? Is there an extra bonus deduction available?

NB does about $2.7 billion in sales a year. Having a gaggle of athletes wearing their kit at running events around the world gives a presence , awareness and credibility at the elite levels and a finite audience. Does this actually translate into sales, its debatable. Does it give back to the sport ,absolutely , does it create better products , maybe in the area of track a field/road racing. The investment spend on t&f shoes is not justified by the sales , low margin small numbers products. Training shoes as we know them are made/developed for the masses , plain and simple. Traceable sales can be seen in basketball product like Kobe , like Jordan linking an athlete to a singular product sale. The only place we have seen this in running is with Bolt @ Puma and Meb @ Skechers , seeing a direct connection with other running athletes is a stretch. Major marketing dollars were spent in both cases backed by major current accomplishments by athletes with unique stories/personalities.

Bottom line , its a nice thing the shoe companies do sponsoring athletes and giving them shot at their athletic dreams and aspirations. They won't get rich , they will maybe capture the moment and realize the few years they compete is special and enjoy the people and experiences along the way.

DaveW wrote:

Since she has chosen a career in running and it is unlikely that there will be an Air-Abby shoe anytime soon and perhaps only about 10000 people will ever know her name, I think a $40,000 salary is generous and there is no reason that she should make more than other college graduates who are tasked to produce a product for a company in order to make a profit.

A runner does not produce anything, not a new product, not a new idea not even labor that goes into producing a product. A runner's value is simply if they entertain and motivate the public so that their sponsor sells more shoes or swim wear. If they don't understand that then perhaps they need another line of work.

This person gets it. How much money a runner earns has nothing to do with how fast they are, it's about recognition, fan connection and brand promotion (which is why Hoka One One and Oiselle are probably getting pretty good deals; marginal benefit to Nike of a runner like Leo Manzano is pretty low because they already have such a large stable, whereas the up and comers have a lot to gain). Abbey will do well if she figures out how to take advantage of that.

The athletes whom I would bet are "worth" the most are Mary Cain, Kara Goucher and Yelena Isinbayeva. First two are inspirations to their peers, the last is built like the perfect human being. If I were a shoe company I wouldn't pay a male runner very much at all unless they were phenomenally charismatic or good looking.