Webb was a wheaties, espn, Letterman type guy. Cooper is a fast kid that only travk geeks know about. Inflation is one thing but modern day interest is another.
A kid no one outside the US has ever heard of who has won nothing of repute who runs and event the US traditionally stink at yet isn't even the best in his own country?
A kid no one outside the US has ever heard of who has won nothing of repute who runs and event the US traditionally stink at yet isn't even the best in his own country?
You Know Better Than Anyone, The Figures So and So Said These athletes Made are MEANINGLESS As Track and Field Athletes are FORCED to Sign NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS Meaning if They Reveal Details of Their Contract ESPECIALLY What they are Paid by the Company Not Only Are they Terminated from Their Current Company, But they will be Blackballed From The Other Companies/Brands
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Nobody wants to read a wall of text, especially when every word is capitalized.
I know two guys who do these major shoe sponsorship deals...they're guessing $750k to $1 million base, with MAJOR inflators (into the base salary) when records, medals and teams are achieved. Guaranteed 8 years. Plus 4+ years of full university paid...plus expenses. For major brands, sure it is a gamble , but even the "World's buzz" on this kid will make for a massive payback in terms of articles, commercials, free social media and news coverage. Also--every kid in America who runs track just saw which brand he signed with. Future Nike shoe consumers!!....so, long-term if Nike "loses" money on this signing, it really doesn't lose much. They need to make a dent with their core middle distance/ long distance runners, and this kid is just what the Nike doctor ordered.
I know two guys who do these major shoe sponsorship deals...they're guessing $750k to $1 million base, with MAJOR inflators (into the base salary) when records, medals and teams are achieved. Guaranteed 8 years. Plus 4+ years of full university paid...plus expenses. For major brands, sure it is a gamble , but even the "World's buzz" on this kid will make for a massive payback in terms of articles, commercials, free social media and news coverage. Also--every kid in America who runs track just saw which brand he signed with. Future Nike shoe consumers!!....so, long-term if Nike "loses" money on this signing, it really doesn't lose much. They need to make a dent with their core middle distance/ long distance runners, and this kid is just what the Nike doctor ordered.
Correct, and from the family's perspective, you sign for life changing money, not McDonalds manager money.
You Know Better Than Anyone, The Figures So and So Said These athletes Made are MEANINGLESS As Track and Field Athletes are FORCED to Sign NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS Meaning if They Reveal Details of Their Contract ESPECIALLY What they are Paid by the Company Not Only Are they Terminated from Their Current Company, But they will be Blackballed From The Other Companies/Brands
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Nobody wants to read a wall of text, especially when every word is capitalized.
I'm pleased to see there is a thread on this - actually two which I have merged into 1 - as I was thinking of starting one myself - How much do we think Cooper is making?
I think it's a ton.
Here are some figures that i have heard others made when they turned pro.
Valby 850k Wheating 700+ Lyles 750k Kessler 450k(I also heard 10 years 6 million so who knows is that was right, maybe it was 10 and 4). Hunter 450k Sumner 350+ Markevich 350+ Webb/Centro 250k (I heard this from a less reliable source a coach) Suliman 100+
I thought I heard that some of these sprint contracts are the highest. One of these rando HS sprinters that we barely pay attention to on LRC may have gotten a million.
If he signed for anything less than 500k a year, he got a bad deal. I haven't heard anything but will ask around.
PS. Anyone interested in this thread will undoubtedly be interested in thei 2018 piece we did where we polled agents on how much people make:
It seems like stuff is higher now due to more teams and inflation.
You Know Better Than Anyone, The Figures So and So Said These athletes Made are MEANINGLESS As Track and Field Athletes are FORCED to Sign NON DISCLOSURE AGREEMENTS Meaning if They Reveal Details of Their Contract ESPECIALLY What they are Paid by the Company Not Only Are they Terminated from Their Current Company, But they will be Blackballed From The Other Companies/Brands
EXAMPLE MR. Super Prospect, is signed be Addidas And Signs A Non Disclosure Agreement, Mr Super Prospect Gets Drunk And Is Asked How Much is The Contract Paying You, Mr Super Prospect says 800 Thouand Dollars, Addidas Finds out he Broke The Non Disclosure Agreement and Terminate Mr. Super Prospect's Contract IMMEDIATELY, So Mr Super Prospect Goes To NIKE, New Balance, Asics And Many Other Companies/Brands, None Of The Companies Want To Give Him a Contract as He broke The Non Disclosusure Agreement with them, So He could do The same To us, He is Not Worth the Risk, So Mr. Super Prospect Asks Friends and Family and Fans And None of Them have evenough To Support his Career, So He Has No Sponsor or Financial Help, So he is out of Luck And It looks like His Athletic Career is over, But He Has A Pretty Sister Who Marries A Mega Billionaire, Who Agrees To Support Mr. Super Prospect's Career and He lives Happily Ever After., Well we want a Happy Ending Right?
As For The 2018 Articles And The Agents And Athletes Guesses, As I Remeber The Guesses were All Aver The place, With Enormous Variance about Who Makes What.
One Thing Track and Field Athletes are just about ALWAYS Underpaid, for what their real worth is If The Contracts were allowed to be seen by The Public, As Agents would have A LOT more Bargaining Power, If They Had EXACT Figures of Who makes what.
As For Cooper L I would GUESS his Contract is between 800k to 1.5 Million Dollars, But I have No Way of Knowing and that amount even if it were correct Would the Pay be Over 1 Year? 3 Years? 5 Years? Nobody Knows UNLESS it Goes To Court and becomes Public.
It would Be Better for Athletes Moneywise if their Contaracts were Public, But Track and Field Athletes do not have Bargaining Power like The NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL Do, So we can only Guess. And The Ones Who Do know would likely lose Everything if They said what it is, So They Wont.
I once had an agent/coach call me about someone in had coached. He wanted me to talk the runner into signing with him.
He told me what he was being offered by a pro group. He knew the numbers.
The runner couldn't tell me when he signed with them because of his NDA but, the other agent knew.
There are reliable sources. And based on that guy's contract I think the real stars get paid more than many of us think they do.
Winning An Olympic Gold Medal Puts Quincy Wilson in The Same Category As John, Smith, Dan Gable, Jordan borroughs, Bruce Baumardner Are To Wrestling What Muhammad Ali, Ray Leonard, George Foreman, Joe Frazier are to Boxing, What Sergi Bubka and Mando Duplantis are to the Pole Pault What Usain Bolt And Jesse Owens are To Sprinting etc. The Absolute Cream Of The Crop, Immediately in the Conversation of best who ever Lived, Cooper L Could very well be on the path to being in that category, But He has NOT DONE IT YET.
Absurd to leave out Cael Sanderson. All he did was go 159-0 in college, win a gold medal, then coach Penn State to winning 12of the last 14 NCAA Championships. Have we seen that level of NCAA dominance in any other sport in modern history? (Serious question, I don't follow other "niche" sports besides running and wrestling)
If we’re throwing around these big numbers that we think these athletes make, why does Craig Engels live in a trailer? I know he probably didn’t command as much as these big names did, but you’d think he’d still be making like $150k-$250k if the big shots were making over $500k. Plus he’s a U.S. champion. Did he gamble it all away at a casino?
You're seriously overestimating the gap between the truly top top professional athletes and the "just pretty darn good" ones.
Look at any major sport... We've got Ohtani signing a nearly $70m/year contract while the league minimum is $760k.
There's nothing weird about the big names making $500k+ and the lower tier guys making almost nothing.
Ohtani is making 92x what other guys who are still MLB players make. If top track guys were making $1m, the same ratio for low tier (but still absolutely professional) track guys would be like $11k/year.
I'm sure guys are still making quite a bit more than that, but something as low as like 25-50k a year wouldn't be that surprising for low level pros.
This post was edited 3 minutes after it was posted.
A kid no one outside the US has ever heard of who has won nothing of repute who runs and event the US traditionally stink at yet isn't even the best in his own country?
Why would anyone give him anything?
You would be shocked to find out how little advertisers care about any country other than the US/China.