Hocker: 4 years, $2 million
Teare: 3 years, $600,000, with incentives up to $1 million if he wins USATF outdoors
Hocker: 4 years, $2 million
Teare: 3 years, $600,000, with incentives up to $1 million if he wins USATF outdoors
God I hate Nike. I'd take a fraction of a contract not to support them.
The Dirty Duck wrote:
Hocker: 4 years, $2 million
Teare: 3 years, $600,000, with incentives up to $1 million if he wins USATF outdoors
Honestly- is this a wild guess? I would tend to agree with you.
I think one issue in this sport is the wage gap. Some potentially great runners can't make enough to stay in the sport long enough to develop to their potential. While the top runners make a very good living.
Imagine of someone gave you 500k for four years plus bonuses.
You live like you make 100-150K put all your bonus (prize, appearance fees, time/place bonus money) away.
In four years you're financially set.
No, you're not going to live in a mansion with a swimming pool filled with beer, but you will have a comfortable income with a comfortable, likely, paid for, home.
runn wrote:
The Dirty Duck wrote:
Hocker: 4 years, $2 million
Teare: 3 years, $600,000, with incentives up to $1 million if he wins USATF outdoors
Honestly- is this a wild guess? I would tend to agree with you.
I think one issue in this sport is the wage gap. Some potentially great runners can't make enough to stay in the sport long enough to develop to their potential. While the top runners make a very good living.
Imagine of someone gave you 500k for four years plus bonuses.
You live like you make 100-150K put all your bonus (prize, appearance fees, time/place bonus money) away.
In four years you're financially set.
No, you're not going to live in a mansion with a swimming pool filled with beer, but you will have a comfortable income with a comfortable, likely, paid for, home.
There's no wage gap in other sports? Many professional baseball players in the minor leagues don't even make minimum wage. There have been professional golfers that don't win enough prize money to cover travel expenses and sleep in their cars.
High hopes wrote:
Portland Hobby Jogger wrote:
This ^
The world is not fair nor is it a meritocracy. Income is based largely on popularity and sometimes popular mediocrity get handsomely rewarded. Is Meghan Thee Stallion a generational musical talent? Not by a long shot but, her songs sell because a lot of people seem to like them. What about Marvel movies? Great groundbreaking cinema or mindless action that is just fun to watch?
Fair or not, Kenyans do not sell shoes. American high school boys will rush out to buy whatever Cooper and Cole are wearing. High school girls will also buy Nike gear because they think that Cooper is cute and funny (the girls that I coach adore the guy and hang on his Instagram posts, don't get me started on their universal Craig Engels crush.).
I think this misses the mark. Nike aren't sponsoring pros to sell shoes to high school kids, they're sponsoring them to sell shoes to hobby joggers. If Nike was only selling shoes to school kids, the running arm of the business would be bust. It's the hobby joggers buying Pegs and Winflo's and increasingly the Next% as well, that make the money.
You're right about mediocrity selling though. A mediocre athlete with good socials can sell a lot of shoes. Hell, there's a guy at my club who runs 36 mins for 10k who has a gear only deal because he has good socials with lots of engagement.
Does the average fun runner know who Hocker is or even follow T&F? Obviously they don't which is why the contracts for distance runners are so small compared to those in the major team sports.
The Dirty Duck wrote:
Hocker: 4 years, $2 million
Teare: 3 years, $600,000, with incentives up to $1 million if he wins USATF outdoors
Wow. If Nike are paying this to guys who will never get on a podium at a global champs, I wonder what they're paying Athing Mu, a genuine world leading talent with two Olympic gold medals at age 19
Nike pays their athletes in all sports millions of dollars to wear their products and promote their company. What Nike pays people like Cooper Teare is chump change compared to their high profile soccer, basketball, baseball, and football players. A lot of these T&F guys are lucky that Nike even is interested in sponsoring them but they can pick them up on the cheap so it's worth it.
High hopes wrote:
The Dirty Duck wrote:
Hocker: 4 years, $2 million
Teare: 3 years, $600,000, with incentives up to $1 million if he wins USATF outdoors
Wow. If Nike are paying this to guys who will never get on a podium at a global champs, I wonder what they're paying Athing Mu, a genuine world leading talent with two Olympic gold medals at age 19
Youth and actual world class talent and awesome attitude means Mu is very recognizable and marketable. Obviously not as marketable as Allyson Felix, but
Mu, Sydney McLaughlin, and Duplantis are the next tier for big contracts.
For now and until US distance catches up to the rest of the disciplines in t&f, Hocker, Teare, and Mantz will be earning the next tier or two down from these young champions.
Even Hobbs Kessler scored a larger contract than these guys.
Rupp is still the leading US distance runner pro contract.
...As it should be
The millionaires of LetsRun need to start putting their money where their mouth is and start sponsoring athletes. If you can get one of the most promising athletes to sign for $200k/year, independent benefactors could outbid that easily.
Peach Pit wrote:
The millionaires of LetsRun need to start putting their money where their mouth is and start sponsoring athletes. If you can get one of the most promising athletes to sign for $200k/year, independent benefactors could outbid that easily.
Idk about signing people for 200k/year, but it would be cool if letsrun started kicking some money to semi-pros to wear there gear, like Tracksmith has started doing this year.
thirstyfordragons wrote:
Peach Pit wrote:
The millionaires of LetsRun need to start putting their money where their mouth is and start sponsoring athletes. If you can get one of the most promising athletes to sign for $200k/year, independent benefactors could outbid that easily.
Idk about signing people for 200k/year, but it would be cool if letsrun started kicking some money to semi-pros to wear there gear, like Tracksmith has started doing this year.
Kyle Merber is managing to do that with his Victory Lap newsletter, no reason why LRC couldn't do it as well.
LRC should organize it's own annual race with prize money. It would be something positive for pro's from LRC, kind of an exchange for providing a platform for negativity about the sport.
I wish I could roll around on the ground and get a Nike contract
Funny, but messed up comment. Guys who got knocked out by Mike Tyson within the first 2 rounds wobbled or stayed down and got real money, too...but I'm not sure if seeing me knocked out by Iron Mike brings in any money.
I was surprised. I assumed he wanted one more crack at an indoor title, another outdoor title, and indoor & outdoor records. Seems like that would make him a lot more valuable if it worked out. Obviously a big if though. He probably thought the same about a XC title. Good luck to him.
Valley Heat wrote:
Funny, but messed up comment. Guys who got knocked out by Mike Tyson within the first 2 rounds wobbled or stayed down and got real money, too...but I'm not sure if seeing me knocked out by Iron Mike brings in any money.
I doubt if it was pleasant and the guys he knocked out early in his career were paid about $5K and after paying their trainer and other expenses probably netted about $1K. Sure, real money but not worth it.