I'm all for disability rights and there are a lot of courageous and fine athletes at the paralympics, but this would kill.the sport if made mandatory.
I'm all for disability rights and there are a lot of courageous and fine athletes at the paralympics, but this would kill.the sport if made mandatory.
If UK sport paid para athletes the same funding based on medals then that also would kill the sport.
And such can’t be far away given equality rights.
I absolutely hate to be this person since I have tremendous respect for the Paralympics and the athletes who compete.
The Paralympics as a whole pulls from a significantly smaller pool of potential athletes than the olympics. On top of this, there are several more categories at which to compete. This does (although this is deeply politically incorrect and cringey to say) make the prestige of an Olympian, and an Olympic medal different than the prestige of a Paralympian and a Paralympic medal, though both have tremendous athletes.
I have to disagree with equal pay for that reason. But I DO think that NBC can do so much more to advertise for the Paralympics to get more attention and eyeballs on the even the way they do with the Olympics. If there was more attention on the Paralympics, then I would totally agree they should be paid equally, and NBC can help with that.
oin09j wrote:
I absolutely hate to be this person since I have tremendous respect for the Paralympics and the athletes who compete.
The Paralympics as a whole pulls from a significantly smaller pool of potential athletes than the olympics. On top of this, there are several more categories at which to compete. This does (although this is deeply politically incorrect and cringey to say) make the prestige of an Olympian, and an Olympic medal different than the prestige of a Paralympian and a Paralympic medal, though both have tremendous athletes.
I have to disagree with equal pay for that reason. But I DO think that NBC can do so much more to advertise for the Paralympics to get more attention and eyeballs on the even the way they do with the Olympics. If there was more attention on the Paralympics, then I would totally agree they should be paid equally, and NBC can help with that.
I'm not sure this argument makes sense, basing on the size of a pool of people. Would you be happy to be paid less on that basis ?
Nope.
Elite is the best of the best and they work through the competition ranks. How many 100m sprinters are there in the world?
There a young lady local to me and she races in the T35 category. World champs final (2019) 5 athletes. Euro champs final (3 athletes). Olympic final 8 athletes. When I say final I mean straight final.
The local primary school sports day is more competitive.
He makes a good point where they're actively using the athletes to advertise the meet side by side with very well paid athletes...
Hobbling wrote:
He makes a good point where they're actively using the athletes to advertise the meet side by side with very well paid athletes...
Okay, but is anybody actually watching the event BECAUSE of said advertised para-athletes, or are the athletes only included in the advertising to meet some para/social justice quota or requirement?
Ie, how many people would come to watch the para-athletes compete? This is not to say they are not incredible athletes, far more skilled and accomplished at their craft, against incredible odds, than someone like me. But nobody is going to come to watch someone like me compete either :)
They have way too many categories. Cut the categories down, be more selective about what is a disability and try to find a way that the finals of events are the only race and with less than a full field.
As with all equal pay movements, this is idiotic because it ignores basic economics. Sorry, but that's just how it is and theres no use sugarcoating it.
Actually has an excellent point. Diamond league pay the women and men the same prize money even though the women's performances are basically inferior due to a biological handicap, it is argued. So why are para-athletes not paid the same? They should absolutely receive the same amount of money under the current system. I would also introduce equal pay for masters athletes.
OR the other option is to have zero competitive categories and just have only open categories at DL events and give the pay to the people who run the fastest, jump the furthest etc... That would at least be more logical than the current set up which is full of prejudices against certain categories in society.
I mean, I get it. But we might as well say track athletes should get equal pay to soccer athletes. It's the same argument. The truth is that track events don't bring in a ton of money and para-events bring in even less.
oin09j wrote:
The Paralympics as a whole pulls from a significantly smaller pool of potential athletes than the olympics.
Then you should also be against women being paid the same and having the same prestige as men in T and F, road races etc. They are from a much less competitive pool in terms of performance, and none would be able to make a living from T and F if they were held to the same standards as men. But the sport has decided to have categories, men, women, juniors, masters, para etc etc and the argument is that these categories should be paid similarly.
OozmaKappa wrote:
As with all equal pay movements, this is idiotic because it ignores basic economics. Sorry, but that's just how it is and theres no use sugarcoating it.
Ship sailed long ago
If women in sports get equal pay, I don’t see why disabled athletes should also not get equal pay. Look at the Diamond league. Women are getting the same as men.
Thats their choice to make. Whether the return on their investment is equal is something they cannot choose and is ordinarily what would dictate how much they should offer these athletes.
And no, equal pay is not a thing just bc the DL does it. Theres more to the world of sports than just the Diamond League and running lol.
Hobbling wrote:
He makes a good point where they're actively using the athletes to advertise the meet side by side with very well paid athletes...
Is he on the poster to sell tickets, or because the organisers are doing the PC thing out of fear if they don’t?
I would guess it’s more the latter, and ticket sales would be higher without him on the poster, and (dare I say it) without him at the meet!
Whatever to this. And racewalking. And former men competing as women. And to high testosterone “women”. And EPO fueled distance WRs.
This sport is a joke.
OozmaKappa wrote:
Thats their choice to make. Whether the return on their investment is equal is something they cannot choose and is ordinarily what would dictate how much they should offer these athletes.
And no, equal pay is not a thing just bc the DL does it. Theres more to the world of sports than just the Diamond League and running lol.
It’s not only Diamond League. You see the same in triathlon, tennis, surfing…
There is zero reason not to offer the same prize money to disabled athletes
Equal pay to high school athletes too, please. I see no reason for why High School athletes shouldnt be paid what the diamond league men and women are being paid. Get to it, diamond league!
OozmaKappa wrote:
Equal pay to high school athletes too, please. I see no reason for why High School athletes shouldnt be paid what the diamond league men and women are being paid. Get to it, diamond league!
Not sure about HS athletes (but perhaps)
Poster above mentioned master athletes. I tend to agree. There is no reason that master athletes should not get the same as women
OozmaKappa wrote:
As with all equal pay movements, this is idiotic because it ignores basic economics. Sorry, but that's just how it is and theres no use sugarcoating it.
Agree. It’s idiotic to say they should be paid anywhere close to elite athletes. I’ve never watched a single para olympics anything nor do I know anyone that does.