alli said about 15-20 males and 15-20 females get contracts each year out of college. I assumed there were many more with at least some kind of sponsorship. Her video, as usual was well done and informative but there was a bit of how hard and under compensated for all the work. I mean people would be very happy to be in her shoes.
Depends on your definition of a pro runner. There's a lot of sponsored runners that get free gear and some money. But only a few make enough to make running their full time job.
Drips wrote:
alli said about 15-20 males and 15-20 females get contracts each year out of college. I assumed there were many more with at least some kind of sponsorship. Her video, as usual was well done and informative but there was a bit of how hard and under compensated for all the work. I mean people would be very happy to be in her shoes.
Yes
Drips wrote:
alli said about 15-20 males and 15-20 females get contracts each year out of college. I assumed there were many more with at least some kind of sponsorship. Her video, as usual was well done and informative but there was a bit of how hard and under compensated for all the work. I mean people would be very happy to be in her shoes.
Is that in each running event? or similar events example 15-20 100 and 200 Meters, or 5000 and 10000 Meter Runners are similar.
Example 100 and 200 Meters about 15-20 Graduating Collegians get Contracts. sp 30-40 if you combine them
400 Meter Runners 10-15 Men and Women so 30 to 40 Combined.
800 same as 400
1500 Same
5000/10000
Short and Long Hurdles same
Steeple 5-10 Men and Women Less get contracts in this event.
Throwing events about 3-5 for each event
Jumping events including Pole Vault 5-8
About half of these Gear Only, 25% some Money, about 20% A living Wage, 5% Lots Example Mondo.
Too bad they don't have a chart to show how fast you have to run to get what amount of Money Example 800 Runing 1:46 Gear Only, 1 :45 Gear and Some Money, 1:44 Gear and a Living Wage, 1:43 Gear and lots of Money, This is Purely Guessing No Knowledge at all.
I did not count, Things that are not running related like Instagram, Facebook followers, Though they do get Money depending on how many followers they haveas Shoe Countries are interested in how much they can get for advertising.
This post was removed.
She was referring to distance runners who sign to go pro..
Her estimate is pretty good. With 20 per year and assuming average career of 5 years. (Many drop out after one Olympic cycle)
That's 100 active pros from 1500 thru marathon. Could be more if we counted tri, trails, mountain and ultra series. Also is the 800 group distance?
big caboose wrote:
She was referring to distance runners who sign to go pro..
I think her criteria was a) only distance runners and b) making enough money from a sponsor to support yourself.
Using that criteria I would say that her 15 - 20 runners per gender per year is accurate.
There are a lot more distance runners who get free gear and who might appear to be "sponsored" because they always wear the kit of a particular shoe company but they aren't able to make a living from running and they have to work a non-running job to make ends meet.
If you are not a top 5-10 NCAA runner, forget about it. Her estimate is probably high.
Drips wrote:
alli said about 15-20 males and 15-20 females get contracts each year out of college. I assumed there were many more with at least some kind of sponsorship. Her video, as usual was well done and informative but there was a bit of how hard and under compensated for all the work. I mean people would be very happy to be in her shoes.
Actually, that sounds HIGH. 30-40 distance runners across both genders? I’d be shocked if it that many collegiate athletes were receiving sponsorship deals that allowed them to train full time without a job. Especially these days, it is really hard to get a pro contract that is more than gear, a travel stipend, a massage/physio stipend and like $20k a year base. If you’re not top 3 at NCAAs in your event consistently and/or have a very strong social media presence, it’ll be tough. Being American helps a lot too. Off the top of your head, who finished 3rd in the women’s 10 at NCAA outdoors last year? What about the 3rd in men’s 5 two years ago? If you’re not one of the best, brands often don’t see the value in sponsorship.
Ok. Thanks for explaining. I am surprised so few. That said a 20k base, shoes, gear, massages etc. is. to me, a contract. Admittedly small salary but a frugal and motivated athlete could use it as a start. Maybe living at home and part time job.
This sounds about right. Running is a game of winners. It's not like baseball or football where they have supporting players.
drips wrote:
Ok. Thanks for explaining. I am surprised so few. That said a 20k base, shoes, gear, massages etc. is. to me, a contract. Admittedly small salary but a frugal and motivated athlete could use it as a start. Maybe living at home and part time job.
Maybe you are describing a Vestri type; but then some of those, like her, get after it, work their tail off, and make a big enough breakthrough on the roads to earn a bigger contract.
There were 158 men’s and 158 women’s spots in the distance events (800-10k, including steeple) at the US Olympic trials last year. Many of those spots were taken by athletes running two events. Many were also taken by current college athletes rather than pros.
Some athletes like Alicia Monson were on pro contracts but injured, but in general if an athlete can’t qualify for USA’s, they aren’t getting a contract. That results in maybe 100 distance athletes per gender. There are also some professional marathon runners, but given how many amateurs run the marathon trials I don’t know how to estimate how many professionals there are. Maybe 20 per gender?
So we have 120 US professional runners per gender. Many careers don’t last very long, so 15-20 new athletes per year seems about right.