No prize money for women's sex

Let me guess.

You are bitter because you keep getting rolled up by women.

Yes, of course it's wrong, you know that. Imagine (you or someone else) telling your mother that even though she was first woman that she doesn't deserve prize money like the first man does. The women's side of the sport is drastically underserved in comparison with the men's, it doesn't need jackasses actively working against it, too.

Nope. That's not it. I have been chicked before and didn't like it. Not one bit. But, I got over it, and now I know it would be easy to find even a regional race and get rolled.

That really has no influence on the way I feel about this. Can you explain why the WNBA'ers get paid so much less? Is it because the depth of talent isn't there or because it isn't as exciting?

On the other hand, don't female tennis stars get paid more than the guys?

I love the women, and I like it when they run hard. I just couldn't care less if they're pros, though. Sorry.

Nope. Not a troll. I'm getting a feel for the kind of backlash I am going to get and to see if I will have to award women's $. If I do, I will find ways to benefit the guys - don't worry.

I personally feel that compared to the guys, the women's side is overserved. I am a jackass trying to help balance that.

Women's tennis players do not get more money than the guys. Only this year, in fact, are women getting the same top prize money at a couple of the Grand Slams (never mind that they play less sets than the men).

Alright. Honestly, if your prize money is not equally distributed between the sexes, you run the risk of pissing off 50% of your potential customers (female paid road racers). Hold your nose if you have to and award even prize money and everyone will be happy. Your 'talent inequity principle' will not fly in this situation so just put it in a Zip-Lock bag and stick it in the drawer somewhere because your personal viewpoint won't wash on the grand scale of things.

Why don't you approach it from a 'mens only race' there have been 'womens only races' The precendent has been set.

Depending on where you hold the race you could run into trouble not having equal prize money. wouldn't fly for example in Toronto. I'm pretty sure there is some kind of bylaw that says you have to have equal prized money for men and women. You could get around it partly by having a handicapped start based on world records; first across the line gets a bonus. Many fields are weak on the women's side while the guys duke it out for prize money.

Plain and simple - offer "Performance bonuses" and set up time based minimums, with the equivalents for men and women.

That way you don't have to award anything to "some woman who just shows up" but you must realize that a girl who runs a 4:30 mile is as impressive as a guy who runs around 4 flat.

My bad on the tennis. My lack of tennis knowledge has been revealed.

why oh why, you have correctly identified the problem.

yes, I could equalize the money in the way the last two have suggested, but I am not really even interested in that.

So far, it looks like my best course would be to take the $ from this bigger race and then hold like a guys distance festival on the track and award prize money there. Any other solutions? Thanks for the insights so far (though they are in line with what I was thinking).

prize $$$ only for wet singlet contest

exactly. the men never get paid at wet t-shirt contests. It's sexist and wrong.

your idea has definite merit, though.

New RD wrote:

Can you explain why the WNBA'ers get paid so much less? Is it because the depth of talent isn't there or because it isn't as exciting?

neither. it's because the NBA makes money and the WNBA does not make money. if WNBA teams sold out 20,000 seat arenas and brought in billions of dollars in TV and advertising revenue, then WNBA players would make as much as NBA players. you may as well ask why male distance runners make less money than male baseball players. it has nothing to do with gender and everything to do with economics.

if that is really the basis of your argument for not paying prize money to men and women at a road race, then you're dumber than you sound.

Did anyone watch the womens semi-finals of the final four last weekend. There were open seats everywhere. You probably couldn't find a open stall at the mens semis.

Why would you have a problem getting beat by a chick? If she has the talent and determination to run faster than you then you shouldn't feel bad. On the same note, why do chicks love to say some dude got chicked? If a women has the talent why shouldn't she run fast.

this is actually a pretty good idea, and he's right, watching a woman drop some fast times CAN be exciting; they just have to be fast times.

You would basically shoot yourself in the foot if you only offered men's prize money (I know you're offering "top placings" prize money, but honestly, let's call it what it is). I understand your feelings about offering equal prize money, too: even if the top female happens to be equal caliber to the top male (unusual), there just isn't as much depth. Do what cycling races do -- offer x dollars, paid 10 places deep for men and y dollars, paid 6 places deep for women. Have a larger purse for men (x) because you'll be spreading it across more places.

(continued)

That way, women are happy because they get their part of the cookie (although you might still get some grumbles for "unequal" prize money), but you don't end up paying out $$$ to some woman who ran 20 mins while the last placing male in the money ran a 15:30.

Are you really "I love peeps" because this is the most obvious thread of trying to stir things up that I have seen. If not then you are extremely sad and don't know much about putting on races. You have no business putting one on if that is the case.

The point of a race is to make money for a business or charity and if you are awarding prize money to only men you are going to make a lot of women mad. Not only the women that have a chance to win money but the women at the back of the pack as well.

If you are afraid the women's competition won't be as good then put time bonuses attached to the payouts.

quote]New RD wrote:

exactly. the men never get paid at wet t-shirt contests. It's sexist and wrong.

your idea has definite merit, though.[/quote]

Sorry, musta stumbled into the wrong thread... I thought from the title this was about something completely different. :-)

I think you can do whatever you like with prize money, but remember you get what you pay for. You'll probably get a good men's field and very few women showing up. Since they're more than half your revenue base, expect the race to be fast, but not a money maker. If that's your priority, it should work well for you.

Not offering women's prize money is a great way to further hurt our sport. No prize money for the women when you're offering it to the men creates a situation where you are moving backward over the coming years for women's racing in your community.

Sure, you won't get fast women some years, but let's face it, you won't have men that are very fast in some years as well.

You have an opportunity to promote and grow our sport. Don't blow it.