A couple of points on the topic of "professional" T&F athletes from a business person's perspective:
1) For all but a handful of top T&F athletes (count them on one hand), choosing a professional T&F career is at best a choice to lead a life on a subsistence level based on chintzy compensation (mostly contracted comp from shoe companies, some event purse money). This applies to 99% of T&F pros.
2) Your value is mostly driven by your performance, most recently, and anticipated based on recent performance. A substantial premium can be expected for runners who are especially physically attractive AND are charismatic. Very few qualify, but for those that do (think LoLo, at least in the run-up to the Olympics), there is a substantial upside. And, then there are the personalities who attract lots of attention (think Bolt). For these chosen few, there is n money to be made. Again, maybe a 5-10 at best at any point in time.
3) From a shoe company perspective, their marketing spend for top T&F pros has a huge payback. Celebrity runners who are attractive and charismatic sell in T&F just like any other sport.
4) IAAF and USATF apparently actually depress the upside of T&F pro comp by limiting their endorsements to one company, according to Yoder Begley. This is an outrage and smacks of influence peddling by the big shoe companies. There is no reason a pro T&F athlete shouldn't be able to wear the product or company logo of more than on sponsor. Period. All pros should be up in arms about this.
5) Yes, Feinagle falls into the category of the "attractive" athlete who might warrant higher compensation because of her looks.
Bottom line: For 99% of T&F athletes who have the option of going pro: Do it for your ego, do it for the lifestyle, do it because you thinks it is fun. Do NOT do it because you are going to earn a living wage. For most of you, consider the implications of forestalling a real career choice to pursue an ego trip that has limited expected value.
If you choose the pro path, don't come onto the Lets Run board in retrospect and kvetch when the reality of the pathetic comp available to pro T&F athletes rears its ugly head.
Discuss.