bobo7 wrote:
Nick also tweeted that tomorrow he will show proof that USATF is stealing millions from athletes...
Anyone explain?
I think Nick is overplaying his hand by using the word "stealing" but I do think USATF should give more money to the pros. If the Nike contract went up $5 million or $10 million a year, I think 90% of that money can go to Olympic level athletes in some form. USATF already has what it needs for its overheard and if it gets an extra $5 million a year, that should go to the pros because it was given to sponsor the pros.
I assume Nick will say not enough of the USATF budget is going to pros.
The buget just increased lasat year but I did wonder why USATF didn't say it was giving a ton more money to Olympic athletes once their budget jumped so much last year. There was 1 main reason it jumped I think.
Darren Rovell of ESPN has written on this tonight
http://espn.go.com/olympics/trackandfield/story/_/id/13407856/runner-nick-symmonds-miss-15-world-championships-clothing-contract-language"Symmonds said that elite members of USA Track & Field, who are really who Nike is paying for, are projected to earn only $2.46 million in total compensation in 2015, citing numbers put forth by Smith College professor of economics and esteemed sports business author, Andrew Zimbalist. If those numbers are true, the elite athletes are getting roughly get eight percent of the USATF's annual revenue compared to other major team sports athletes who get at least 50 percent of gross revenues received as reflected in their salary cap.
Runners are independent contractors and do not have their own union, making it hard to get similar equality that athletes in other team pro sports have.
Jill Geer, chief public affairs officer for USATF, said the organization does spend roughly half of its annual budget (about $14 million to $15 million) on athletes, including prize money, cash and travel stipends, insurance deductibles, event costs and television production."