Nick Symmonds fires back at USATF- Budget figures do not show any indivdual athletes receiving an actual salaries

Since Diamond League is invite only requiring an athlete to race in one is a tough standard and beyond their control

that's what a good agent is for I believe. haha!

but i do understand, but i'm having a hard time thinking of athletes who qualified for Worlds who haven's raced on the DL circuit other than Symmonds? Flanagan? Hill?

and the "up and comer" salary would be around 6-8k

What do they pay? wrote:

I am curious. For a major event like the World Championship or the Olympics, who pays what for the cost of attending?

1. Visas

2. Airfare

3. Transportation

4. Lodging

5. Food

6. Registration

7. Resources at the meet (facility use, etc)

I understand that USATF does not and to a degree probably should not pay the athletes a salary, but then their expectations should be lowered based on what they will actually pay for. For example, if they paid for the whole trip, then ok we can consider the whole thing a team event. But if they are only paying for the pomp of the actual meet, banquets, and such then they should only expect to dictate your attire for those events.

Again, I am curious for those professional athletes who actually run international circuits and participate on world teams, what does USATF pay for?

Good Q. The system is so opaque now who really knows?. Plus, USATF is not the only one paying people. At USAs, Vin Lananna stepped in and paid USATF Volunteers and USATF Certified Officials $1000 each completely outside of transparent USATF procedures. Is nice to be kind to dozens of old-fart volunteeers living on state teachers pensions who at were USAs humping their own $100,000 pro TV cameras and bazzoka lenses for the love of the sport. But I'm afraid Lnanna was not being kind, he was "influence peddling".

Wow, no.

You need to do a little research and re phrase your post .

yes they do. they are not morally or legally obligated to pay full salaries to these athletes who are contractors. i am not obligated to pay a full salary to the contractors I do business with. i pay them according to the job that i need done. if it isn't enough for them to live off of, they need to find other business to supplement it. if i can't offer them enough money, they won't do the work for me and they find other work.

no it isn't. where are you getting this from?

why would you say something like this? it took all of about 2 seconds for me to spot where we disagree on our premises, namely the obligation you believe USATF has to compensate their athletes full salaries. of course we arrive at different conclusions, maybe we can discuss this without insulting each other? Just putting you main points in all caps doesn't really help me understand where you are coming from.

Does CU have distance running? wrote:

"The NFL, NBA, etc. do not pay athletes. The individuals clubs pay athletes."

NFL, NBA, MLB... all guarantee salary minimums that must be adhered to. so they do pay the athletes with this gaurantee. So USATF should also make pro minimums that teams / sponsors / meet directors must pay.. want more, get an agent.

The federal government guarantees a minimum wage does that mean the government pays everyone?

First part is super stupid. You have no idea how sponsorship works in the real world.

Are you saying USATF should advertise "Position Open; IAAF World Championship Team member' saying a ten day contract will be issued to the three fastest runners in each event at the Team Member Competition and Nike Super Summer Sales Event(TMC&NSSSE) to be held in the beautiful city of Indianapolis during the hottest part of July, and open to all fully paid-up members of USATF.

Salary will be based on a prorated yearly salary of S100,000

(10 days @$400 per day @250 days per year) .

Team members will be required to dress in USATF issued uniforms while on Team USA. Team members will not be allowed to promote any commercial enterprise during their membership and will be required to pass a WADA drug test (for transparency: no requirement not to take drugs is stated or implied just the requirement not to fail the WADA tests) no black gloves shall be worn on the podium and no gum shall be chewed. Playing grabass on the team bus, pissing in the hotel pool and having sex with the natives is cause for dismissal as is not bowing to the image of The Mighty Swoosh. Salary will be subject to all applicable IRS state and local taxes and be payable in 50 installments spread over the 50 weeks following successful passing of the WADA tests.

Expenses incurred to compete in the TMC&NSSSE are the responsibility of the bidding competitor.

USATF brass are ultra-morons.

They are inviting an audit!!

So audit them.

Once you go through the books deep, in cases like these, you normally find fraud.

Forget about right and wrong. The tactics with Nick would have been to settle out of the media and play ball.

Nike, USATF, Salazar, they're all self destructing.

There is no nationally selected masters "team" idiot.

The above is a cut and paste of what appears on the USATF website under header Team USA Events. The OP being an idiot or not does not change the fact that USATF identifies these as Team USA Events.

Really disagree and state your case there is no need to insult fellow board members.

Nick Symmonds says he won't make more than $13,000 this year from USATF. Geer disputes that, saying a Tier 1 athlete like Symmonds, who qualifies based on ranking and results at the last Olympics, will earn $25,000 in stipends and benefits.

USATF chief public affairs officer Jill Geer said in a statement Monday, (Aug 10, 2015). Geer said the USATF spends 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.

"USATF pays the broadcasting bill for the athletes to wear their sponsors in USATF Championship Series meets on TV, including national championships," Geer said. "Athletes and their personal sponsors don't have to pay for that national exposure. USATF pays for it."

Symmonds said that elite members of USA Track & Field, who are really the ones Nike is paying for, are projected to earn only $2.46 million in total compensation in 2015

http://espn.go.com/olympics/trackandfield/story/_/id/13407856/runner-nick-symmonds-miss-15-world-championships-clothing-contract-language

December 3-6

Annual Meeting Schedule

2016 Operational Goals to help Track and Field become a better professional sport:

OUR ORGANIZATIONAL GOAL IS FOR USATF TO BECOME THE UNDISPUTED #1 NATIONAL GOVERNING BODY IN OLYMPIC SPORT MEASURED BY THE FOLLOWING:

1) MEMBERSHIP

Increasing membership to 250,000 by 2020

2) ANNUAL REVENUE

Growing annual revenue to $50M by 2020

3) OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCY

To identify ways to make existing operations more efficient resulting in operational cost reductions of 5%

4) BUSINESS PARTNERSHIP MODEL

To convert all partnerships to mutually beneficial and incentivized business relationships whereby we share risk, control commercial rights and share profits

5) POPULAR ENGAGEMENT

To enhance annual popular engagement through a 25 percent increase in social media followers, gate increase for events over comparable events from 2015, increasing TV ratings by 20 percent

SMART GOALS

6) EVENT STRATEGY

To develop a comprehensive event strategy that includes, rather than segments off, youth, long distance running, masters and administrative events.

7) OPERATING RESERVES

To establish operating reserves of equal to our annual operating budget by 2020.

8) ENDOWMENT

Establishing a $50M endowment by 2024 with interest income to offset 50% of the administrative costs of National Office operations.

9) ATHLETIC PERFORMANCE

Top medal charts at World Championships and Olympic Games competitions

Document:

http://www.usatf.org/usatf/files/bf/bfba4740-149c-4c7f-94f4-7873405d6abd.pdf

Document homepage source:

http://www.usatf.org/Events---Calendar/2015/Annual-Meeting/Document-Library.aspx

re: " indivdual athletes (employees) receiving an actual salaries". No budgets show that.

The athletes are paid what the market allows. If it's not enough for Nick, he's free to seek alternate employment.

Nick's annual earnings are probably the second highest of all the current 800m runners, not bad considering he has only run one decent race in the last 2.5 years