Viral tweet shows how pathetic track and field pay is

trollism wrote:

Nicky the dicky wrote:

Poor Nick is jealous. Bolt has speed, talent Olympic Golds and world records

Is nick that stupid.

Your an idiot.

Nick was saying that Bolt should be earning more.

You are not "your."

Those numbers are inaccurate. You really think bolt only earns 200k?

trollism wrote:

Mrr82 wrote:

Symmomds are usually showing he either is clueless about his own sport, orr likes to intentionally mislead people like last year with worlds fiasco. Or both.

Bolt makes more than that in 1 meet. Here's a source with quotes from the meet director. He topped that in one race. If he only made 200k in one year from competing it would be because he pulled out of races and didn't compete.

http://www.runnersworld.com/newswire/usain-bolt-to-get-300k-appearance-fee-for-200-meter-race

Appearance fee isn't prize money.

Hey Nick! The graph says money made from sport vs endorsements! Guess what! Appearance fees to run in a track meet paid by the track meetcount under sport not endorsement!

So does his Puma contract in this case since that is the equivalent of his TEAM in track and field. People can't grasp that you don't get paid by a team you play for in track, you get paid by your sponsor. Not apples to apples comparison.

Mrr82 wrote:

trollism wrote:

Appearance fee isn't prize money.

And your point is what? Completely irrelevant post just like Symmonds.

Right, LeBron's $24M salary is also an appearance fee not prize money. Athletes would prefer a guaranteed risk-free appearance fee to prize money.

My god, everyone who posted in this thread isn't listening to what Symmonds is saying, instead racing each other to prove which is the most ignorant.

The numbers that Symmonds/Runner's World put up are correct. There is no money in Track (prize money) unless you are at the very top, and win every competition. Even so, Usain Bolt only makes, at best, 200k each year from prize money. Compare that to what the 100th best golfer or tennis player makes.

http://www.pgatour.com/stats/stat.109.html

http://www.tennis.com/earnings/ATP/

Very few track and field athletes make more from the sport (appearance+prize+endorsement) than they would have earned working at McDonalds.

1) Approximately 50% of our athletes who rank in the top 10 in the USA in their event make less than $15,000 annually from the sport (sponsorship, grants, prize money, etc.) and

2) Approximately 20% of our athletes in top 10 in the USA in their event make more than $50,000 annually.

3) Athletes outside of a top 10 USA ranking, other than some sprinters, milers, and distance runners, can expect to face very limited (if any) income support.

http://trackandfieldathletesassociation.org/site/how-much-money-do-track-and-field-athletes-make/

The 2014 FIFA World Cup brought in about $4.8 billion in revenue and paid out $576 million in prize money.

The IOC brought in $8 million in revenue in the 4 year cycle ending in 2012 and paid out $0 in prize money.

I think Nick is saying that the athletes deserve a bigger piece of that $8 billion. Can anyone possibly disagree?

Sorry MALMO, you need to do your research. You can't compare to any NFL, NBA, player or team sport then if you want to do a fair comparison. The money they get is their salary and that happens if they finish first or last.

The NFL and NBA are really cheap when it comes to "prize" money or victories during the playoffs. For example, the NFL pays .

$24,000 for the first round winners, $44,000 for divisional rounds and the Super Bowl winners only get $97,0000

That's it.

Nick and you need to stop comparing NBA,NFL players to pro runners.

How much money do you think is out there? Do you have numbers?

Sesamoiditis wrote:

The 2014 FIFA World Cup brought in about $4.8 billion in revenue and paid out $576 million in prize money.

The IOC brought in $8 million in revenue in the 4 year cycle ending in 2012 and paid out $0 in prize money.

I think Nick is saying that the athletes deserve a bigger piece of that $8 billion. Can anyone possibly disagree?

$8B or $8M?

$8,000,000 is not that much money for such an organization. That's only enough to pay an average salary with benefits (healthcare, retirement, etc.) for about 100 people. And that would be the entire budget, without spending anything on infrastructure (buildings, i.t., etc.) or marketing.

The IOC didn't keep 8Billion. To say so is wrong and misleading. They may not pay out enough, but to say they payout zero - you lose crediblity

do the math wrote:

Sesamoiditis wrote:

The 2014 FIFA World Cup brought in about $4.8 billion in revenue and paid out $576 million in prize money.

The IOC brought in $8 million in revenue in the 4 year cycle ending in 2012 and paid out $0 in prize money.

I think Nick is saying that the athletes deserve a bigger piece of that $8 billion. Can anyone possibly disagree?

$8B or $8M?

$8,000,000 is not that much money for such an organization. That's only enough to pay an average salary with benefits (healthcare, retirement, etc.) for about 100 people. And that would be the entire budget, without spending anything on infrastructure (buildings, i.t., etc.) or marketing.

IT's clear he meant 8 billion, which was in his third sentence.

Please read the link I've provided.

Approximately 50% of our athletes who rank in the top 10 in the USA in their event make less than $15,000 annually from the sport (sponsorship, grants, prize money, etc.

Lebron James has 23 million twitter followers.

Nick has 56,000.

Nick, you picked the wrong sport. Yes, you're an elite athlete with an Olympic medal. But your sport doesn't have huge tv contracts and generate mega bucks.

23M > 56K wrote:

Lebron James has 23 million twitter followers.

Nick has 56,000.

Nick, you picked the wrong sport. Yes, you're an elite athlete with an Olympic medal. But your sport doesn't have huge tv contracts and generate mega bucks.

When did he get an Olympic medal?

*WC medal

malmo wrote:

Get yer facts straight wrote:

Sorry MALMO, you need to do your research. You can't compare to any NFL, NBA, player or team sport then if you want to do a fair comparison. The money they get is their salary and that happens if they finish first or last.

Please read the link I've provided.

Approximately 50% of our athletes who rank in the top 10 in the USA in their event make less than $15,000 annually from the sport (sponsorship, grants, prize money, etc.

Why are you arguing a non-point. You brought up the "prize" money distinction. I was pointing out you and Nick seem to be confused on how some athletes are paid.

Get yer facts straight wrote:

The IOC didn't keep 8Billion. To say so is wrong and misleading. They may not pay out enough, but to say they payout zero - you lose crediblity

I said revenue. That doesn't mean anything but how much they bring in.

How much prize money do they pay out?

Sesamoiditis wrote:

Get yer facts straight wrote:

The IOC didn't keep 8Billion. To say so is wrong and misleading. They may not pay out enough, but to say they payout zero - you lose crediblity

I said revenue. That doesn't mean anything but how much they bring in.

How much prize money do they pay out?

They paid $$ to NOC - some paid out prize money

Look I agree that gold Medal winners in the US should get a huge bonus - maybe $100K or maybe $500K.

But remember Golf and Tennis have a single event. Track and field/marathon have multiple events

Get yer facts straight wrote:

malmo wrote:

Please read the link I've provided.

Approximately 50% of our athletes who rank in the top 10 in the USA in their event make less than $15,000 annually from the sport (sponsorship, grants, prize money, etc.

Why are you arguing a non-point. You brought up the "prize" money distinction. I was pointing out you and Nick seem to be confused on how some athletes are paid.

A non-point? This is the entire point. Neither Symmonds nor are confused about how athletes are paid, we've walked the walk. You haven't been within several zipcodes close to professional running. You don't have a clue, nor can you read and follow the conversation.

The metric that Symmonds had posted shows what athletes in various sports have made. The purple bar is their compensation from the sport in salary or prize money. The orange bar shows what they made in endorsements. It's not difficult to follow.

i chose D2 wrote:

I don't think 565 retweets qualifies as viral.

This is usatf. It's viral.

trollism wrote:

Appearance fee isn't prize money.

Symmonds used an inaccurate or very misleading graph.

Maybe bolt didn't make much last year due barely racing. However, he gets paid when he does race.

Props to nick for following through with his boycott last year, but it does seem a little like he was bluffing on the USATF drama when he didn't bother to even race the rest of the year!

I'm on his side on this issue generally, but does he want pro runners to get paid to race like 3 or 4 times a year? That is ludicrous unless you are a marathoner!