The wait is over: 2018 Pro Runners Salary Data Revealed: How Much Do the Pros Make?

Thanks for putting in all the work for this. It's certainly interesting and it will take some time to digest.

My biggest initial reaction, which probably shows my cynicism following following the Berian ordeal, was about your "insider." The insider seemed to have knowledge of specific offers from lots of different shoe companies. If this information was gained through discussion with peers in other organizations (I am guessing the insider works for some shoe company), that sure feels like collusion.

Other quick reactions:

- Well caveated about how this doesn't / can't reflect the right answer

- LRC readers underestimate the drawing power of sprinters

- As you state, it clearly matters where you are from

- Timing of signing a long term deal is incredibly important

- Field eventers must truly love the sport

- Wide range on Isaiah Harris makes me think there was a bit of bidding war between Company X and Brooks

- I'm really glad to see some info about marathon appearance fess in here

Thanks for sharing! ))

Wow, most are lower-middle class

it is not actually correct to say that Centro has never beaten Tim Cheruiyot. in May 2015 at the Bowerman Mile Centro was 2nd in 3:51.2 and Tim Cheruiyot was 3rd in 3:55.80.

cheers.

I'm shocked at how high the Boston Marathon appearance fees are. I figured most of the Africans would just get a few thousand. Not tens of thousands.

Cottonshirt wrote:

it is not actually correct to say that Centro has never beaten Tim Cheruiyot. in May 2015 at the Bowerman Mile Centro was 2nd in 3:51.2 and Tim Cheruiyot was 3rd in 3:55.80.

cheers.

Yes it is. Centro was 2nd in the Bowerman Mile, Cheruiyot was 3rd in the International Mile.

Really good stuff, LR, keep up the good work.

How does travel/boarding for races work? Is it covered by the event or by (shoe) sponsors? What type of hotels do they get put up at? What about meals when traveling, do they expense it like a normal business traveler, get a per diem, own pocket..?

So Shalane parlayed her so-called "resilient" victory in NYC into $200K (for just one race)...

Anyone still think there wouldn't be a significant incentive to "fund" this ahead of time?

You must enter a name. wrote:

Really good stuff, LR, keep up the good work.

How does travel/boarding for races work? Is it covered by the event or by (shoe) sponsors? What type of hotels do they get put up at? What about meals when traveling, do they expense it like a normal business traveler, get a per diem, own pocket..?

For major marathons, the race will usually cover the athlete's flight/accommodations, usually putting the athletes up at the meet hotel (which is nice one). So that would be the Midtown Hilton for NYC Marathon, Fairmont Copley Plaza for Boston, Downtown Hilton in Chicago, Tower Hotel in London. Not sure if the lesser athletes also get rooms at those spots but I know that's how it works for the big names.

For DL meets, I think the meet usually covers travel expenses/lodging for some athletes (don't know exactly how many), and again, these are nice hotels. But I know that some athletes have travel stipends in their shoe contracts as well.

Not sure how meals work but at DL meets the meet hotels will have spreads for the athletes.

But basically, the better you are, the more stuff gets paid for you by the event itself.

Ryan Vail estimation is only 16k? Dam, most fast food workers working full time make more than that per year.

Jonathan Gault wrote: Yes it is. Centro was 2nd in the Bowerman Mile, Cheruiyot was 3rd in the International Mile.

touché

cheers.

Jonathan Gault wrote:

Not sure if the lesser athletes also get rooms at those spots but I know that's how it works for the big names.

A couple years ago I was running Chicago and was running next to an elite woman who had no chance of winning (high 2:3x runner). She said she was put up in the race hotel and had her flight and meals taken care off. She didn't mention an appearance fee, but made it sound like the real perk was getting a weekend away from her kids to be pampered. Then we hit the half mark and she dusted me.

fixed and rigged, i tell ya wrote:

So Shalane parlayed her so-called "resilient" victory in NYC into $200K (for just one race)...

Anyone still think there wouldn't be a significant incentive to "fund" this ahead of time?

Yes, with such pricey shoe incentives to (mostly white) USA runners, it makes you wonder how anyone can think the playing field is "level", especially with Africans chronically poor (paying off doping inspectors for instance).

fixed and rigged, i tell ya wrote:

So Shalane parlayed her so-called "resilient" victory in NYC into $200K (for just one race)...

Anyone still think there wouldn't be a significant incentive to "fund" this ahead of time?

I'm not sure what you are trying to say? If it is that Shalane would pay off Mary Keitany to let her win? Considering Keitany's appearance is likely $100k+ that seems totally improbable. And then she paid off Edna Kiplagat as well? So they can have their appearances drop the next time out.

no love for Ryan Vail ?? wrote:

Ryan Vail estimation is only 16k? Dam, most fast food workers working full time make more than that per year.

That's not his shoe contract estimate that is his appearance fee estimate for Boston. Seems like a decent amount of money for a guy who has run under 2:11 once. The prize money for winning the Falmouth road race is $10,000. Getting $16k to start a marathon's is pretty good in comparison and shows why people focus on the marathon.

The points on appearance fees for Shalane and Desi were interesting. I still wonder... might winning a major actually DECREASE your potential appearance fee the following year? I mean, wouldn't it be kind of assumed that you'd want to defend your title? and thus wouldn't that reduce your bargaining power? I mean, how often does the winner not try to defend their title? I wouldn't think that would be very often, and thus I'd think that'd depress appearance fees for defending champs. What did agents have to say about this, Brojos?

for some track/road races I have run, they will put you up in a hotel or with a host family (You were seeing a lot of this at Merber's race) and may provide some stipend to assist with travel. I am led to believe that the better you are, the more likely a race will cover any travel you may need, depending on the race's size and budget. I saw in Boris's contract from NB that he got $5000 a year on top of his base salary and merchandise allotment to spend on travel, I imagine that is for times where you are like... flying to europe to do a circuit there or something, or for traveling to wherever you may be doing a training camp/altitude stint. So I think in situations like that, it's kinda just like using the corporate card to hold you accountable for being reasonable with your travel. Seems like big groups like BTC who travel around/do training camps in europe are always in the same spot together, which leads me to believe nike is probably footing the bill for whatever the price. It all depends on how good you are, I guess.

So you got a bunch of people who didn’t actually know the right answers to GUESS (and based on your notes, some of them had no idea). Then you AVERAGED those COMPLETE GUESSES and tried to pretend that this made up average had real meaning? This is borderline fake news. If you wanted to do something like this, you should have just listed, specifically, what each of the guesses were for each athlete from each agent.

Appreciate the info, and yes it's interesting and insightful, but here's my beef: While you caveat these as estimates throughout the article, and agents have a much better idea than everyone else, these are estimates only.

You title this article, "Pro Runners’ Salaries: How Much Do Pro Runners Make? We Unveil One of The Sport’s Biggest Secrets " and this thread, "The wait is over: 2018 Pro Runners’ Salary Data Revealed: How Much Do the Pros Make?" But you don't really answer the question. You haven't revealed any secrets and you haven't revealed any salaries. It would be great if you could have dug out some facts.

Why does this bother me? Well let's look at actual facts - how much do College Coaches make and how much does Letsrun think they make?

Oregon athletic salaries --

https://publicrecords.uoregon.edu/documents?order=filename&sort=desc

Yes these are base salaries and there are some additional benefits (e.g., travel, company car/stipend, apparel, etc.), but incentives are listed, and a realistic target is another $15K-$40K depending on the coach:

Andy Powell - was $130,766

Maurica Powell - was $76,487

Robert Johnson - currently $350,000

Let's run estimates are much higher than those numbers.

It took me less than 15 minutes to find this info, and yes, it's for a public school and it's public record. Why couldn't Letsrun get at least one actual contract? The elite coordinator for a major marathon can certainly provide detailed info on appearance fees without providing names. Where are the facts? Try harder next time please. If I was a teacher and this was your mid-term project, I'd give you a "B-".

"Regarding Michael Norman, who signed with Nike this summer, our insider wrote: “His USC coach (Caryl Smith Gilbert) gets 10% of any contract from any athlete that signs with Nike.”"

How is this not an NCAA violation of some sort? Isn't that basically like having an agent? (Gets a percentage of your earnings to get you a contract)