I’d commit my life to running if I were good enough to earn $34,060 a year. No question.
I’d commit my life to running if I were good enough to earn $34,060 a year. No question.
How much is Steph Garcia hauling in these days?
Girl Power wrote:
How much is Steph Garcia hauling in these days?
Same $12k she always has
Add Hunter to the list. Add Affolder in the near future.
Does this question mean to encompass all streams of potential revenue, or just race winnings and running-associated sponsorships only? I would say social media revenue these days could potentially match the 100k so-and-so pro runner is making from traditional sponsorships or wherever else. There is no reason a pro good enough to earn 6 figures shouldn't be visible enough to also be able to double it via instagram or youtube or something.
I don't know about $100k/year, but why limit yourself to being a runner?
Even many of the ones listed as $100k+ runners aren't making bank for running. They're great at networking and marketing themselves through social media and are making money through sponsorships that may not be there without their Instagram account. I'd imagine Emma Coburn is the type of person who could have given up running at age 20 and still figured out a way to market herself (she's hot ya know) and be wealthy. Also, Shalane Flanagan is releasing cookbooks for a reason - she ain't that service minded to give away nutritional info for free. She wants to secure a net worth that can carry her far beyond her ability to compete for 1st place marathon finishes.
If someone is interested in the idea of pursuing distance running as a career, they should take the necessary steps to become a coach. Even assistants at the collegiate level can make decent money. For example, Jordan Andreassen at UAB is in her first year as an assistant track coach there, and according to the open records site for UAB, she is making ~$40k/year. That's going to include excellent benefits for working at a public university. She's set to have a hell of a career in track and field as a coach if she can parlay her experience at UAB into a head coaching job somewhere.
The head track coach at my school system's high school makes close to $100k/year. It's a big time program and he has to teach a few P.E. classes during the day, but that's a pretty sweet life for someone who wanted to professionalize their running.
Honestly, not a lot. The highest paid is Galen Rupp, that's pretty well known. You don't go into pro-running for the money, you do it because you're passionate about the sport.
An example: I remember reading that Fernando Cabada (2:11:36 marathoner) was making 20-30k a year and barely making ends meet. Most pros rely heavily on prize money, because most sponsorships offer shoes and apparel, and that's it. Some also pay for part or all of travel. Then some also offer a salary. Sometimes the training group offers a monthly stipend. I saw a post online about a running club listing the qualifying marks to join the club and it paid all members $800/month and gave them free shoes and apparel.
If your sponsorship pays 40k, you're doing pretty well. Then add in some prize money, maybe a stipend from the training group, appearance fees, etc. And now you get the total picture. That's why these athletes hate drug cheats, because most are barely making ends meet to chase the dream and then a drug cheat takes a spot ahead of them in the race and finishing 1 spot higher could be an extra $1500 or something which is a lot of money to these guys and gals.
FelonDJT wrote:
10-15? That's for both men and women.
Many more at $50-$80k?
A rough guess
Definitely more than this. At all events from 800 to marathon, there has to be at least 30 once you include endorsements and prize money. There are also a few that rotate in and out in a given year with prize money and performance bonuses.
Marathon alone I'd guess you're looking at 10ish. Men Rupp, Ritz, Meb(yes still making that sketchers money), probably Ward. Women Flannigan, Cragg, Hassay, Huddle, Bates, Bruce, Linden, Tayler, Hall. I'd bet no more than 2 if any of those mentioned aren't 6 figures.
Still, your odds are way better with a blue collar job.
Coburn and Goucher do very well
34,060 wrote:
I’d commit my life to running if I were good enough to earn $34,060 a year. No question.
Vote for Andrew Yang and you'll be most of the way there.
im completely guessing (1500+):
-Rupp (750k)
-Centrowitz (400k)
-Hunter (500k reported)
-Jager (250k)
-jenkins (220k)
-engels (220k)
-Randrews (220k)
-mcgorty (110k)
-cheserek (140k)
-chelimo (100k)
-gregorek (100k)
-ritz (100k)
-Coburn (400k)
-Simpson (325k)
-Flanagan (250k)
-huddle (180k)
-houlihan (180k)
-quigley (200k)
-frerichs (130k)
despite all the moaning on these message boards, distance runners are not underpaid. ryan hill does not sell shoes. if they're not contending at the olympics or major marathons, or attractive and social-media savvy, they're probably being paid a living wage. jumpers and throwers are way underpaid in comparison, but it makes sense as their events are even less visible than distance running. the 100, 1500, marathon, and vault are marketable right now IMO.
If I was the marketing director for a shoe company I would be targeting mondo duplantis and grant holloway
This is why there is a lack of depth in US Distance running. 100K is a decent salary for college graduate getting a professional job in the first few years. But you need to earn that kind of money for 30 years to have a decent living and some hope of retirement. Probably less than 100 US runners are making that and they will last only a few years a professional runners. A wild outlier will last more than 10 years. Then they will still need a steady income.
A Kenyan who makes $100k in a year is already on the retirement track. A professional job there pays $5k/yr and one can buy a farm outright for $25K.
If an American distance runner could make the equivalent of 20X what a professional college graduate makes, people would be clawing for those spots and 100s of Americans would be running less than 13:20 or equivalent. This is clearly shown by the drive of kids to play basketball and football.
The LR Article you reference is a series of guesses at runner salaries. Some of them are by insiders, most are not. So it is probably not a good source of actual salary information.
And Grant Fisher
How much do you suspect the pro runners at the smaller training groups around the country make? Perhaps Hoka-NAZ Elite, Saucony-Freedom TC, or Brooks Beasts.
Combined income? Sponsorship. appearance fees and prize winnings? If so the number is more like at least 20-25 women and about an equal number of men.
All you idiots are forgetting the biggest star in our sport. Someone who is not only an Olympian but also a movie star, movie writer and world class poet
The dirty secret is being social media savvy and networking, especially for women. Appearance is everything.
The solid running is the icing on the cake.
Full disclosure: I have a contract with a major shoe company and have made $10-50K per year from sponsorship over the past years. I'll stay anonymous because talking about this stuff is frowned upon (and legally not allowed in the specifics of most contracts).
The short answer is that it vastly depends on how your year goes. Most athletes outside of the superstars mentioned already are not receiving a huge baseline salary. They have decent opportunities to earn money through bonuses (time or place usually), but that's often the majority of their earnings.
I personally know a guy who ran 3:36-38 and then got signed to a ~10K base contract.
Then again, if you win a Marathon Major, you could make $100-200K just from that race (and then that's often rolled over into the following year's contract as well).
So, most athletes will probably have great years where they make a ton and years where they're injured or race poorly and make almost nothing. Those getting paid 6 figure retainers just to train I would guess are in the 10s in the USA.
(As an aside, this is a huge part of the reason why we don't see more sub 2:10s in the US. As someone in this thread already mentioned, if you have a college degree, you're almost certainly under-earning to chase the dream of being a professional distance runner. I certainly am. Most 22 year olds who have run 28:xx would rather get an easy, steady job and be making 6 figures in a few years than kill themselves to get top 10 at Boston or run sub 2:10 and make like $25K).
Hard cold truth wrote:
Just wow... wrote:
How many kids who dream of running professionally in order to support themselves with a degree of comfort will make it? How many American born males in the U.S. who make over $100K/yr as pro runners? more than 20? 10? Less? How about females?
Newsflash, $100k a year isn’t comfortable when you know you have a shelf life and aren’t qualified to do anything else when you retire at 30, if you are really good.
Unless you are legitimately competing for Olympic medals, being a pro distance runner is a waste of time in America.
Not at all. Being a pro brings you visibility and connections you can't buy. Chris Solinsky was never close to being a medalist, but had huge visibility which no doubt helped him transition to his coaching career.
So brave wrote:
All you idiots are forgetting the biggest star in our sport. Someone who is not only an Olympian but also a movie star, movie writer and world class poet
Title says US Born. Oh wait does mean she counts? Does the individual have to be US born and represent the US. This is too complicated.