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Pro Triathlon Money List: WTS + Kona Points Season Wrap-up | TRS Triathlon
Pro Triathlon Money List: WTS + Kona Points Season Wrap-up | TRS Triathlon
The first ever comprehensive pro triathlon money list, spanning the 2014-2015 Kona Points season and the 2015 ITU World Triathlon Series.
Read the full story here
Comments
http://www.codybeals.com/2015/02/my-rookie-pro-triathlon-budge/
One thing I'm a little confused with is when you say: "pay the top 100 athletes $100k/year, and the top 10 close to a million." It's a little confusing but I believe that would be $19 million for the top 100. Are you proposing that that should be replicated for both the men and the women, or is that just for the top-100 overall? Considering that there was only $9.5 in prizes this year the $19mil would be ambitious, but $38 million seems totally unrealistic.
Also, I found it interesting to go to the bottom of each list and work my way up till I saw a name I recognized. For me that was "402 Matthew Sharp" and "344 Leslie Lamacchia."
Ambitious? Yes. Requiring some big title sponsors? For sure. Needing a big change in how Ironman views pros? Absolutely.
But I don't think unrealistic. Ironman has likely quadrupled its profits in the past 8 years? Why not spread the wealth around to boost the long-term viability of the sport?
But I'm not a financing guy who can figure out the details of who pays. I just know: 1) that other sports have done it; 2) the prospect of $100k/year would attract a lot more top athletes into the sport; and 3) the chance at a million would bring out a deeper field of world class talent.
Twitter nonsense: @AgeGroup_Home
Triathlon has to be a product (and it is in some countries) before you will get sponsors to see value.
Moose Hoofing
For that matter, halfway through the season I almost stopped recording Challenge races because their results pages suck, not to mention they couldn't even figure out at which races they were paying or not.
Twitter nonsense: @AgeGroup_Home
I do appreciate that you made it clear that you're only including ITU WTS events, excluding World Cups and Continental Cups.
You're missing one entire did upon of triathlon, though! Some of the off-road guys actually make a reasonable living, at least enough to keep them from having to work "real" jobs. XTERRA of course is the main event organizer there, but TNatura is pretty big in Europe as well.
While there are a handful of pros who make half-decent wages by doing a number of small races (Eric Lagerstrom is one), those races really don't total all that much, and they don't meaningfully affect the top 100 in the rankings.
As for off-road tri--I considered that as well, but it really is a small niche. XTERRA's total prize purse (for 6 races) is $245,000. Which means that even if one person won each race (spread all over the country), he/she would win $40k.
TNatura has a bunch of races in Europe, but even smaller prize purses. Their European Championship has a prize purse of $18,000, with the winner getting $2,000. Maybe those athletes get better sponsorship to allow them to be full-time athletes?
Twitter nonsense: @AgeGroup_Home
If one qualifies for a pro license, and wants to race Ironman, there are a few big advantages to racing as a pro, even for those who know they won't finish in the money.
1. It's cheaper than registering as an age-grouper. There's even a one-time race entry fee for those who don't want the unlimited $800 season registration, that's still cheaper than age-group registration.
2. The ability to register for sold-out races all the way up to ~2 weeks before the race.
3. The ability to race in uncrowded conditions.
The only real disadvantage is that those athletes have no chance of qualifying for Kona or 70.3 Worlds. But if that's not important to them, it's of no consequence. In fact, most of the age-groupers who beat a handful of pros each race are simply athletes who decided they'd rather get a Kona spot (or have the "glory" of winning their age group) than to race as a non-money-making pro. Many of them actually do end up taking a pro card for a few years though, and then dropping back down to age group.
In short, I don't blame someone for taking a pro card if they qualify for it. The problem, in my mind, is that USAT has made it too easy to qualify for one. In addition, Ironman gives a big incentive to take it.
The cynical part of me thinks that Ironman does this simply to ensure that there are many more men than women racing pro, even though most of those extra men are simply pack fodder. (My experience is that men in this category are much more likely than women to take the pro card.) This allows Messick to have an excuse for unequal men/women Kona slots, however flimsy that excuse may be.
Twitter nonsense: @AgeGroup_Home
I think I got all the ITU World Cup, but none of the Continental Cups--they pay the winner ~$1700. See my above note to Emily about non-draft Oly races. For them, and Continental Cups, once you start including regional races, you have to look at them all over the globe. I bet I could find 3 dozen spread amongst Europe, Australia, and S.A., most paying the winner ~$1500-$2000, and most of them being raced just by locals who don't accrue much prize winnings through the year.
One of the reasons I started compiling this list last year was to spotlight just how little attention was paid to the topic. Ironman disappears the total prize purse once the race is over, so there's no retroactive calculating these without a lot of digging. Challenge's results are just a frickin' disaster, not even going into the last-minute changing/eliminating of prize purses.
ITU spotlights the WTS, but good luck finding a comprehensive list of World Cup & Continental Cup races without digging through pages of their entire race calendar.
Most of the other Oly-distance races don't even list prize purse breakdowns on their websites--simply the total. I've been amazed that--in a time when race directors complain about "pros not returning value to the race,"--that the race directors themselves do so little to spotlight the amounts won, and by whom.
Anyway, my starting this last fall seemed to attract attention to the issue, and it seems at least entities are now tracking it (Challenge, and the new pro triathlete union). Hopefully they, or someone else, will build on this effort and make it even more comprehensive for next year.
And hopefully, entities like Challenge and ITU, and independent races as well, will make their info a bit more transparent and readily accessible.
Twitter nonsense: @AgeGroup_Home
I'd also make the caveat that this is for athletes who qualify legitly, not some home town sprint that no one shows up to and said athlete isn't really close to a mid-pack pro level. I also think that getting your pro card is going to get harder and harder, so it is taking pro level like results in order to get the elite card now.
And is the time period of this 1 September to 31 August? I know you say 2014-2015 Kona Points season, but then you said 70.3 Worlds Kicks off the Kona Points Season, which I do not think is a correct statement.
Or is there not an exact date range because the WTS Series and KQ points season are on different time lines?
Thanks again for doing this, hopefully it sheds light on the subject and is a good education piece for the pros to share to the general public.
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The long course season went from August 24, 2014 to August 23, 2015, coinciding with the Kona Points year. It does indeed start with the 70.3 WC, so last year with Mt. Tremblant WC, and the 2015-2016 KP year started on August 30 with Zell am See WC. http://www.ironman.com/triathlon/organizations/pro-membership/qualifying/ironman-qualifying.aspx#axzz3mru5XrY0
The short course season started late September, 2014 after the WTS championship, and went through Chicago, so Sept. 20, 2015.
I played with a bunch of scenarios to make the two seasons coincide exactly, but then accepted that, to top ITU folks, the WTS is what really matters, and to top long course athletes, the Kona Points year is what really matters. There's so little overlap between the two athletes that there seemed to be no downsides to those dates.
Twitter nonsense: @AgeGroup_Home
Make Triathlon (all distances) more marketable:
1.Increase live TV coverage on cable sports networks- this will draw bigger sponsors who will provide the $ for bigger purses
- To increase viewership, step up game with gopro/ garmin/ shimano sport cameras and better gps for live action.
2. Replicate ITU style points system for non drafting sprints/ Oly's
- One way to do this: make regional champs for non drafting with better coverage (i.e. Pan Am games) .Everyone loves rooting for his/her country's colors.
Super sprints, Rev3 Rush, etc are good ways to do this. These formats should be easy to build solid TV production on and generate interest in the sport.
Although logistically challenging: more events in Big Cities - NY central park should host an ITU race each year, Chicago's done one, Philly/ Boston/ DC would be easy to do.
Love your work, and love that you published the complete list. I have nagged challenge to publish their "whole list" but they seem to only like publishing the top 25 or 50 or however many ti is. Bit biased in my opinion for them to be doing their own prize money list. You guys are unbiased and are doing great analysis and providing the data publicly, so thanks!
And thanks for the lesson in KPR timeframe!
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Clever Training (BRADWIL10)-Kiwami Tri (BWTRI10) - Precision Hydration (code bwtri)-FireStar Energy (save 10% w/ BWTRI-351)
Idk, to me it's more a non point than anything for my take on pro development. It helps to make tighter standard but I also don't think it matters honestly. The structure of triathlon is what is restricting for more pro money. Too many companies are dependent on AG registration to pay for prize purses. Majority of sport is dependent on AGer to make it.
commercialshow.Why is Cross-fit on TV? They pay to play. Why? It gets people to join a cross-fit gym.