According to online surveys it appears that the majority of people (who take this survey) believe Olympic athletes get paid. There are some countries who pay their Olympic athletes and allow them to train full time. The United States is not one of these countries. Sponsorships and endorsements are key to an athlete making money. However, very few Olympic athletes actually have these types of endorsements. It has been estimated by sports marketing experts that Michael Phelps will make $100 million in his lifetime from sponsorships and endorsements. This is extremely rare!
In a startling statistic from the United States Track and Field Foundation, only 50% of athletes ranked in the top 10 in their event make more than $15,000 a year!!!!
Why compete? These athletes love what they do. They are some of the most gifted athletes on the planet that have the desire to represent their country and strive for gold.
Gold may pay off, earning an athlete name recognition and the potential for endorsements and/or sponsorships. These things are not automatic seeing as companies want someone who is a good fit for their company, has physical appeal, is charismatic and a good spokesperson. Most nations do have an "incentive" for athletes who win a medal ranging in creativity and amount (for example Australian athletes who win gold get a $20,000 feature on an Australian stamp and an upgrade on the flight home). The United States offers $25,000 to an athlete winning a gold medal. Pretty good pay day, except for when you break it down to look at how that is supposed to sustain an athlete for 4 years while they train for their next chance to potentially win another $25,000.
Look at it this way, your odds of giving birth (women) to identical quadruplets is 1 in 15 million. Your odds of becoming President are 1 in 10 million. Your odds of becoming a movie star are 1 in 1,505,000. Odds of dying from flesh-eating bacteria or being struck by lightening are 1 in 1 million. The odds of a person becoming an Olympic athlete are 1 in 636,000. However, the odds of winning a gold medal are 1 in 22 million. So, you are more likely to be struck by lightening while giving birth to identical quadruplets as you are sworn in as President than winning an Olympic gold medal. Yet, somehow it seems that those are the only athletes that are actually making money from their sport.
This is not a pity party, this is a wake-up call. Athletes everywhere are demanding change. Sanya Richards-Ross (@SanyaRichiRoss) is one of the few athletes that has big name appeal and big name sponsorships, but she is leading the way in the campaign to demand change. Some of her recent tweets include:
"We must break our silence... WORLD your Olympians are starving while others make a fortune join in as
"Hard working Olympians leave the games with no financial support while $6billion earned around these games
"Lots of money spent around games but it's not reaching the athletes that need it most! Your super heroes are left out!
And my favorite:
"We love to entertain, inspire, and encourage the world but Olympians are going home unable to pay their bills! #WeDemangeChange"
This demand for change comes on the heels of Rule #40 which prohibited athletes from using social media to promote their sponsors during the times of the Olympics if their sponsors were not "official" Olympic sponsors. This new rule hindered many athletes from fulfilling their promises to sponsors or losing out on the opportunity to gain new sponsorships. One athlete was asked to remove a picture of his Nike spikes from Facebook. Nike was the official uniform provider for USA track and field athletes, but not an official Olympic sponsor, so when his new uniform and spikes arrived, he proudly posted about it on Facebook and was immediately told to remove the photograph or be subject to a fine. The rule was put into place to protect official Olympic sponsors, but are they succeeding?
Most people when asked believed Nike was an official Olympic sponsor. The official sponsor of the Olympics was Adidas, but Nike's clever campaigns had many people fooled. The rule, instead of protecting official sponsors, just served to further stifle athletes in their attempt to earn a living.
Join Sanya Richards-Ross and athletes everywhere, #WeDemandChange
Thanks for listening ;)
Well-said, Sarah. I'm planning on ambush marketing being my new research agenda. It's not a popular opinion in the sponsorship world, but I think if you get ambushed by Nike, you aren't paying attention. Athletes deserve more. Thanks for sharing.
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