Making it to the Olympics is a expensive enterprise for American athletes. Obligatory Credit score: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports activities PARIS — Being an Olympic athlete within the U.S. shouldn’t be solely bodily arduous, however financially expensive.
A current report revealed 26.5 p.c of high-performance American athletes earn lower than $15,000 a yr, in accordance with “Passing the Torch” by the Fee on the State of the U.S. Olympics & Paralympics.
One other 10 p.c earn between $15,000-$25,000.
“Solely 50% of all responding high-performance athletes reported any compensation associated to their sport, and of these solely 11.5% obtained sponsorships,” mentioned Han Xiao, the fee’s co-chair and a former member of the nationwide desk tennis group. “Most athletes stay off of some mixture of stipends, prize cash, assist from household or companions, and salaries from different kinds of work.”
The price of competitors at a world-class stage – journey, lodging, gear, charges – can be extraordinarily excessive. Olympians spend a median of $12,000 yearly on associated prices.
Some American Olympians sleep in a automotive or try and get by with out ample meals and diet or sufficient medical insurance, the report discovered.
“This Olympic cycle has been worse than ever,” mentioned Brant Feldman, an agent with American Group Administration who represents quite a few Olympic athletes like water polo’s Maggie Steffens and swimmer Paige Madden. That’s as a result of there are fewer endorsement alternatives, Feldman added.
“They might be promoting a whole lot of adverts, nevertheless it simply hasn’t trickled right down to the athletes,” Feldman mentioned. “Athletes stay on these endorsements, and they’re ravenous for offers.”
Because of this, the price of surviving usually finally ends up occurring plastic.
Certainly one of Feldman’s former shoppers, as an illustration, couldn’t pay a fee straight away as a result of he had run up $41,000 in credit-card debt – protecting not simply himself, however fellow group members as properly.
“The quantity of tales I’ve personally heard about fellow athletes operating up bank card debt are too many for me to depend,” mentioned Xiao.
Listed here are some explanation why athletes discover themselves in such a monetary gap: Olympic committees and sport governing our bodies are sometimes cash-strapped themselves; corporations are slicing athlete sponsorships and the U.S. lacks a strong nationwide funding system, which is the norm in competing nations.
Specialists advise present and future Olympians that till the system undergoes actual change, athletes must be hyper-focused on seizing this once-in-a-lifetime second in Paris.
GET QUALITY REPRESENTATION
To be among the many finest athletes on the planet requires 100% focus – which implies that your bandwidth for dealing with the books is proscribed. And if a well-meaning guardian helps out with the enterprise finish, they won’t have the know-how or community to take your profession to the following stage.
“Have good illustration to search for sponsorship alternatives for you and to look out to your pursuits once you enter into agreements with sponsors and sport federations,” advises Xiao. “Being an athlete and being an agent are full-time jobs, and it is actually arduous to do each issues rather well.”
DEVELOP YOUR BRAND
You may assume that being among the many world’s finest athletes is ample to get cash rolling in, however that isn’t sufficient. It’s essential work in your private model by maximizing social media presence.
“To me, the athletes who do not love to do social media are in bother,” says Feldman. “Even in case you’re solely good on one platform, like Instagram or TikTok, you must be posting content material as a lot as you may.”
Additionally guarantee that companies can contact you and get fast responses, by offering the e-mail deal with of your agent in your bio.
Manufacturers usually attain out by direct message on Instagram or TikTok.
“If they do not get a response, they simply transfer onto the following athlete,” Feldman says.
ACT FAST
For a brief interval, the eyes of all the world can be on you. However that won’t final.
“As soon as the Olympics finish, we’re heading into the primary weeks of faculty soccer, into NFL exhibition video games, into baseball pennant races,” Feldman says. “If an athlete goes out and medals in Paris, you want somebody inside 72 hours in your aspect hyping you straight away… If you have not gotten offers inside 60-90 days, you’ll have blown your window.”
–Reuters, Particular to Subject Degree Media