The Olympic Games are a big money affair. Yet the athletes, who are the raw material, still rarely see any of it. But reality and mentalities may be changing.
The world’s largest sporting event, the Olympics bring together athletes from all sorts of sports, countries, and incomes. But aside from a few professional sports multimillionaires, like basketball player LeBron James, golfer Jon Rahm, and tennis player Iga Swiatek, and athletes with lucrative endorsement deals, like gymnast Simone Biles and the biggest names in the 100-meter dash, most competitors go to the Games primarily for the challenge and the hope of fleeting glory.
In Canada, top athletes were receiving $1,765 a month from Ottawa before the government promised a 25% increase over the next five years. It’s not uncommon to keep a part-time job, use crowdfunding campaigns or simply go into debt to pursue your Olympic dream.
The best of the best Canadian athletes who manage to climb to the top of the rankings in Paris will be entitled to a cash prize of $20,000 for a gold medal, $15,000 for a silver medal and $10,000 for a bronze medal. In future years, the Canadian Olympic Committee will give $5,000 to all those who manage to place in the top five at the world championships.
Other countries are much more generous to their Olympic champions, with a gold medal worth US$22,000 in Germany, US$38,000 in the United States, US$87,000 in France, US$102,000 in Spain and US$745,000 in Singapore, according to data compiled by the American channel CNBC. In Kazakhstan, the gold medal comes with a sum of US$250,000 and the keys to an apartment.
Athletes of the world, unite
“It’s true that our athletes live modestly. But they’re not the only ones,” observes François Bieuzen, the director of sports sciences at the Institut national du sport (INS) du Québec. “It’s the entire ecosystem of amateur sports that lives modestly. That is to say, the athletes, but also the professionals, the coaches and all the support teams that surround them, whose reality has nothing to do with that of professional sport.”
Better income and more financial resources would not only allow them to live a little more comfortably, notes the expert: they would also allow a better environment for the development of sport.
And yet the Olympics are big business. The International Olympic Committee (IOC), for one, recently reported total revenues of US$7.6 billion during the four-year cycle that ended with the Tokyo 2021 Games. Just under a third of that (61%) came from the sale of broadcast rights; a good chunk of the rest (30%) came from deals with major sponsors.
About 90% of this treasure was given to the national Olympic committees, international sports federations and the organizing committees of the two Games held during this period. Although it did not go directly into their pockets, this money benefited the athletes in a certain way, because it helped finance their competitions, their sports equipment and their training and support infrastructure.
That doesn’t change the fact that those whose sacrifices and exploits bring in billions in broadcast and sponsorship fees never see that money directly. “Everyone makes money — the IOC, the TV stations, the advertisers, the host cities — except the athletes,” says Benoît Séguin, a professor of sports management and marketing at the University of Ottawa.
In professional sports, whenever owners start making a lot more money, athletes strike to demand a bigger piece of the pie, the expert points out. “But there’s a baseball or hockey season every year, while the Olympics are only held every four years. Those who realize their dream of going to the Olympics often only get one chance in their life. Who would want to sacrifice that chance to go on strike?”
Changes in progress
Aware that the status quo is not sustainable in the long term, the IOC has started to ease off on the sponsorship front, reports Frank Pons, professor and director of the International Observatory of Sports Management at Université Laval. In particular, it is tolerating more and more breaches of its rule prohibiting athletes, during the Games, from advertising any commercial brand other than those of its official sponsors. But that probably won’t be enough.
In the United States, courts have recently ordered that at least part of the immense revenues generated by college football and basketball leagues should benefit their athletes, who until now were considered mere students.
In April, the International Athletics Federation pledged $50,000 to the 48 eventual track and field gold medalists at the Paris Games. That hasn’t stopped promoters, led by former U.S. sprint champion Michael Johnson, from announcing a rival track and field championship next year to its Diamond League — and with much more generous prize money.
To be continued
The Canadian Olympic Committee says it remains sensitive to the well-being of athletes and their demands for better revenue sharing. “Is there a discussion to be had on this issue and a rebalancing of things to be done? Certainly,” said its head of sport, Eric Myles, before leaving for Paris. “We must not be afraid to have these discussions if we want to progress.”
The changes announced by the International Athletics Federation are an example, he says, that “solutions are emerging.” “How will all this turn out? We’ll see. We’ll deal with the Paris Games first, then we’ll move on.”
This report was financed with the support of the Transat International Journalism Fund-The duty.