The Economics of Pro Cycling

(Part 2)

Last week, I wrote about the current state of health of professional cycling and how the financial windfall of the sport is sucked into.

To summarize, the salaries and the logistics of a cycling team comes from the team sponsors and all the income (from race sponsors and TV rights) from the biggest races like the Tour de France goes exclusively to the owners of the Tour de France. And its for this reason that teams come and go, especially when a team sponsor feels that their marketing targets have been reached.

So, how much does a pro cyclist earn in 2018? According to Cycling Pulse, a continental team, (a team that needs an invitation to ride the Tour de France for example,) is required by the UCI, the world governing body of cycling, to pay a basic salary of almost P2 million/year. A World Tour team, like SKY, is required to pay at least Php2.4 million/year. To put it in perspective, the average salary in UK is a little bit higher than than a Continental rider.

It is painful to think that the average NBA player earns P352 million/year!!!!! The most famous cyclist today is Peter Sagan and is rumored to earn P310 million/year. Can you imagine a cycling superstar earning less than an average NBA player? I mean, what planet are we living in?

Now, it was projected that ASO earned a profit of USD23M in 2017 and if half of it were given to the ProTour teams, it would be minuscule but it would be a good start. Remember that the road racing, which is the most popular discipline of cycling, is free- not tickets, no nothing. Track cycling is better since you need to buy tickets to watch the race.

The difference between Sagans’ salary and the average Pierre is just incredibly demoralizing. On top of that, only Sagan can get the best endorsement deals. I was surprised why OAKLEY let go of Sagan. Now, 100 percent is reaping the profits everytime Sagan stands on the podium or crosses the finish line first. But Sagan is a rare cyclist, probably a Michael Jordan among his peers.

But some teams pay more than the minimum. A good “domestique” a team helper, can earn between P10-28 million/yr. A super domestique like Geraint Thomas (before he won the Tour this year), commanded between P70-100 million a year. Of course, Thomas is about to sign a better deal in a few weeks.

Then are are performance bonuses. For example, Dan Martin, an Irish superstar, was given P21 million bonus for winning Liege-Bastogne-Liege. There are also appearance fees. It was believed that Chris Froome was offered P130 million just to ride the Giro d’Italia. He refused. Sprinters, get more money than. Mark Cavendish earns P207 million a year, just like his rival Marcel Kittel. But its the Tour contenders that get the most out of the team pie like the Froome’s,  the Dumoulin’s and the Thomas’s of the world.

In the end, why endure such a hard workplace for so little? Well, it’s to chase a dream. Its rare to pursue something you love and get paid to do it. Poets and painters and artists go hungry to chase a dream. Cycling is like that.