Is sports all about money? Yes, it is. The main and key idea from which we should start. As a matter of fact, Neymar’s statement from a press release, where he said that he and Messi experienced hell at PSG. Wait, what? Does anybody have any idea how much Neymar earned in his six-year stay in Paris? I will tell you: only from contracts worth more than 100 million euros. Maybe more than 150 million, but let’s be… “conservative”. In this case, how can you be unhappy, go thru hell, and any other nonsensical things like these? Especially when your print at the club was so thin. You didn’t win the Champions League; you had been injured for almost half of the spell there, and so on. How can this be possible? Well, money is so abundant and unevenly distributed in sports that these cases become more frequent.
200 million / year for Cristiano Ronaldo
This is not about Neymar or Messi, not about any particular figure, but it is about the way in which part of the sport was inhaled by money and the other part is struggling to survive. The fact that Saudis, for example, have so much money was decisive in bringing in Cristiano Ronaldo as a player for 200M EUR / year. An indecent amount – now you will say that Neymar didn’t win as much money in six seasons at PSG, which is true, but how far can we go? For Cristiano Ronaldo, it was obvious that nobody wanted him in European football. So it happened to Messi only six months later. European clubs cannot compete anymore with Saudi Arabian clubs, of course, and I cannot blame them, but why did these players go for this kind of trend, especially Ronaldo, who created a real trend of famous players following him in the league…?
Why should you compromise your name and play there?
I mean, for me, it is very disappointing that football icons like Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Xavi, Andres Iniesta, and even Steven Gerard or Wayne Rooney, to put just a few examples on the carpet, chose to finalize their careers in championships well below their football heritage. And now I am not talking about human rights or anything, as this is not a topic based on which to choose a country to play in. I mean, do you think any human rights are respected in Romania, a country from the European Union where people burn alive in the most horrible accidents? Don’t think so! Then, let’s not fall into those kinds of discussions, because the point is that these guys had a lot of money already and just didn’t need to go and play there.
Sergio Ramos, Angel di Maria… counter examples
For example, with all due respect, Sergio Ramos chose Sevilla, Angel di Maria chose Benfica Lisbon, and Kroos or Szczesny already stated that they wouldn’t go there. Of course, these can be just words, but they have some truth in them. Zidane, Figo, Ronaldo, and Ronaldinho, to mention only the primes of the previous generation, chose to end their careers in decent football countries. Ibrahimovic went to play in the US, but he returned and retired, in style, from AC Milan. You will say that Pele, Beckenbauer, or Cruyff did play in the 1970s in the US. Correct, but then the financial component was of other importance because money was not as big as now and Cruyff didn’t earn for sure as much as Messi did at Barcelona, to give a simple example.
Equal pay, a pure illusion
There is nothing wrong with going to coach in Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Japan, or the USA, but playing there after you have managed to touch the highest peaks of football history in the 21st century puts you down from your pedestal. But why did everything turn out this way? Simple: because of money and of interest, and, generally speaking, this happens in every sport. We have in mind the latest scandals linked to “equal pay” for men and women, but this cannot happen and it is not discriminatory. The point is that sports attract money differently, and male sports, in general, especially football and tennis, sort of, are the kings in this chapter. People worldwide are just willing to pay much more to see Barcelona, Real Madrid, Messi, Ronaldo, Manchester United, Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, and so on, compared to the ladies teams or the ladies that play tennis. Simple as that.
If you don’t have a sponsor, you should ask yourself why!
It is not a discussion worth debating, but it serves as the bedrock for the relationship between sports and sponsors, ultimately with money. “I don’t have a sponsor; life is so hard without money as a professional sportsman / woman.” I hear this all the time in Romanian sports, but the reality is that you need to be at a certain standard and, most importantly, as well known as possible. Because sponsors want you to deliver results and to have a good audience who sees you, if you are exposed, then the sponsor is exposed, and then their return is worth the investment. What do the results mean? Hmmm… hard to tell. It depends on the sport. OK, top performers are excluded, so what is the fine line? Maybe a qualification to the Olympics or to world / continental competitions with fairly decent results.
Skyrunning brings you more than marathon records. Or is the sport itself the core source of money?
You may want to shine at specific well-known sporting events like the Rugby World Cup, UTMB – for ultra-trail runners, maybe the Spartathlon, a major marathon from Abbot six, in the Handball Champions League, etc. You may not be able to go there, for whatever reasons, so what options do you have? One single, clear one: become popular and well known by the masses! In the running world, with which I have become very familiar in recent years, Dean Karnazes has a net worth comparable to that of top marathon runner Eliud Kipchoge, around 3 million dollars, while Kilian Jornet, the famous skyrunner, has 17 million! Is mountain ultrarunning / skyrunning more famous and well-paid than conventional marathons? For sure not, especially when we are talking about the world record holder and the only man to run 42.195 kilometers in less than two hours!
Influence people, and it becomes easier – firm statement below
What makes the difference, then? The influencer side does the job. Now, Jornet is a top sportsman, no question about that. It is a sport with growing popularity, but in normal circumstances, if he had been only a sportsman, then his income couldn’t be so much higher compared to Kipchoge, the marathon legend. People really need to know you; you’ve got to have exposure, and if you put some great or at least decent results on top, then sponsors are more likely to join your cause. Moving forward, another relevant example comes to mind: Sorana Cîrstea. She is a decent Romanian tennis player but not a top contender. So what? Look what she said at the end of 2022:
“I remember, for example, when I had a contract with adidas, considering that I look fairly good for an athlete, they were telling me that it’s better to look good and be in the top 20 than to not look that good and be No. 1. When you are in the top 20, you are seen anyway; you are there at every tournament, and they were telling me it’s better to be beautiful in the top 10 or top 20 than less beautiful and No. 1. Of course, you realize they have their own quotas; it’s a market”.
Influencing, more important than results. But you need to have results!
“Wait, what?” – you might say… But it is absolutely the supreme proof of the fact that the way you perform is, sometimes, just debatable. The most important thing is how you are able to make an impact on the masses. What is your visibility, that is? The blend is real; you need to have some results, but I would keep the 80/20, as Pareto would say. Which means 80 percent is in how you “sell” yourself to people and the remaining is generated by results. But the 20% is essential, because if you are a sub-mediocre athlete, most likely your visibility won’t be the one the sponsors like. In any case, you need to look good.
Now, this is why!
This is the only recipe: be great, or at least good, but be known and inspire people. Everybody – or almost everybody – depending on the level, would like to sponsor somebody who can influence, in a good way, many others. That is why Messi, Ronaldo, or Neymar are baited with huge amounts in the US or Saudi Arabia. They have an audience. They are popular. It doesn’t matter their age or the fact that nobody wants them in Europe. It is just a numbers’ game, and, in the end, this is what every moneymaker wants: to sponsor you and win even more from the collaboration. If you don’t have sponsors, it’s most likely your fault, and you don’t do things right. Either on your performance or – most likely – on your exposure. It is a personal opinion based on real facts. Don’t agree? Prove me wrong!
Photo: pixabay.com