FORUM: How Will Swimming Break Dow Barriers To Building An Economy Fit To Pay The Swimmer?
In Part 1 of our latest FORUM mini-series, we asked why traditional race-day formats are misfiring. Today, in Part 2, we outline swimming's economic model, consider prize money & bonuses build 'a poor athlete's sport', & call on the athlete and coach voice to return with the League
Last week, we looked at the money World Aquatics generates, in the context of just how small that sum is relative to the global sports economy. Size matters, of course, but what you do with what you’ve got matters even more.
The income, revenue and assets are what they are, but the rubber hits the ground on a roll or a bump and bang depending on how that money is then spent. Choices, choices…and who do we see near the front of the queue when those decisions are made?
The nature and flow of both income and outgoing depend, of course, on decisions made by regulators, governors and guardians. Swimming, for example, is underpinned by massive and varied forms of subsidisation in the same place where we might use the term ‘investment’ when discussing much larger, models and examples of popular, year-round, season-upon-season, mass-audience, professional sport. Part 1:
Craig Lord
Swimming’s current financial model under the self-declared ‘reformists’ currently at the helm of World and continental federations, includes these key features:
- Olympic revenue as the biggest source of income when the IOC shares some of the honey from its vast Games-shaped pot to its affiliate organisations, namely international federations such as World Aquatics
- The World Cup, complete with its traditional and full championship program, morning heats, evening finals, all squeezed into half of its intended natural program length, as the premier shop-window, prize-winning, income-generating official event in between the sport’s biggest occasions when the lights shine bright enough for the wider audience when ‘growth’ might be found.
- And that means the space in between these: No1 - the Olympic Games, which, unlike Track and Field, generates no official income for athletes from international federations; and No2 - World long-course championships that include relatively modest amounts of prize money and bonuses. Continental Championships and the World short-course championships fit roughly into the No3 slot...
- A growing empire of development centres, the financial details and commercial arrangements of which are largely unknown to the wider community of world swimming stakeholders and are not included in the press releases and only statements that mark the borderline between the seen and unseen, the transparent and what is not, whether intentional or not.
A quick reminder Pro Vs Olympic Sports Models:
Who Gets The Money & Who Does Not
Major professional sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB) are structured to give athletes a direct, high percentage of revenue, while Olympic athletes rely primarily on indirect funding, sponsorship, and, in some cases, private donations.
Big Pro Sports Revenue Sharing (2026)
Structure: These leagues use salary caps determined by collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) to split revenue directly with players.
NBA: Players receive approximately 50% of league revenue, with a projected $165 million salary cap for the 2026 - 27 season.
NFL: Players receive roughly 48% - 50% of total league revenue, with the 2026 salary cap projected at $301.2 million per team.
Olympic Sports Funding (2026)
- No Direct Salary: The International Olympic Committee (IOC) does not pay athletes a salary. Instead, 90% of revenue is distributed to National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and governing bodies for development.
Global Variance: Some countries offer up to $1 million for a gold medal, while others offer no direct compensation, making athletes reliant on endorsements and sponsors.
Example - US Payments: For the 2026 Winter Olympics, US athletes receive modest bonuses for medals: $37, 500 for gold, $22, 500 for silver, and $15,000 for bronze.
Comparison
Pro athletes receive a guaranteed, negotiated cut of the billions generated. Olympic athletes in most sports, unless they are elite superstars with endorsements, often struggle to break even on training costs, relying on third-party support rather than direct profit-sharing from the revenue they generate.
