Yes, track and field might be among the most watched sports during the Olympics, but its popularity pales in comparison to sports such as basketball and football. So one would naturally assume that track athletes make less money than them. But how much is the difference? Well, the top American track and field athletes earn over $50K annually, whereas can make millions! This disparity has come to the forefront once again as big names like Noah Lyles earned a fraction of what NBA players make.

What aggravates the pay disparity even more is that many track and field athletes rely on prize money instead of salaries. While pro athletes from other sports earn millions annually just through their salary, world and Olympic champions do not earn a fixed amount in track. Now a Reddit post has only fanned that flame of disappointment in the community.

The post claimed that Noah Lyles and Julien Alfred earned around $127,800 and $154,600, respectively, throughout the 2024 track and field season. “Only includes meets where the prize money has been published in the public domain,” revealed the post.

The prize amounts mentioned for Lyles and Alfred in this article were taken from OwenM’s X page and not from official sources.

Noah Lyles earned:

• New Balance Indoor Grand Prix – $3,000
• World Indoor (60m) – $20,000
• World Indoor (4x400m) – $5,000
• Bermuda Grand Prix – $1,600
• World Relays – $10,000
• Racers Grand Prix – $1,200
• New York Grand Prix – $5,000
• US Olympic Trials (100m) – $11,000
• US Olympic Trials (200m) – $11,000
• London DL – $10,000
• Paris Olympics – $50,000

That is $127,800.

Another thing was how little extra money Julien Alfred earned despite competing at the Zurich Diamond League ($6,000) and winning in the finals at Brussels ($30,000). Further, she earned $50,000 from winning the 100m finals in Paris.

This post also reminds us of what Grant Holloway did just a few days ago. “I will not be participating in the Brussels Diamond League final due to failure to reach agreements on the terms of my participation between my team and the meeting directors of the Diamond League. Shame that they doing athletes like that,” he released a statement and refused to settle for $30,000.

Carl Lewis, one of the greatest sprinters in U.S. history, took direct shots at the Diamond League on September 3. “The Diamond League has always been about collusion and lowering athletes’ control and pay, it needs to go. @WorldAthletics has the opportunity to create a great event with the end of the year competition coming soon. Then, put their full support behind the new events coming,” he wrote on X. And fans seem to agree with this narrative. They took to Reddit to share their thoughts.

The track and field community expressed their despair

With 14 legs organized across different locations across the globe, the Diamond League is the biggest track and field event of the season. However, the $30,000 purse after winning the finals has disheartened many fans of the sport.

“My son is really good at track and baseball. I told him to pursue baseball. A minor league career is better than the equivalent track career. Even being a gold medalist in track, prize money is less than an engineer would make. You would have to be extremely race-heavy and/or break world records. Shoe companies can help, but they just don’t earn that amount long enough, and those contracts are incentive-heavy,” wrote a disheartened parent.

“Not a lot of money for top athletes eh,” wrote another social media user.

Here’s the thing. Sprinters like Noah Lyles and Sha’Carri Richardson are the cream of the crop and seeing them make so less in comparison to other sports was a sad reality fans had to come to terms with. But there were other opinions too.

“Lyles definitely made millions… Don’t forget all his endorsements and sponsor appearance bonuses,” commented one Redditor, and one can’t argue with this. The Olympic gold medalist signed the biggest contract extension with Adidas earlier this year since Usain Bolt’s contract with Puma. Unfortunately, Lyles’ management agency, Global Athletics and Marketing, Inc., didn’t divulge the details of the landmark contract.

“Most of Bolt’s $100 million fortune is from corporate endorsements and not prize money, which is pitiful for such high-level sport. Perhaps these athletes should keep this in mind and consider hiring competent brand managers,” one fan opined.

However, that doesn’t mean we can’t make an educated guess. In November 2018, LetsRun.com founded Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone to be earning over $1.5 million. Hence, Noah Lyles was predicted to be earning over $2 million a year from Adidas. Runner Kyle Merber also made a similar guess. “Safe to assume this contract is at least $2.3M/year,” mentioned the middle-distance runner.

On the flip side, even successful athletes struggle when they don’t have brands to come to the rescue. Team USA’s Trevor Bassitt had to rely on GoFundMe for his athletic endeavors, as he couldn’t secure a sponsorship deal. However, another fan explained why the DL finals couldn’t offer their winner huge cash prizes. “Diamond League events don’t make a huge amount of revenue to begin,” commented one fan.

However, as we have already established, not everyone can join the top 1% of track and field athletes. And maybe that’s why events such as the Athlos and Grand Slam Track are the need of the hour. Unlike the established leagues, these upcoming events have promised to revolutionize how much a track and field athlete can earn per year.

Alex Ohanian’s Athlos NYC has promised $60,000 to the winners; Double of the DL offers. Meanwhile, Michael Johnson’s Grand Slam Track has promised a mind-boggling total prize pool of $12.6 million. Will these efforts truly change the game of track and field as a sport? Only time will tell.