A tennis player who makes the 4th Round at Wimbledon makes $132,000 for LOSING! Genie became a Millionaire just by making the final at Wimbledon as that's what the runner-up was paid. How much will the Medalists as Canadian Nationals receive for their victories? Is it enough to fund their training for next season?
Great point.
Figure skating doesn't in any way fund it's skaters even at the elite level. And I don't see how the sport can continue to be competitive in North America if a way isn't found to generate revenue that flows back to fund skaters at all levels.
Training as a skater costs more annually than a US private university tuition, even at the novice level. Patrick Chan's annual training costs are in the 100s not 10s of thousands of dollars. And the long term income prospects for skating are low now that the professional competitions are gone, as are the major travelling shows other than Stars on Ice.
Carded athletes in Canada, that is national team members with the maximum funding, receive CDN$18,000 per year Canadian from Sport Canada to support "the additional expenses of being an elite athlete." I believe that this has not been increased in several years.
Skaters on the podium at nationals do receive modest amounts, but these are withheld if they are already carded. As she cannot be carded since she is not yet a permanent resident in Canada, Lubov Ilyushechkina was able to retain the reportedly $11,000 she received for a bronze placement at nationals 2016.
And while I believe that the skaters can retain their Grand Prix winnings without losing carding, private fundraising from gofundme and other mechanisms reportedly can jeopardize this very modest Sport Canada funding. Income from shows is permitted, so there's a risk of skaters spending too much time touring in shows just to fund their training.
Sport Canada does provide funding to Skate Canada and other national sport federations that they use to fund travel to competitions and training for world and major multi-sport events including the Olympics, Pan Am games, and Commonwealth games under the "Own the Podium" program. But juniors may have to pay part of their and their coaches travel costs, not to mention buying out their coaches time away from other skaters during the trip.
Training costs in some provinces are lower due to many subsidized facilities. I have heard that ice time in Quebec is, for example, much less expensive as clubs have access to low cost facilities.
