How expensive is figure skating

[CoyoteChris]

that's a new one. never knew it was out of line to be falling in figure skating, heaven forbid! how dare you fall on a triple jump

I forgot about the mental cost....the bullying, racism, snobbery....parental pressure...society pressure in some cultures...coach bullying....

 

[CoyoteChris]

Nothing cheep about the sport... mentally, physically, monitarily and of course the time commitment of the skater and family. And how many skaters end up with the financial rewards of say Yuna Kim?
I tell the Sponsors of my sports how much I appreciate what they do.
(not cheep to be a fan and attend an event, either....)
In many sports...college sports... skating, the realms of the Amateur and professional have become bleary for many reasons.
So who should pay for competitive skaters? Country sports ministries? Corporate Sponsors? Fans? Benefactors? Associations? I have no idea.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amateur_sports​

 

[moonvine]

It’s almost too expensive for me to watch. Let alone do!

 

[metconahay]

It's crazy that even if you reach the point of being good enough to threaten for medals at major international competitions, you'll still be struggling to break even with training costs. Vincent Zhou talked a lot about struggling financially with skating costs as recently as last year, even after getting bronze at worlds.

I guess people like Nathan can reasonably rely on making about $100k a year in prize money alone (and he also has large sponsorships, ice shows, etc), but that's obviously an exception because Nathan Chen is far from your average podium contender lol

 

[Bluediamonds09]

I'm confused again about yearly pricing of the sport. The recent interview with a British skater named PJ added up his expenses and he said around 17000 pounds. And the British government cut funding for figure skaters so I'm guessing a huge percentage of that was paid for himself. Still, 24000 US dollars is way less than the 60K I originally thought or the 100K that many posted in this thread.
I'm just curious I guess (in lockdown there's nothing to do). PJ included physical therapy, travel, costumes, coach fees, private ice, blades, etc. Maybe other skaters feel the need to spend more for luxury costumes and more private ice time?

 

[Amei]

I'm confused again about yearly pricing of the sport. The recent interview with a British skater named PJ added up his expenses and he said around 17000 pounds. And the British government cut funding for figure skaters so I'm guessing a huge percentage of that was paid for himself. Still, 24000 US dollars is way less than the 60K I originally thought or the 100K that many posted in this thread.
I'm just curious I guess (in lockdown there's nothing to do). PJ included physical therapy, travel, costumes, coach fees, private ice, blades, etc. Maybe other skaters feel the need to spend more for luxury costumes and more private ice time?

Well there's going to be a difference in what things cost in relation to where you live and then there's the cost you choose to take on with going for more expensive items.

 

[gordana]

And the British government cut funding for figure skaters so I'm guessing a huge percentage of that was paid for himself.

In this interview Zoe Jones and Christopher Boyadiji don't reveal how much they need for a season. But it is very clear that the government funding is available only for the Worlds medalists. And that they were about to retire because of funding problems. An interview

 

[Weathergal]

Thank you for sharing that article. What a lovely pair. I've always admired them, and this makes me root for them even more.

 

[Sharon Whitlock]

I guess the old saying is true for me: if I have to ask how much it costs, I can’t afford it.

Even if I could it would not matter since I have no athletic skills anyway. Haha

The question was, "How expensive is figure skating?"

If you're a beginner, you can afford it. I agree with all the breakdowns so far on this thread, but figure skating at the beginning levels is not that expensive.

I apologize if I am assuming you're not currently a figure skater. I haven't been back on this forum enough to get to know people.

Beginning figure skaters generally start out in group sessions, which in our city run around $30 for four weeks. Your skate rental in our city is around $2-3. (Rental skates are usually pretty rough--a big incentive to look for some used figure skates, which for adults with reasonably "normal" feet is not difficult, as many people start skating and quit after a short time, and want to get rid of their skates. OR...like my husband, they die...I currently have two pairs of male figure skates (black) available, but they are a size 8 and very wide (my late husband had "hobbit feet"--so cute, but...hard for him to find shoes that fit!).

As you get more advanced in the Learn To Skate sessions, they will get more expensive, but they're still reasonably priced and you're still not paying for a private coach, or for competition fees, travel, skating club membership, etc. You will probably want to practice outside of your LTS session, but for a while, you can still do this on public skating sessions, which are very cheap.

It's only when you decide to progress to the more advanced skating that the costs will start to increase. But even then, until you are working on jumps like axel and the doubles, it's still not that expensive. A coach will charge $120/hour, but most lessons at the early levels are only 15 minute lessons, so around $30/lesson. Usually only 1 lesson a week while you are just beginning.

And if you are entering competitions at a beginner level, they're still a lot of fun and you'll still get nervous and excited--but they don't cost that much since they are generally at your rink or a nearby rink. (We are lucky to be in Northern Illinois and many suburbs of Chicago have a skating rink and offer a competition!)

It's just like anything else--the more advanced you get, the more it costs.

But if you love it--you'll find a way to make it work. One suggestion I would have is to move somewhere where cost of living is cheaper, and ice time/coaching/etc. is cheaper, too. A lot of smaller cities have great skating programs that aren't as expensive--unless of course, your goal is the Olympics! If that's your goal, be rich--and move to those Olympic training center cities!

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

The question was, "How expensive is figure skating?"

If you're a beginner, you can afford it. I agree with all the breakdowns so far on this thread, but figure skating at the beginning levels is not that expensive.

I apologize if I am assuming you're not currently a figure skater. I haven't been back on this forum enough to get to know people.

Beginning figure skaters generally start out in group sessions, which in our city run around $30 for four weeks. Your skate rental in our city is around $2-3. (Rental skates are usually pretty rough--a big incentive to look for some used figure skates, which for adults with reasonably "normal" feet is not difficult, as many people start skating and quit after a short time, and want to get rid of their skates. OR...like my husband, they die...I currently have two pairs of male figure skates (black) available, but they are a size 8 and very wide (my late husband had "hobbit feet"--so cute, but...hard for him to find shoes that fit!).

As you get more advanced in the Learn To Skate sessions, they will get more expensive, but they're still reasonably priced and you're still not paying for a private coach, or for competition fees, travel, skating club membership, etc. You will probably want to practice outside of your LTS session, but for a while, you can still do this on public skating sessions, which are very cheap.

It's only when you decide to progress to the more advanced skating that the costs will start to increase. But even then, until you are working on jumps like axel and the doubles, it's still not that expensive. A coach will charge $120/hour, but most lessons at the early levels are only 15 minute lessons, so around $30/lesson. Usually only 1 lesson a week while you are just beginning.

And if you are entering competitions at a beginner level, they're still a lot of fun and you'll still get nervous and excited--but they don't cost that much since they are generally at your rink or a nearby rink. (We are lucky to be in Northern Illinois and many suburbs of Chicago have a skating rink and offer a competition!)

It's just like anything else--the more advanced you get, the more it costs.

But if you love it--you'll find a way to make it work. One suggestion I would have is to move somewhere where cost of living is cheaper, and ice time/coaching/etc. is cheaper, too. A lot of smaller cities have great skating programs that aren't as expensive--unless of course, your goal is the Olympics! If that's your goal, be rich--and move to those Olympic training center cities!

Sorry, but I must respectfully disagree on many points:


One must live in the middle of nowhere if this is true for them. Because that is not how it works pretty much everywhere that I am aware of. It costs a considerable amount after initial LTS programs. Coaches are expensive and they teach longer than 15 mins sessions. Depending on your feet and needs as far as boots go, you will pay the price for them. You will have to join the skating club at most places not long after LTS lessons if you want to even get near freestyle ice. Step on w/o membership are 15+USD a pop (for 30-45 mins), and many clubs/rinks will not let you on unless you are a member of the club because that covers them for insurance reasons etc if you or another skater were to get injured on their ice session.

IDK what part of Chicagoland you are in but I've been/lived there and it's not as cheap as claimed.

Then if one wants to get on competition track, the costs go even further up. So unless someone lives somewhere that only has a tiny rink with no decent coaches and they want to be able to learn enough to go around the rink w/o falling over a million times on public session, it's definitely NOT inexpensive. Also, to claim if you want to go Olympic/Elite level as your goal---you'd better be rich, is very impolite and out of line, because the whole point of this thread is how many skaters past and present at that level are not rich and don't need to be. They have had success but not w/o sacrifice for the dream. This is true in many elite sports.

 

[moonvine]

I'm confused again about yearly pricing of the sport. The recent interview with a British skater named PJ added up his expenses and he said around 17000 pounds. And the British government cut funding for figure skaters so I'm guessing a huge percentage of that was paid for himself. Still, 24000 US dollars is way less than the 60K I originally thought or the 100K that many posted in this thread.
I'm just curious I guess (in lockdown there's nothing to do). PJ included physical therapy, travel, costumes, coach fees, private ice, blades, etc. Maybe other skaters feel the need to spend more for luxury costumes and more private ice time?

I don’t think PJ has a big name coach or choreographer. I could be wrong. He also doesn’t compete a whole bunch that I have seen. If I am wrong let me know because I love me some PJ and I would love to watch him more. But let’s say you have GP assignments or are even competing in Senior B’s out of the country. You’ve got travel costs and then you have to pay for your coaches travel costs, lodging and coaching fees (although if a coach works with multiple skaters they split those fees).

I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong.

 

[Ic3Rabbit]

I don’t think PJ has a big name coach or choreographer. I could be wrong. He also doesn’t compete a whole bunch that I have seen. If I am wrong let me know because I love me some PJ and I would love to watch him more. But let’s say you have GP assignments or are even competing in Senior B’s out of the country. You’ve got travel costs and then you have to pay for your coaches travel costs, lodging and coaching fees (although if a coach works with multiple skaters they split those fees).

I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong.

A coach doesn't split fees between skaters, especially not singles.

 

[[email protected]]

Anastasia Tarakanova a couple years ago said that 12 years of figure skating cost her parents 20 million rubles. With the average exchange rate of 40 this means 20 000 000 : 12 : 40 = 42 000 USD per year. She estimated her new season's personal costs at 3 million rubles which was about 50 000 USD and she openly pledged for sponsorship. If you take into account that average income in Russia is 5 times less than that in the USA this will give you about 250 000 USD per year comparable cost of figure skating in Russia. This number might be challenged. Then I shall put it in non-arguable way. Average annual household income in Russia is 600 000 rubles. The personal cost to support a competitive skater, hence, is 5 annual average household incomes.

So much for "state-sponsored figure skating in Russia" argument.

 

[Bluediamonds09]

Anastasia Tarakanova a couple years ago said that 12 years of figure skating cost her parents 20 million rubles. With the average exchange rate of 40 this means 20 000 000 : 12 : 40 = 42 000 USD per year. She estimated her new season's personal costs at 3 million rubles which was about 50 000 USD and she openly pledged for sponsorship. If you take into account that average income in Russia is 5 times less than that in the USA this will give you about 250 000 USD per year comparable cost of figure skating in Russia. This number might be challenged. Then I shall put it in non-arguable way. Average annual household income in Russia is 600 000 rubles. The personal cost to support a competitive skater, hence, is 5 annual average household incomes.

So much for "state-sponsored figure skating in Russia" argument.

WOW!! Yikes, that is... wow.

 

[4everchan]

The question was, "How expensive is figure skating?"

If you're a beginner, you can afford it. I agree with all the breakdowns so far on this thread, but figure skating at the beginning levels is not that expensive.

I apologize if I am assuming you're not currently a figure skater. I haven't been back on this forum enough to get to know people.

Beginning figure skaters generally start out in group sessions, which in our city run around $30 for four weeks. Your skate rental in our city is around $2-3. (Rental skates are usually pretty rough--a big incentive to look for some used figure skates, which for adults with reasonably "normal" feet is not difficult, as many people start skating and quit after a short time, and want to get rid of their skates. OR...like my husband, they die...I currently have two pairs of male figure skates (black) available, but they are a size 8 and very wide (my late husband had "hobbit feet"--so cute, but...hard for him to find shoes that fit!).

As you get more advanced in the Learn To Skate sessions, they will get more expensive, but they're still reasonably priced and you're still not paying for a private coach, or for competition fees, travel, skating club membership, etc. You will probably want to practice outside of your LTS session, but for a while, you can still do this on public skating sessions, which are very cheap.

It's only when you decide to progress to the more advanced skating that the costs will start to increase. But even then, until you are working on jumps like axel and the doubles, it's still not that expensive. A coach will charge $120/hour, but most lessons at the early levels are only 15 minute lessons, so around $30/lesson. Usually only 1 lesson a week while you are just beginning.

And if you are entering competitions at a beginner level, they're still a lot of fun and you'll still get nervous and excited--but they don't cost that much since they are generally at your rink or a nearby rink. (We are lucky to be in Northern Illinois and many suburbs of Chicago have a skating rink and offer a competition!)

It's just like anything else--the more advanced you get, the more it costs.

But if you love it--you'll find a way to make it work. One suggestion I would have is to move somewhere where cost of living is cheaper, and ice time/coaching/etc. is cheaper, too. A lot of smaller cities have great skating programs that aren't as expensive--unless of course, your goal is the Olympics! If that's your goal, be rich--and move to those Olympic training center cities!

All I will say,is that I really wanted to do figure skating... My family was involved in hockey at the time... and my dad, after long considerations, accepted to put me in figure skating, in order to get me skating better, so that eventually, i would be able to join a hockey team... I was only skating on the backyard ice that my dad would make every year so I needed to take skating lessons... In any case, he went all over the place, and for a couple weeks, tried as much as he could to find an affordable, for beginners, skating option in our town..... I was so excited ... and then, I still remember his defeated face, when he had to tell me that it was not something my family could afford... it was about 4-5 times more money than my brothers hockey season.... So I went into swimming... now, that's a sport that won't cost much at the beginning level : a speedo, goggles, and a minimal yearly fee.... but that too changed quickly as i improved super fast... but still wasn't even close to figure skating as a beginner...

So, I am not sure where/when one can find 2 dollar rental skates and very cheap lesson for 30 dollars a week...

For us, as a middle class family, when I was growing up, figure skating was a sport for the wealthy people.....

 

[Amei]

Anastasia Tarakanova a couple years ago said that 12 years of figure skating cost her parents 20 million rubles. With the average exchange rate of 40 this means 20 000 000 : 12 : 40 = 42 000 USD per year. She estimated her new season's personal costs at 3 million rubles which was about 50 000 USD and she openly pledged for sponsorship. If you take into account that average income in Russia is 5 times less than that in the USA this will give you about 250 000 USD per year comparable cost of figure skating in Russia. This number might be challenged. Then I shall put it in non-arguable way. Average annual household income in Russia is 600 000 rubles. The personal cost to support a competitive skater, hence, is 5 annual average household incomes.

So much for "state-sponsored figure skating in Russia" argument.

State sponsored is only for national team members, and I believe there are some city teams for places like St. Petersburg and Moscow to get some funding, hence some of the discussion that has been had about who is the main or reserve team. Additionally there goes back to the choices that get made by the athletes, when Medvedeva went to Orser I remember there was a bit of controversy due to the extra expense of Orser and someone at the Fed said she would get the same amount as everyone else on the team and anything else she had to personally pay.

 

[moonvine]

A coach doesn't split fees between skaters, especially not singles.

I knew someone would correct me if I were wrong. So each skater has to pay the full amount for the coaches lodging and meals?

 

[[email protected]]

State sponsored is only for national team members, and I believe there are some city teams for places like St. Petersburg and Moscow to get some funding, hence some of the discussion that has been had about who is the main or reserve team. Additionally there goes back to the choices that get made by the athletes, when Medvedeva went to Orser I remember there was a bit of controversy due to the extra expense of Orser and someone at the Fed said she would get the same amount as everyone else on the team and anything else she had to personally pay.

The following is just my speculations. I don't know how it works - there can be different scenarios. It is not a secret that Gini index in Russia is quite high. Hence, there are families that can afford paying 5 average annual household incomes for their child. I can't accuse Anastasia of lying. Her parents could have beared all the costs. On the other hand, not every family can. And now we go to the combination of factors. There could be dress recycling like Alina's first DQ dress that came from Zhenya. One thing that is very different from the West is future revenue sharing. So, schools, coaches invest in their pupils with the expectation of their future sharing of prize and endorsement money. Like in venture capital the payback is never guaranteed, though.

 

[el henry]

I knew someone would correct me if I were wrong. So each skater has to pay the full amount for the coaches lodging and meals?

From what I have read, coaches split travel costs and lodging among skaters. They do not get a windfall of being paid for travel three times if they have three skaters at a comp.

They of course then charge their regular fees for coaching each skater, which they collect from each one, because it wouldn't be a windfall.

(I believe I knew what you meant in your post, but fees are different from travel and lodging).

 

[el henry]

So I decided to do Internet research (for what it's worth )

Adam Rippon: Cost of Figure Skating Per Year

Adam ballparks $70K to $100K a year for a top US skater. (2019 interview)

Median US income in 2019: $68K. (if I am reading this correctly. Some hard core econ charts attached)

Income and Poverty in the United States: 2019

This report presents data on income, earnings, income inequality & poverty in the United States based on information collected in the 2018 and earlier CPS ASEC.

www.census.gov

For a sport that gives you next to no chance of earning it back, unless you're Michelle Kwan, it is a labor of love.