Urgent Importance of Financial Funding for Athlete Careers

[BlissfulSynergy]

Oona & Gage Brown open up about financial struggles – Ice-dance.com

www.ice-dance.com

The Brown siblings are interviewed by Morgan Matthews Pennington for icedance.com. The focus of the interview is about Oona's and Gage's ongoing financial struggles. What they face each year in order to continue their career is something that IMO should be more widely publicized across-the-board in figure skating. I am sure that many skaters have to end their careers for financial reasons. Oona and Gage are truly driven by their passion for skating. It is insightful to learn how hard they work to piece together enough to keep going each season. A testament to their dedication and grit can be seen in how hard they work as soccer referees, not only for the money but also for the fitness exercise it provides.

In the article, the Browns point out that money from their Gofundme (along with their fund at NEASF New England Amateur Skating Foundation) have been important sources of help for which they thank their supporters. But obviously, they need more consistent and increased funding to avoid having to struggle each season to stay afloat. As they mention, their family situation is a factor in their struggles. Some skaters are lucky to have wealthy or reasonably well-off parents to support their skating. As Oona and Gage mention, skaters do not tend to publicly discuss the financial costs and struggles they face. This would be a good topic for Ms. Pennington and other figure skating reporters, including @clairecloutier or Anna Kellar of The Future of Figure Skating Podcast to investigate and write about in more depth and detail.

I bring this up here because I think much more attention needs to be focused on this issue on behalf of figure skaters. Other teams who have recently reached out for funding help are pairs skaters Emily Chan & Spencer Howe, and Valentina Plazas & Maximiliano Fernandez. I am sure there are many more who struggle to make ends meet to get from one season to the next, without the chance to afford extra coaching time, physical therapy sessions, off-ice training, etc., so necessary to reach their optimal potential. This is such a shame for these gifted athletes. I personally give when I can to help out some of the athletes I enjoy. But obviously, much more sustainable support is needed on a regular basis for so many talented athletes in this sport. This is indeed a topic that should be examined in more detail and widely discussed.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Here are some further reflections on this topic. I hope that established reporters will do more to shed light on the funding needs of athletes, while featuring the gritty initiatives that so many are undertaking on their own to build their careers in this tough sport.

Another case in point:
Isabella Flores has truly taken advantage of Instagram as a lucrative platform to not only build fan engagement, but to supplement funding for her training expenses, thus relieving her parents somewhat of the full burden. Isabella is very good at curating and building engagement on IG which has attracted sponsor collaborations with several vendors, including an IG-based ad campaign with a major product manufacturer. Isabella is fortunate to have found a perfect partner in Ivan Desyatov (after the unexpected split with Dima Tsarevski 2 1/2 years ago). The compelling chemistry between Isabella and Ivan is a major reason for their huge IG following, and a direct reason why they were able to raise enough money to help pay Belarus for Ivan's release last year. Isabella puts in a lot of time and effort with her IG posts to the point where she has been able to sustain a subscription channel. Ivan does his part as well, working as a waiter part-time and launching his own IG subscription channel. Isabella also works part-time as a coach at her rink, in addition to her academic degree studies at a local university. Wow! As I said, what young, aspiring athletes have to do in order to fund their careers in figure skating is a revealing but less publicized essential part of their journeys.

Of course, not everyone can manage to build extra modest sources of income via IG, as Isabella has done. She obviously enjoys the IG engagement and she's good at it. However, there is a lot of time and effort involved in what she does on IG. Plus, there's a constant need to sustain consistent and increased funding to support her training to reach the highest level. I think very promising young skaters like Flo/Des, the Browns, Chan/Howe, Val/Max, and so many others, deserve to find substantial support from major corporate sponsors, on the level of Nike, Under Armour, et al. As Oona and Gage mentioned, they have had to scrimp and make-do just to afford to compete another season. Obviously, a number of skaters are forced to end their careers due to lack of financial resources. In order to continue excelling and reaching the next level, more sustainable annual support is needed for the Browns, in particular, to afford additional coaching and ice time; better costuming; services from top choreographers; increased physical therapy support and gym training; off-ice coaching with dance lift experts; off-ice ballet, jazz, hip hop & exercise classes; off-ice dance specialist consulting to tweak programs; mental training sessions and career strategist support; travel expenses; music expenses; etc. It is a long list for today's top figure skaters.

Bottom line, figure skating expenses to truly advance in the sport are astronomical. The Browns are obviously extremely talented, but constantly in danger of not being able to make it to another season, largely due to financial reasons. While fan funding support has been keeping them afloat along with their own hard work and ingenuity, there truly needs to be a rainmaker, i.e., a deep pockets investor to help uplift the careers of promising skaters. Even top champions in figure skating surely struggle to maintain financial footing. When skaters show tremendous promise, they should be able to receive the stable support needed to afford everything that will enhance their competitive promise, without having to first be a Nathan Chen before receiving lucrative funding.

Even Nathan Chen did not receive all the financial support he deserved when he was coming up. And even after achieving amazing feats as a figure skater, Nathan has been on the lower spectrum of financial sponsorship as a big-time athlete and Olympian, compared to stars of big ball sports such as baseball, football, basketball, and tennis. IMO, there is so much more that the sport of figure skating needs to do that they are not doing for their athletes, regardless of the perception that fs is merely a niche sport. IMO, a huge part of the problem is the fact that the sport of speedskating is tied at the hip with figure skating (and run by the clueless ISU). These are individual sports that IMO, both need a dire management overhaul and a detailed marketing launch as completely separate sports, which they are!

 

[gsk8]

This is the reality of any sport, unfortunately.

Not all federations have enough funding for their respective countries and top skaters (Germany comes to mind). Some skaters end up switching countries or retiring.

In regard to the U.S., they have the U.S. Figure Skating Athlete Support (ASUPP) Fund which financially supports the U.S. Team envelope A, B and C athletes by assisting them with their skating expenses. Here are the criteria for envelopes for 2024-25. The Browns are in Envelope B.

And they provide a place where skaters can apply for scholarship awards and grants.

Scholarships, Awards and Grants | U.S. Figure Skating

www.usfigureskating.org

Then of course there is prize money for podiums.

The average athlete cannot afford equipment, training, travel, coaching, and all other necessities. Most have two or more jobs. It's very tough.

 

[ladyjane]

It applies to athletes in many countries. I recall one of our Figure Skaters going from door to door to gather as many plastic bottles as possible, because of gaining the deposit money (not much per bottle, but can help if you gather enoogh of them).

In our country the Speed Skaters are generally in a better position than the Figure Skaters. If they get themselves into one of the commercial teams they even get a (small) wage out out of it. Mostly Sponsor money (so definitely not only funding by the Federation), and you have to get there first, but once you're in, you can manage very well.

 

[FlossieH]

This is normal in most countries for non-professional sports. US skaters such as the Browns are more fortunate than most because they get some funding from USFS to cover skating costs. In many countries, including the UK, senior elite skaters competing at an international level either need their family to pay for things or need to have jobs to cover their living and skating costs. This means that they are, in effect, skating full time and working full time. This makes it very difficult to achieve their full potential as competitive skaters. Countries like Russia where skaters are funded by the government to just skate are very much the exception. Most countries simply cannot afford that sort of thing.

 

[Minz]

Countries like Russia where skaters are funded by the government to just skate are very much the exception. Most countries simply cannot afford that sort of thing.

I mean the US probably could, but the US doesn't (directly, at least) fund any Olympic sports.

But yes, for the majority of countries, they can't fund every sport like that. It's just not realistic.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Yes, for sure. There are so many aspects to this. Of course, most countries are not able to fund athletes. And it is obviously not great having to be beholden to your country's government for your career. Lots of booby traps are associated with that, as for e.g., the dilemmas faced by many Russian skaters. I am not sure whether there is government involvement in Japan, but it is a country that has a large fan base, which provides the Japanese federation with more resources than federations in many other countries.

Definitely, I am aware that USfigsk provides envelope money for top skaters, which is needed and helpful, but clearly not enough to sustain careers. If skaters can reach that level, the envelope money and competition money means a lot. But obviously, the Browns have reached the B envelope stage and they still need help to continue training and competing at the highest level.

As I mentioned, I think this is a topic that should be aired and delved into more widely. The sport continually loses many talented skaters due to lack of sufficient financial resources. Uncounted numbers of singles skaters, pairs and ice dance teams have to make the decision to retire and find work in shows or on cruise ships, or else continue their education in order to pursue other sustainable careers. Of course, none of this is new, except training expenditures have surely increased in figure skating. I think that shedding more light on the nitty gritty details and documenting the initiatives that many skaters take to realize their dreams can be a helpful way of enlightening the public. Hopefully, more funding initiatives might result.

As well, I believe better management and promotion of the sport across-the-board goes hand-in-hand with developing talented stars and building fan interest and lucrative corporate sponsorships. If those in charge of the sport continue doing the same-old business-as-usual, nothing much will change for the better for athletes.

 

[TallyT]

Thing is - and I speak as someone who has on several threads wondered what the hell USFS are doing with the money they have! - the several threads involved point to some part of the problem in that... there are just so many calls on their (presumably more restricted these days) purse. We've seen calls for them to spend more on marketing and publicity, more on grassroots level skating, more on music rights, more on top level skaters, more on... you get the picture.

It's a knotty problem all over the world, and for a lot of sports.

 

[DancingCactus]

Funding is a problem, it's become more of a topic in German media lately.
I think the public is somewhat hypocritical in this aspect. On the one hand they complain that there aren't enough Olympic medals, on the other, they don't want to spend public money on something "frivolous" as elite sports.

I'm not sure where I stand. I don't give a fig about national pride, but I want top athletes to have a chance to inspire people and succeed. But I also think that there are more pressing issues than athletes funding, like the housing crisis or infrastructure reform. On the other hand, top athletes can inspire normal people become more active and get into sports, which has long term benefits for the health sector and state finances...

Outsourcing the funding to private institutions is probably the way to go. In the US college sports seems to be really lucrative for many sports, in Japan, Universities and major companies have their own stable of athletes. Germany has no such thing.

Makes me wonder, why isn't figure skating a thing at US universities but gymnastics are?

 

[skatesofgold]

Funding is a problem, it's become more of a topic in German media lately.
I think the public is somewhat hypocritical in this aspect. On the one hand they complain that there aren't enough Olympic medals, on the other, they don't want to spend public money on something "frivolous" as elite sports.

I'm not sure where I stand. I don't give a fig about national pride, but I want top athletes to have a chance to inspire people and succeed. But I also think that there are more pressing issues than athletes funding, like the housing crisis or infrastructure reform. On the other hand, top athletes can inspire normal people become more active and get into sports, which has long term benefits for the health sector and state finances...

Outsourcing the funding to private institutions is probably the way to go. In the US college sports seems to be really lucrative for many sports, in Japan, Universities and major companies have their own stable of athletes. Germany has no such thing.

Makes me wonder, why isn't figure skating a thing at US universities but gymnastics are?

If a university even has a rink, it's used for hockey.

 

[Skating91]

This is normal in most countries for non-professional sports. US skaters such as the Browns are more fortunate than most because they get some funding from USFS to cover skating costs. In many countries, including the UK, senior elite skaters competing at an international level either need their family to pay for things or need to have jobs to cover their living and skating costs. This means that they are, in effect, skating full time and working full time. This makes it very difficult to achieve their full potential as competitive skaters. Countries like Russia where skaters are funded by the government to just skate are very much the exception. Most countries simply cannot afford that sort of thing.

The GB Olympic team athletes cost taxpayers £77.4m per year. In fact many of the top Olympic countries have state funded athletes and programs. GB directs this to track, Australia to swimming enabling them to be 3rd in the tally with a small population, Russia to sports like figure skating, gymnastics, biathlon, etc. State funding can be highly beneficial. Look at countries with state subsidised healthcare, housing, etc. Healthcare costs are significantly lower with little degradation in the quality of care, the most vulnerable aren't consigned to skid row (although this is worsening in most developed countries).

While the US might not have government institutions providing funding to Olympic sports, they do fund professionals sports through infrastructure and tax breaks. There is an established, comprehensive, extremely competitive college sports system throughout the country which I'm sure doesn't exist in any other country, offering scholarships to promising athletes. Other countries just don't have this kind of system in place and never will so the government steps in. The US is an enormous, diverse, extremely wealthy country, and sports plays an important part in its culture. In many sports domestic athletes never have to leave their country in order to compete against the best on Earth.

Unfortunately, figure skating will never be a college sport. But you could imagine how many Malinin's there would be if there was college level figure skating across the US.

 

[Arigato]

Makes me wonder, why isn't figure skating a thing at US universities but gymnastics are?

Rinks are dominated by hockey, hockey, and hockey.

 

[BlissfulSynergy]

Thing is - and I speak as someone who has on several threads wondered what the hell USFS are doing with the money they have! - the several threads involved point to some part of the problem in that... there are just so many calls on their (presumably more restricted these days) purse. We've seen calls for them to spend more on marketing and publicity, more on grassroots level skating, more on music rights, more on top level skaters, more on... you get the picture.

It's a knotty problem all over the world, and for a lot of sports.

Personally, I am not saying that U.S. figure skating needs to provide more funding for skaters. I am saying that funding for athletes is an important issue in figure skating that needs to be more widely investigated and discussed. One of the interesting things these days (as I highlighted earlier) is how some skaters are increasingly finding creative ways to fund their training in order to sustain and extend their careers.

I feel that it is essential for those who run figure skating to do a lot more to promote the sport, its history, and its athletes which could lead to opening up more and better avenues for athlete funding and development. There's a lot involved in what I'm specifically talking about, but I will have to add to my thoughts on this later.