2017 Standard Chartered Dubai MarathonJan 19, 2017 by Dennis Young
2017 Could Be Incredibly Lucrative For Kenenisa Bekele
2017 Could Be Incredibly Lucrative For Kenenisa Bekele
Kenenisa Bekele could earn an enormous amount of money in 2017.
Kenenisa Bekele is trying to break the marathon world record in Dubai tonight. (You can watch it live on this website!) If he breaks it, he'll be the first man ever to simultaneously hold the 5K, 10K, and marathon world records. He broke the 5K and 10K world records in 2004 and 2005, and breaking the marathon world record 12 years later would expand his legacy as one of the very best runners ever. Bekele broke Haile Gebrselassie's world records on the track, and he broke Gebrselassie's Ethiopian marathon record when he ran 2:03:03 in September. He'll try to run under 2:02:57 tonight.
And that's just the beginning of an ambitious year for Bekele, who has announced that he's running the London Marathon in April and has said that he'd like to return to London for the IAAF World Championships marathon in August.
If Bekele does some or most of what he said he wants to, how much money will he make? We spoke with industry insiders about what Bekele could potentially earn in contract bonuses and appearance fees. Combined with the public purses for the races he's running, here's a rough picture of how much he could earn in the next year or so.
The amounts for contract bonuses and appearance fees are necessarily part of a large range, as that information is unconfirmed.
Dubai is not known for paying large appearance fees. (Note the relative anonymity of the rest of the men's field.) Our insiders speculate that his appearance fee be in the range of $50,000; let's say he earns between $50,000 and $100,000 for simply showing up.
The event is, however, paying enormous prize money: $200,000 for the win, $250,000 for the world record, and $50,000 for breaking 2:04. If Bekele breaks the world record, that's $500,000. There's a steep cliff here, though: If he finishes second in 2:04:01, he takes home just $80,000.
The biggest variable in Bekele's payday in the Gulf, though, is his Nike contract. We know from court filings that Nike offered Boris Berian a contract that included a $100,000 bonus for breaking the world record. Because Bekele is a more established athlete, though, his bonus would likely be higher; that number could range anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million, with $200,000 to $500,000 most likely. The real question there is if the bonus is a one-time payment or a rollover bonus that is tacked on to Bekele's base salary for the life of the deal.
All told, Bekele could leave Dubai with anywhere from $130,000 or less if he finishes second or worse to $1.1 million or more if he breaks the world record.
Unlike Dubai, London is known for paying enormous appearance fees. That means a rough minimum of $150,000 for someone of Bekele's stature, which could have a clause written in that increases the payment if Bekele comes to London as the world record holder. London paid a $338,000 appearance fee to Paula Radcliffe and double that to Mo Farah. While those are special cases for British athletes, it shows that the budget is there, and if Bekele comes to London with the world record in hand, he could command in the range of $200,000 to $300,000.
The London prize money for winning is only $55,000. But Eliud Kipchoge's 2:03:05 shows that a world record-level performance is possible in London, and Bekele maybe could go for the WR there if he doesn't get it in Dubai. (Again, that would be worth hundreds of thousands in Nike contract bonuses.) There is also likely a contractual bonus in the range of $50,000 for Bekele simply winning in London.
So again, there's a huge range to what Bekele could earn in London. If he comes in without the world record and doesn't run well there, he simply gets the roughly $150,000 he commanded for showing up. If he comes in with the world record and wins, that could be worth somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000. (Double that in the unlikely case that he breaks the world record in London.)
Whatever comes next
At this point, Bekele would have run three marathons from September 2016 to April 2017. That's a lot of hard racing on the legs of a man who turns 35 in June. So there's the distinct possibility that Bekele's legs are shot by the summer. But if he's still running well in the second half of the year, he basically has two options. The first is what he's already said that he's going to do, which is running the world championships in August. If he wins there, that would be worth exactly $60,000 from the IAAF and in the range of $50,000 from Nike.
But if he decides that he's a little too tired and skips worlds for New York, Chicago, or Berlin in the fall, that would be much more lucrative. One of those three would potentially pay a huge appearance fee (between, say, $100,000 and $250,000), plus whatever the purse is for the winner. New York and Chicago each pay $100,000 to the winner, and Berlin pays $50,000. We'll also continue to assume any major marathon win is worth $50,000 from Nike.
If he runs worlds, that's worst-case $0, best-case $110,000.
If he runs a big-city marathon, that's worst-case $100,000, best-case $400,000.
All told, if Bekele breaks the world record tonight, wins London, and wins a fall marathon, he could earn as much as $1.9 million in 2017 beyond his base salary from Nike and any of his other endorsements. And that doesn't even factor in the World Marathon Majors. The next WMM series begins in London. If Bekele wins London and another marathon after it in 2017, he's in an extremely good position to win the WMM's annual $500,000 purse in 2018.​
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And that's just the beginning of an ambitious year for Bekele, who has announced that he's running the London Marathon in April and has said that he'd like to return to London for the IAAF World Championships marathon in August.
If Bekele does some or most of what he said he wants to, how much money will he make? We spoke with industry insiders about what Bekele could potentially earn in contract bonuses and appearance fees. Combined with the public purses for the races he's running, here's a rough picture of how much he could earn in the next year or so.
The amounts for contract bonuses and appearance fees are necessarily part of a large range, as that information is unconfirmed.
Dubai
Dubai is not known for paying large appearance fees. (Note the relative anonymity of the rest of the men's field.) Our insiders speculate that his appearance fee be in the range of $50,000; let's say he earns between $50,000 and $100,000 for simply showing up.
The event is, however, paying enormous prize money: $200,000 for the win, $250,000 for the world record, and $50,000 for breaking 2:04. If Bekele breaks the world record, that's $500,000. There's a steep cliff here, though: If he finishes second in 2:04:01, he takes home just $80,000.
The biggest variable in Bekele's payday in the Gulf, though, is his Nike contract. We know from court filings that Nike offered Boris Berian a contract that included a $100,000 bonus for breaking the world record. Because Bekele is a more established athlete, though, his bonus would likely be higher; that number could range anywhere from $100,000 to $1 million, with $200,000 to $500,000 most likely. The real question there is if the bonus is a one-time payment or a rollover bonus that is tacked on to Bekele's base salary for the life of the deal.
All told, Bekele could leave Dubai with anywhere from $130,000 or less if he finishes second or worse to $1.1 million or more if he breaks the world record.
London
Unlike Dubai, London is known for paying enormous appearance fees. That means a rough minimum of $150,000 for someone of Bekele's stature, which could have a clause written in that increases the payment if Bekele comes to London as the world record holder. London paid a $338,000 appearance fee to Paula Radcliffe and double that to Mo Farah. While those are special cases for British athletes, it shows that the budget is there, and if Bekele comes to London with the world record in hand, he could command in the range of $200,000 to $300,000.
The London prize money for winning is only $55,000. But Eliud Kipchoge's 2:03:05 shows that a world record-level performance is possible in London, and Bekele maybe could go for the WR there if he doesn't get it in Dubai. (Again, that would be worth hundreds of thousands in Nike contract bonuses.) There is also likely a contractual bonus in the range of $50,000 for Bekele simply winning in London.
So again, there's a huge range to what Bekele could earn in London. If he comes in without the world record and doesn't run well there, he simply gets the roughly $150,000 he commanded for showing up. If he comes in with the world record and wins, that could be worth somewhere between $300,000 and $400,000. (Double that in the unlikely case that he breaks the world record in London.)
Whatever comes next
At this point, Bekele would have run three marathons from September 2016 to April 2017. That's a lot of hard racing on the legs of a man who turns 35 in June. So there's the distinct possibility that Bekele's legs are shot by the summer. But if he's still running well in the second half of the year, he basically has two options. The first is what he's already said that he's going to do, which is running the world championships in August. If he wins there, that would be worth exactly $60,000 from the IAAF and in the range of $50,000 from Nike.
But if he decides that he's a little too tired and skips worlds for New York, Chicago, or Berlin in the fall, that would be much more lucrative. One of those three would potentially pay a huge appearance fee (between, say, $100,000 and $250,000), plus whatever the purse is for the winner. New York and Chicago each pay $100,000 to the winner, and Berlin pays $50,000. We'll also continue to assume any major marathon win is worth $50,000 from Nike.
If he runs worlds, that's worst-case $0, best-case $110,000.
If he runs a big-city marathon, that's worst-case $100,000, best-case $400,000.
All told, if Bekele breaks the world record tonight, wins London, and wins a fall marathon, he could earn as much as $1.9 million in 2017 beyond his base salary from Nike and any of his other endorsements. And that doesn't even factor in the World Marathon Majors. The next WMM series begins in London. If Bekele wins London and another marathon after it in 2017, he's in an extremely good position to win the WMM's annual $500,000 purse in 2018.​
How To Watch The 2017 Standard Chartered Dubai Marathon
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