The Ins & Outs of Today’s Pro Running Landscape and What the Future Holds
NOTE: the following originally appeared in New England Runner
Professional long distance running, with all of its intricacies, has existed in various forms for the last five-plus decades. From highly funded Tier 1 stars with lucrative shoe sponsorships to emerging elites scraping for every road race prize money dollar, the business of pro running has seen dozens of market-based changes in the years since the initial running boom pros of the 1970s & ’80s. The current shifts taking place in the landscape of the professional world of running are the most tectonic this coach and writer has seen since the 1981 advent of “open prize money” made possible by forward thinking stars such as Patti Catalano, Greg Meyer, Jon Sinclair, Anne Audain and others. Let’s take a deep dive into how the swift of foot put food on the table in the current window, and what the 2025 and beyond outlook is for those pursuing running for a living.
Prize $ & Appearance $ On the Roads and Track
By the mid 1980s virtually all major global marathons and hundreds of shorter distance events (5k, 10k, 10-mile, half marathon, etc.) around the world were offering prize earnings for top finishers. Top athletes who traveled the distance circuit had the ability, if running well, to augment their living from prize earnings. Additionally, the top blue chippers, aka the household names of the sport, were commonly paid appearance fees to come to these world class events, furthering their earning abilities. In the last 20 years prize $ available to top runners has been dwindling. While World Marathon Majors (7 in total now) and a handful of select races globally at shorter distances, continue to have deep pockets and resources for the best in the world, total prize money on the global road running circuit has fallen by more than 35% since 1988 according to a 2022 industry study by French Sport publication L’Equipe, with many races reducing prize money or eliminating it entirely over the last two decades.
On the oval, prize earnings are even more difficult to attain. In 2024 there were 27 domestic U.S. track and field meets in total (indoor & out) that offered any measure of prize purses for top finishers, and unlike road races where physical space in the competition “arena” is less limited, entry to these track & field meets is extremely selective with only 12-16 competitors often allowed per event. In short, those distance runners who earn real livings on the track are what agents refer to as the “tip of the spear” representing the very top handful of performers in each event.
Race Based Athlete Support/Travel Funding & Lodging
Earning prize money throughout the year generally requires (insert sarcasm) competing in that event. And while being on the starting line for high level events might seem like the easiest of tasks in the running world, simply being accepted into the professional field for high level events has become in and of itself a challenge, more so than at any point in the last 40 years. More and more running organizations around the world are limiting their field size and athlete support for pro fields due to budget constraints and reduced sponsorship dollars.
Jim Estes, the Elite Athlete Coordinator for the Houston Half Marathon & Marathon, says the landscape has never been this competitive for every dollar of support. “We take a lot of pride at Houston in establishing an athlete’s path in the sport,” said Estes. “And while we’d like to be able to help every athlete who contacts us, in the end we have to make some really tough decisions based on our budget regarding who we can help.” Estes says airfare, meals and hotel accommodations (or a version of the three) are offered for qualifying athletes, which in 2025 took a heck of a resume coming in. “We had eight American men crack 1:01:00 in the half this year, more than any half marathon ever, and we had lots of resumes coming in for athletes in the 1:02 and 1:03 range, women in the 1:12, 1:13 category for whom we couldn’t do much at all.” As an example Estes uses Matt Richtman, who won this March’s L.A. Marathon in 2:07:56 (7th fastest all-time American) who was provided with one night hotel room in Houston along with meals and no travel. He finished 24th in a personal best of 1:01:20.
Hank Brown, long time Race Director for the Crazy 8s U.S. Championship 8k in Kingsport, TN, says budgets are tighter for sponsorship reasons as well. “Most races these days have a charity sponsor associated with the race,” said Brown “and if you aren’t a major marathon or half in a big city, most corporations have a hard time justifying allocating ten or twenty thousand dollars of projected profit or donation to bring in a pro field, something few understand, when that money could go to the chosen charity. Without someone on the inside who loves running, fewer races can see their way to a legit prize purse.”
Shoe Companies, Social Media and the Outlook Forward
In the 1980s shoe brands sponsored top stars but also commonly invested in developmental “emerging elites.” Reebok’s Community Pro program which saw funding from 1981 to 1992 and Ambassador Programs such as Brooks I.D. injected support into the developmental pros (think the single A or AA baseball players of running) thereby increasing distance running’s depth and the prospect for a star to emerge from the Tier II ranks.
The pendulum of support, however, has again swung in the opposite direction. In just the last 5-years shoe brands have shifted their dollars more heavily toward high end superstars with high-5 and 6-figure contracts while developmental dollars are increasingly moving toward rising college and high school stars with N.I.L. (name, image & likeness) money pouring into the landscape. In short, according to a senior Boston based shoe company marketing executive (who preferred to remain anonymous) “we’d rather spend 100k to 300k annually on a top athlete, high profile coming out of the NCAA who is already a star than use the same money on ten to twenty developmental athletes in the hope one might emerge. It’s Darwinian and tough on the non “it” people but that’s where we are in the market. Lots of really good runners who would have had support 10 to 15 years ago will not have help today.”
This same executive also emphasized the need for young athletes to be relevant on social media, adding an additional pressure on today’s post collegians. “Young athletes have to drive their brand and ours with Instagram, Tik Tok and other platforms to appeal to a broader audience. This isn’t optional; it’s part of the deal today. We watch what they do online and it matters in our decision making as to who we want associated with our brand. Unfortunately, it’s no longer enough just to be fast.”
As we enter the third generation and iteration of pro running, there is plenty of good news on the performance front. In almost every distance event from 1500m to the marathon, America’s men & women have never been better. As an example, it took 2:28.41 to crack the U.S. Top 20 in the women’s marathon list in 2024, an almost 12-minute improvement on the same rank from a decade earlier. Going forward finding the financial support to be in this mix will require young athletes to not only be quite a bit faster than their predecessors, but more nimble in terms of personal marketing and promotion as well.