how much do the top riders actually make per year?

[Mossy 757]

I have no idea. I guess its a sliding scale where the most elite get quite well paid and the least known get little more than discounted gear.

Here's a question. How would be paid more the blokes or the chicks? Does a chick like Hannah Whitely get paid a bunch more because she's hot and sex sells?

I believe a comparably skilled male rider would have less sponsorship/exposure opportunities than Hannah...she's an excellent rider, but I think she's in a distinctly lower bracket than the top 10 women on the freestyle tour.

[Toby]

I have no idea. I guess its a sliding scale where the most elite get quite well paid and the least known get little more than discounted gear.

Here's a question. How would be paid more the blokes or the chicks? Does a chick like Hannah Whitely get paid a bunch more because she's hot and sex sells?

I doubt. And not every brand wants an image like that. But sure, she is hot

[plummet]

Some interesting stats on facebook pages for likes.

Ruben Lenten 53000
Aaron Hadlow 43000
Kevin Langeree 37000
Hannah Whitely 18000
Nick Jackobson 15000

Assumingly the more popular you are the more likelihood of being paid more.,,.....

[kas911]

A big question also is, if riders would make more money if different styles are shown in competitions.

And a simple answer would be no. No there would not

[Kitemanmuc]

I spoke with a top 10 rider the other day and was asking him what it would take for him to go to a new sponsor. He said with $60,000 you can get a top 10 rider. With $70,000 a top 5 and with $80,000 you get Zoon, Lenten and Hadlow. Maybe now, Zoon, Hadlow and Whaley. Thats just for the kite/board sponsorship. Then throw in Red Bull for some of the riders and you are looking at another $50,000 to $80,000. Red Bull covers travel most of the time. Outside of the top 15-20 on the tour the sponsor pay your accommodation and travel and in some cases even make riders pay their gear at cost.

I used to ski for Scott USA way back when in 2003 and back then pro skiers werent earning anything. Now guys like Gus Kenworthy and Bobby Brown are flown first class all over the world, have personal assistants and are making a quarter of a million a year at least. Thats just from the mian sponsor, not to forget the cash they earn being in ski movies.
Kiteboarding will get there someday, once they figure out how to make it more accessible for everyone and get away from wakestyle and more back to big air oldschool/freestyle. Wakestyle is killing the sport (no offense. Yeah its fun). Its basically watching guys at a wakeboard cable park just with a kite. Kiteboarding has a wow factor, like the tricks Toby does and Tom Hebert and Dimitri and Ruben, Kevin Langeree and Jesse Get those guys doing crazy things together, the money will start flowing in to kiting. Also the big contests are not in location that attract the masses. Ok Cape Town. Fine. But Venezuela, Fuerte Ventura, Morocco. Then China, Argentina, Brazil all canceled. These places dont attract people to watch. I understand you are tied to the wind, but come on. They have to be a little smarter. How about Brighton, Miami, San Fran, New York, Barcelona, Perth, Dubai.....then actually broadcast some of this on networks online. ESPN3 or Skysports Online. You name it.

Skis costs $1000, boots $400, poles $100 and a liftpass for a week $500. Same with snowboarding. Plus all those damn layers you need. You are at the same price as kiting. Skiing just has a bigger wow factor right now.


Sorry for the rant.

[Starsky]

More people could make it down a hill on snow than stay upwind with a kite. Any old Joe can rock up at a ski hill and rent gear for him and his mum for half the price of a one day lift ticket so they can both try it all out for a couple hundred bucks. There are bunny hills and lessons available at every single hill with a lift, as well as a chalet that serves beer. In short, It's accessible. I see your comparison, but its not quite the same. Snow sports have a long rich history and can be practiced by all ages of both sexes. Its far more social with cultural roots all over the globe.

Kiting has to do something completely different from windsurfing if its to get itself into the $$$ or it will more or less suffer the same placement among sport popularity and associated economics.

It's far too complex to have the elemental draw of something like Surfing, SUP or Sea Kayaking, so right there you count out most of the population.

Its also halfway in between the income requirements of say the low end (surfing) and the high end (say wake boarding). Its kind of the poor rich man's sport that no one can simply try out any day of the week.

Growing it to the point that doing it professionally provides a decent income for more than a precious few will take something special. A return to the board off will do no more than freestyle skiing did for that sport!

Parabolic skis brought that sport back from its last major slump because it further improved accessibility and lowered the skill required to tap into performance.

Kites are getting better steadily, but no amount of gear improvement will truly get rid of the disaster quotient in a wind driven sport. You can label a hill from blue circle to black diamond, but you can't dummy proof kite conditions, where the same spot can go from blue circle to black diamond and back in minutes.

Kiting is ours, if were lucky we will get to keep it. That will be of greater concern than how much one can make at it going forward. The not insignificant barriers to entry are what allow most of us who do it to keep doing it wherever we can, and keep it off the news for all the wrong reasons.

Easier access = more participants. More participants = more kooks. More kooks (hard to imagine as that may be) = more incidents and in a sport like ours, that = more bans fro public spaces......ski hills are not public spaces!

Pro kiting will continue to evolve organically in all its directions, but not even the big bucks of Sir Richard Branson can push this sport into the mainstream. Make no mistake, its gotta go mainstream to generate decent incomes at the pro level.

[Toby]

A big question also is, if riders would make more money if different styles are shown in competitions.

And a simple answer would be no. No there would not

Can you please explain then, why King of the air has the most spectators and online viewers?

[sbckiteboard]

A big question also is, if riders would make more money if different styles are shown in competitions.

And a simple answer would be no. No there would not

Can you please explain then, why King of the air has the most spectators and online viewers?

The crashes are epic! Everyone likes to watch crashes.

[longwhitecloud]

Not much at all - apart from maybe 2 riders - spend is probably bigger than earnings when all added up.

The girls have much more potential earnings power through instagram and similar today... eg Bikini shots combined with action get very high exposure. In pro surfing some of the girls are absolutely killing it...... I do wonder if redbull pays more that $4k a years to its riders apart from the very top ones....

The thing that kills kitesurfing comps is the wind - people dont like high winds generally - why there is no one at the beach when we are ripping! An ASP style cast is something that could work though - cost are going down and down for broadcasting live ....

pimp time... i need some new kites! - need some expert online exposure for your brand ?!
http://theclickpath.com/

[Dave_5280]

Meanwhile the top 100 pro golfers in 2015 all made over $1 million.

http://espn.go.com/golf/moneylist/_/year/2015