Video Game Players Typically Make More Cash Than Olympic Athletes

Trending News: eSports Players Make Way More Money Than The Average Olympian

PrintJoel Balsam

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Why Is This Important? 

Because some athletes might want to consider switching careers. 

Long Story Short

Winning a major video game eSports competition can get you way more cash than winning an Olympic medal in many cases.  Tack on the fact that some virtual "athletes" get paid a salary and have the potential for lucrative sponsorships and streaming dollars, playing video games professionally can probably earn you more than being an Olympian. 

Long Story

Grabbing Olympic gold like Simone Biles and Michael Phelps is truly an incredible accomplishment -- but not necessarily the most lucrative one. 

While many athletes spend four years hopping from competition to competition on their own dime or with the help of crowdfunding, when they get to the Olympics the payout is minimal -- if anything at all.  Because the International Olympic Committee calls the games a "movement," the athletes don't get paid, except by their own countries.  Usually, countries incentivize bringing home a medal with cold hard cash, but don't pay anything else.  For the United States, winning Olympic gold will score you $25,000, while silver and bronze will pay you $15,000 and $10,000 respectively.  And that's before taxes.  But America pales in comparison to several other countries, including Singapore who paid $753,000 to Joseph Schooling for beating Phelps. 

Not bad, but that's still petty cash compared to virtual "athletes" who compete in major video game competitions, as explained in an excellent article by Quartz.  Just this weekend, while Phelps scored $25K for winning his 23rd gold medal, 18-year-old Zhang "Y`Innocence" Yiping of the Chinese gaming team Wings Gaming took home $9.1 million at a Dota 2 competition that gave out a total of $20 million in prize money. 

Granted, Phelps has a net worth of $55 million, thanks in part to sponsorships.  But still, eSports athletes get sponsored too, from such lesser-known companies as Coca-Cola, Intel, Nissan, and Doritos. 

And while the Olympics give athletes the opportunity at scoring prize money every four years, eSports competitions happen way more often, sometimes every few months.  And in the meantime, the gamers can get paid a salary.  One team makes between $57,500 and $65,000 in base salary, with as much as $27,000 in bonuses while players on the League of Legends circuit pays players $12,500 for just three months of work. 

Plus -- sorry aspiring athletes but there's more -- eSports players can get paid big bucks just for playing on streaming sites like Twitch or YouTube.  Swedish League of Legends player imaqtpie has made over $8,000 in a month just from streaming. 

Suffice to say, if you're a parent bitching at your kid for sitting in front of the TV and playing too many video games, you might want to reconsider if you plan on being supported you in your old age.