Please report inappropriate posts and people being dicks. Users can now edit their own flair. Show your main board next to your user name! Use the format Brand - Year - Model. My understanding is that they make most of their money off of the films and photo shoots. The events are more for the love of the sport. Sponsorships help pay for the travel and boards. Boat sponsor give them a boat for 3 years I believe and then take them back and sell them after that.

The biggest thing I would say they get compensation wise is they get to do what they truly love day in and day out. I had a few beers with a pro at a hotel bar randomly last year. We bullshitted about everything for a few hours until the bar closed down. One of the most down to earth guys I have ever met. So it depends on who that person is and what their revenue streams are.

To start, almost all pro wakeboarders at least come from families that have a decent amount of money. I'm not saying they have to come from money, but it is pretty hard to get started and good at a sport that requires a boat and spending money on gas to get a lot of reps in. These families aren't the Rockefellers, but they at least have a decent start.

If you were good enough to go pro, you would most likely need your parent's financial support to pay major expenses - at least in the beginning. So let's say you come from a wealthy family and are good enough to go pro, and maybe even good enough to be considered top in the sport.

Your major sponsors pay for you to go on photoshoots at a minimum they pay the expenses, sometimes you might get a little per diem , which are obviously a lot of fun.

Sometimes they pay you a flat fee for the year instead - this is usually only available to top riders that are winning contests, or always in publications.

This is what it's like to compete professionally in wakeboarding.

If you are a mid level or new rider, the per photo money is nice, but doesn't really pay the bills. What you hope for is to get on the payroll at a major company - aka liquid force, ronix, etc, or Red Bull, Oakley, etc.

This might require you visiting industry trade shows, sometimes signing autographs at stores, etc. This likely doesn't pay a ton, but would be a significant, and if you lived in a low cost of living state, could be enough to have a decent house, car, etc.

Where the BIG money is and this is VERY rare is actually out of the sport. What I mean by this, is Shaun Murray made a lot of money licensing his name to Shaun Murray Wakeboarding the video game. Or maybe you get in with a clothing company like Hurley or DC, something non traditional to wakeboarding where you can get crossover appeal. Or you get on a crappy TV show like Wake Brothers or something on MTV and get some cash there.

Crossover appeal to other industries is where you start to rake it in. Even then, unless your TV show or shoe sponsor was a massive success, chances are you still are rolling in it.

I think i heard somewhere that the Soven brothers made low six figures for that TV show. But let's say you are a top rider, but none of the above are enough to make your bills. Aside from getting to ride for pretty much free for the rest of your peak physical life, you need to come up with a way to pay the bills. Just want to give you a heads up that I think you might be shadowbanned or something. For some reason I had to approve your post.

You should check that up! It is definitely possible.

How Much Money Does A Pro Surfer Make?

The top guys might have somewhere around sponsors boat, board, apparel, rope, sunglasses, energy drinks, etc. But remember, only a handful of guys are getting that much, and to make it worth it for the sponsor, you either have to enable them to sell a ton which all goes down to how much the public sees you using that product, so get your name and face out there , or you have to do trade shows, photoshoots, etc.

My guess is that if you are pulling k per year, its only for a few years while you are at the top of the game. I watched that entire series, and yes, Phil's house is pretty nice. But remember a few things:. Phil's father is a doctor, so sometimes parents help you buy houses. I'm not saying this is for sure what happened, but it's something to consider. Again, not saying this happened, but its possible. At the time, Phil was at the top of the game.

He was winning a lot of contests, and had a lot of top tier sponsors. He also chose some sponsors that were not the majority share holders in their industry i just looked - Arma Energy, CTRL boards. This could be because they offered to pay him more than say Red Bull and Ronix. Again, I don't know for sure, but money talks.

how much do the top guys make? : Wake

I've known a couple guys in the industry and this is just a best guess. The more mainstream appeal you can get, the more money you can make. I don't think any pro wakeboarders are considered household names, thus the money they are seeing is only industry related. If you look at snowboarding, which while still not cheap has an entry point a lot cheaper than wakeboarding, and mass market appeal due to X-games, World Cup, the Olympics, and other highly televised events, there is a lot more opportunities for big sponsorship deals.

Those companies are not reaching out to wakeboarders because the wakeboarding market is a fraction of the snowboarding market. Also, White is the anomaly. If you look at the top earning snowboarders, outside of White, most only have a net worth of about a million - http: Thus if you consider how much smaller the wakeboarding market is, then the top wakeboarders are making less than the top snowboarders, which leads me to believe they are making somewhere in the 6 figure range at best.

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This is an archived post. You won't be able to vote or comment. Wake submitted 1 year ago by moondoggy 12 comments share. But remember a few things: They live in Orlando where land is cheap Phil's father is a doctor, so sometimes parents help you buy houses. I'm not saying this is for sure what happened, but it's something to consider He got paid for that show - so that is revenue other riders don't have "Reality" shows like that are scripted, so if MTV figured it was better to have a house on the water to facilitate parties and situations to make the show more appealing, you better believe they are going to pay for that to be rented or possibly chip in to have Phil buy it.

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