Professional skater and president of a real estate investing in Los Angeles California Commune Capital, Mikey Taylor scrutinized the skate contracts point by point on how pro skaters make money and how they can negotiate their salary.
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Multiple questions were asked by a fan named Colin McGuinness via Instagram direct message. "I thought it was super interesting and I thought back when I was a kid; I would be super curious about all of this stuff, like how my favorite skaters get paid and how much do they make," Taylor said on the video he posted on his official Instagram account.
He explains when he was a kid, he thinks that the pro skater who gets paid a lot is probably Chad Muska. "We used to see him driving around a Cadilac. He is making so much many and he is super famous" which he said that he doesn't have the context of how much money was a lot back in the day. He thought it would be fascinating that's why he was encouraged to share his thoughts on the topic.
So What's The Average Contract Length For a Pro Skateboarder?
It depends, he said, "there are a lot of board companies that don't do contracts, it still kind of like a homie rule, you ride for us and this is what we are going to pay you so let's do it."
For other huge companies that do contracts is about two years in his experience. When you start getting into the clothing or shoes the contract typically is much longer according to Taylor. "If you are just a sponsored skater without a shoe, you can have a two-year deal" He stated. "If you get a shoe though it usually is longer because of the amount it takes to the ideas, the design, the samples and production, and the in and out to the market." He said that he didn't have a less than three-year deal when he had the pro shoe but the average is three to five years. And for apparel takes two to three years for him.
When there's a hot skater like Nyjah Houston, Taylor recommends that companies should lock the skaters in for a longer amount of time as long as if you think that the skater will be much more valuable through their career. "You could lock down a price that holds him in where contracts over for pros have more demand that gives him leverage to increase the price up.
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For somebody like Nyjah "he can be in longer deals" he said.
"For a pro, they like the idea that there's some security like I can get paid in seven years instead of two years." He said that any pro athlete in any field should learn how to navigate through what he was explaining. "If I do a shorter contract do I still have a possibility to be making more money because I can negotiate my deal if there's leverage but you are also taking on the risk because that might not be the case and you might not get any offers, what could've been a seven-year deal is now a two-year deal," Taylor explained. "That's kind of the balance we've played. skateboarders are so much uncertainty on how long we can do it."
When he was younger a seven-year deal is terrifying but when he got older he said that the seven-year deal is awesome. "The longest deal I ever did was probably three years and that was with my shoe contracts," he added.
How Does Getting Paid Work for Pro Skaters and Do They Have a Base Salary?
"Typically pros have a base salary there's a certain amount they're going to make no matter what." He said. "If they have a board they will get a royalty, it's two dollars every board sold." He forgot about the apparel but he thinks it was 5% of every sale for his shoe sales.
Are There Royalties For The Board, Shoes, Clothes, Bonuses, or Profit-sharing?
"With royalties, it depends on the board company, you have a base salary and you make two dollars a board but you have to sell more boards than the base salary for you to start seeing the royalty," Taylor said. "Let's say you sell five hundred boards which you get two dollars a board, that will give you a thousand dollars and since your base salary is a thousand dollars, you selling five hundred boards is going to be a wash." He mentioned that if a pro sells a thousand boards the skater will get another thousand dollars.
"Shoe company deal is different." He continued. "When I was in DVS I had to break my minimum so that's kind of the same metric applied. With DC I got paid per shoe so I have no minimum so I saw a lot more money."
Taylor mentioned that for boards, maybe a shop is going to pick up a two of your boards or maybe three so each shop will pay you six dollars of royalties. "When you get a shoe they typically order multiple colorways in every size run just the amount of units you sold is so much greater so when you get a pro shoe, that is the highest royalty by far and typically clothes is going to follow somewhere second and board royalties is small."
Back in the day, professional skaters used to have photo incentives when Magazines were still a thing but since there are social media now he is not sure about the incentive anymore because he was stepped out in the industry five years ago.
According to Taylor, pro skaters have a contest bonus as well. "If you win a certain amount in a contest they will match you up to that point and they will put a cap on it."
Do Skaters Pay Their Way to Contest?
It depends if you are a contest skater you should do it but Taylor said that since he is not a contest skater he doesn't do that but it still depends on your sponsor if they will pay for your travel, entry fee, and everything. "With Street League, they pay the skaters to just show up for five thousand dollars." He said.
Are There Performance Metrics That Pros Have to Hit?
"Yes, there's an obligation that pros have to hit in the contract. Thinking back for me, if there was a demo I had to go to the demo, if I ever am in an interview I had to wear DC so they will make you wear their apparel or in any kind of media moment." He said. They typically make you do certain skate video parts a year and a lot of companies will make the skater do a social media post according to Taylor.
What Can an Average Pro Expect to Earn?
Certain individuals earn a lot and some do an average living as a pro skater. "An average pro probably makes sixty grand a year." If Taylor would guess. "I was one of the pros that it's not the big dog but I wasn't the average but somewhere in the middle. So I was making pretty good money but that was back then." The game has changed now he said.
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The hardest part of what Taylor experienced is that they are self contracted and they sometimes don't know how to do their taxes because they are responsible for paying taxes. "A lot of pros get in trouble when it comes to tax time." He said. "We get our check every month, that's fifty to sixty grand for gross and you live in California where all pros basically live." Tax planning is one of the most challenges of pro skateboarders.
The bonus gem Taylor shared is that they used to just wanted to skate and that's it. They never dream about becoming rich out of skateboarding because back then he didn't know that pro skaters were making a lot of money before. They just want to have fun and skate. "We love skating, we don't start skating to get rich I don't know if it's changed now. When I was a kid I just wanted to skate." He said.
He expressed how it gets difficult when you're aging. "When you're younger that's awesome. When you started to get a little older it gets harder. You get married, you git kids, things get more expensive and it just gets a little bit tougher. And then figuring out what's next of what I call a nightmare challenge. It could get difficult." He said. "I think it's a blessing to get paid to skate as well."