It’s definitely a case of love over money.
More than 200 cyclists will descend on our fair city Friday as the 18th edition of the Tour de Delta once again kicks off BC Superweek, Canada’s biggest road cycling series. Riders from throughout North America and beyond are about to embark on a grueling sequence, competing in nine races over 10 days on a two-wheeled tour of Greater Vancouver.
Superweek boasts a total prize purse of $140,000, which at first blush sounds like a lot of money, but when you start to crunch the numbers, or compare them to other sports, you soon come to the realization that the spandex-clad guys and girls who will be racing around our streets this weekend are doing so because they really love their sport.
For its part, the Tour de Delta offers a purse of $25,000, but when you consider that total is divided by three races, and that each of those races has a men’s and women’s division, it’s pretty clear that no one, not even those who cross the finish line first, are getting rich here.
Given its date on the calendar, it’s hard not to compare the Lower Mainland cycling series with the annual free agent frenzy that takes place in both the National Hockey League and National Basketball Association in early July. The big prize in the NHL this year was John Tavares, who left Long Island to go back home to Toronto, signing a seven-year, $77-million contract with the Maple Leafs.
If you do the math, Tavares will, in one game, make roughly what the 200-plus cyclists will be divvying up over the 10 days of BC Superweek. At least it will take Tavares a whole game to make that kind of money whereas LeBron James will have accomplished that trick early in the second quarter of his first game with the Los Angeles Lakers next season.
It’s hard to compare cycling with hockey or basketball, and no one’s going to confuse BC Superweek with the Tour de France, but it should be noted there are some pretty accomplished cyclists racing in these parts. Superweek consistently features its share of riders who have competed in Olympics, world championships and even the grand tours of Europe, so there’s always some serious talent in the field.
Unfortunately, the pay doesn’t necessarily reflect that reality.
