2009 X GAMES TO FEATURE EQUAL PRIZE MONEY FOR MEN AND WOMEN

that was the complete opposite point of my post. I was saying how shit works. Those were two options as to why they may be paying them equal.

Obviously they don't bring in as much attention. I am trying to figure out how they justified this increase.

 
Do you understand what a pro skiers job is? ADVERTISING. simple as that. People pay them to advertise.

If someone is doing something equivalent to another person who is very popular, but no one wants to watch the first person, then why would they be paid the same? Think about movies. A good looking actor is going to get paid way more than an ugly one. They both can act. No one cares how hard they try, ts what they can sell.

Its the same fucking reason why a pro soccer player makes thousands of times the amount of money as a brain surgeon. They both try really hard. Hell, a brain surgeon is way more important and educated. But people get paid for what they are worth. Because David Beckham brings in so much viewership, and clubs and networkds can make so much off advertising, tickets, etc. He is worth way more.

 
It's NOT about who is better or worse between women and men. Money in sport is about who creates interest, and inspires others.
Look at something like figure skating, where the women make way more $$ than men, even though the men are better and do harder, bigger tricks. Women get paid better there because marketers know that there are more little girls in the world who are looking for inspiration in figure skating.
In skiing, there are almost as many girls participating as boys, and most of those girls look to female role models. Because of that, the top women skiers are as valuable as the top men, regardless of who does what tricks.
The arguments about sports like hockey, basketball etc are pointless because those sports don't have anywhere close to the amount of female participation as skiing does.
 
wow...I feel really ashamed to be involved in sport that has this many jerks involved in it...when did skiing attract so many egotistic males?
I cant quite understand the lack of brains that has been involved in this thread, and the sexiest remarks that keep being used again and again. It gets abit old after awhile...
The answer is simple really...bringing more money into the sport is going to help create more attention and awareness from a marketing standby to get more women involved in the sport, hence resulting in more competition for the ladies. This is what the thread was supposed to be about..?
Im really sick of the guys that are taking a stab every chance they can get to show how much better men are than women...you guys should feel ashamed that you have stooped this low...obviously your a bunch of pimple faced kids that dont get any love from the opposite sex therefore feel empowered to write about how good your gender is all for a quick ego trip. Yes, we all know guys are better than girls at skiing, its the same in every sport...athletically and mentally guys are on a different scale. So we dont need to keep being reminded of this... theres about 30 guys to every girl thats on the hill....so its not fair to compare the competition on any level.
Its also not fair to say that girls dont try hard, cause they do... obviously its hard to be pushed in a sport that has only a small amount of competition involved...so of course the progression is going to get abit stagnant. If we can get more competition than the progression will start to flow again... so bring on all the help we can get! this will not only raise the profile for women but for the sport as a whole....you should be happy that this is happening...
oh...and who would bring up special olympic hockey players? dude thats low...you need to get some morals!
 
First of all, the fact that women are receiving equal prize money is not taking any money away from the men, so I don't know what everyone is complaining about.

Second of all, I am pretty disgusted with the number of men that have posted degrading comments about women's freeskiing on this site. It is guys like you that contribute to the sexism and inequality that still exists in our world. It is true that women are not at the same level of competition as men, but that is true across ALL SPORTS. No one is saying that women swimmers or women gymnasts are less deserving of their gold medals because they do not perform to the same level of difficulty as men. Women are built differently than men and they should not be held to the same standards when it comes to athletics

Third of all, many of you say that the field is not as large and the talent is not as good for women as compared to men, so therefore they do not deserve the same amount of money. But the truth is the field will not grow and the talent will not progress if there isnt more money and more publicity put into the sport. So I tip my hat to ESPN to helping the freeride community for both men AND women.

Finally, WHY WOULD ANY GIRLS WANT TO ENTER A SPORT WHERE GUYS ARE CONSISTENTLY DEGRADING THOSE WOMEN WHO PARTICIPATE IN IT? If you all want to name drop, then maybe you should ask Tanner and Simon what they think-- because I bet they wouldn't give a crap that the girls were getting the same amount of money. I have seen Tanner offer supportive advice to a pro female skiier and it would be great if more guys could do the same.
 
did you just say there are as many girls participating in freestyle skiing as guys? cause if you did then you are greatly mistaken.
 
what the fuck?! you think a few extra thousand dollars in winning a competition is actually gonna get more females involved? thats the stupidest statement i think ive ever heard. If you want money go do another sport, THIS IS NOT THE SPORT TO MAKE MONEY IN!
 
why should girls need a cash (or any) incentive to ski harder? i think personal motivation should be the biggest driving force behind someone's skiing; not money.

also, since when do guys NOT encourage girls to ride? i don't know if i'm misinterpreting what you're saying, but i've never heard anything other than helpful advice from guys when i try to learn stuff when i'm skiing.
 
No, maybe you should read the post. I didn't specify Freestyle, I said skiing. Skiing in general is a fairly equal opportunity sport that both boys and girls can get into at a young age.
Even though there are not a lot of competitive freestyle girls at the moment, there are tons of young girls out there who are getting into skiing, and those girls look to the top women athletes for inspiration.
 
AS long as the women makes what they are doing looks legit to the public I totally agree with what you are saying.

I like watching women freeskiing but I know that a whole bunch of other people dont find it nearly as fun to watch asmens.
 
argyle your a douche...
i dont think you've really read what anyone has said...more so than just reacting with a negative attitude on everything... derrr afew extra grand isnt going to make a difference..but its a step, a building block.
go back to school...or maybe your still in it which explains the immature responses to everything and eveyone!
 
telling me to go back to school is probably the most immature thing i've ever heard anyone said.

That being said, I'm just being logical. Men didn't have big cash incentives to bring the sport where it is today. No men were doing it for the money, they were doing it for the love of the sport. When women get better at skiing that is when they deserve to get more money, just like anything else in this world, they SHOULD NOT get extra money just because there women and that's basically what all you are saying.

If you don't like skiing for what it is, then just don't ski at all. I'm all for equality but that's not being equal that's being stupid and feeling ashamed of the opression that has ocurred in history. It's getting better, women are getting pretty equal to men now in career's but I don't think this is a step in the right direction
 
Your double standard really makes my head hurt.
Are you really trying to insinuate that guys only ski for the love of the sport, while women only ski for money? Get real kid.
Preaching about how guys only ski for the love of the sport is fine, but what the hell do you think the women have been doing it for? Women skiers pretty much own the "not doing it for the money" category because they have been competing for less money, less exposure, less recognition, less sponsorship, (but lots of criticism) for years.
If you really gave a shit about skiers only doing it for the love of the sport, then it would not matter to you who got paid what. But since you are so insistent that guys should make way more money than girls, it's pretty obvious that "doing it for the love of the sport" is the furthest thing from your mind.
 
I don't have a double standard, i really do hope women are skiing for the love of the sport. That's just what a lot of people in this thread are inferring. people are saying that extra money will get more women in the sport, but skiing isn't the sport to make money in, it's probably the worst sport to make money in, so it really won't do anything at all. read the damn posts before. And you think it's equal that less skilled people get paid the most as very skilled people? welcome to communism my friend.

 
word. in terms of "equal", women's and men's freeskiing is definitely not equal in terms of skill level...i don't get why some girls in here are posting on these feminist rants.
 
So uh, everyone knows that this is for the entire x-games, not just freeskiing right?

A lot of people seem to have the impression that this was a big move to try to make lessen the gap, but really skiing just got to reap the benefits of snowboarding and other action sports.

 
Obviously you still don't get it. Sorry to burst your bubble, but skill has NOTHING to do with it. If it did, Olympic aerialists would be billionaires. It's about advertising, marketability, and hype.
If money simply went to the most skilled people, then male gymnasts would make way more money than Shawn Johnson does, because after all, a guys floor routine totally schools a girls floor routine. But they make less, because Shawn Johnson has more marketing power than they do.
So the 20th best male pipe skier in the world puts down better runs than Sarah, well guess what: Sarah still sells more shit for her sponsors, is way more well known both in and out of skiing, and has done way more groundbreaking things, like being the first skier (male or female) to win an ESPY award. In the business world (and X Games is basically a massive marketing business) Someone like Sarah or Jen is simply worth more than lots of guy skiers, even though those guys are more skilled.
Anyone with half of a business brain knows that the top girls are powerful marketing tools, especially with the rapid growth of women's action sports at the moment. Look at surfing, where companies are spending shitloads on women specific marketing, magazines, etc.
It's actually the opposite of "communism", it's smart capitalism, determining a target market and finding ways to appeal to it.
 
Maybe its because of the lack of money and advertising in the womens side of things but I can guarantee you the majority of little girls out there (not freeskiing/aka the vast majortiy of little girls out there) have no clue in hell who Sarah Burke is.

Hell, a huge amount of little boys out there who don't freeski have no idea who Tanner Hall is, let alone the gear he rides.

By little I mean 10, 12, 14. Obviously small children don't.

Do not try and say that women have the same marketing power as the men out there. Going along with that, Sarah should be paid top dollar for sure. I heard figures a few years ago that were rediculous. Hopefully her contracts, if not her prize money, is a lot higher.
 
This is so spot on!!
All in all, I still don't understand why this is getting so much negative attention. It's not taking money away from the guys and all of the women's sports at X are getting more prize money.
 
man i get it, i wasnt referring to sponsors though i was referring to competition. I know why Burke would get more than Hornbeck in sponorship money I just dont think she should get as much as Tanner Hall when she wins the X games Pipe and he does as well. know what i mean? Does that make sense? Don't try and tell me the same amount of people watch womens pipe. Obviously more people are going to watch mens pipe therefore more money will be put into it, less people will watch womens pipe which means less money should be put into it. Also your going a little off track, giving a bigger prize purse isnt really marketing. If you want to talk about marketing then we should be talking about what companies can do to increase there appeal to the female population. The main target market for freestyle skiing is always going to be middle to upper class10-20 year old caucasian males because that's who holds the most interest.
 
Anyway I could really care less, it will give girls an incentive to stepthereshitup.com but i highly doubt they will just because a few thousand dollars. this little debateski was fun, but i dont think it will really go anywhere else. props to everyone who stuck to there shit and fuck all the fence sitters. I do agree with some of your points btw but I personally still don't think they should be paid the same amount.
 
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