⛷️ Do Olympic Athletes Get Paid?

I’ll give you my answer to this question at the end of today’s newsletter, but what was the best Super Bowl commercial, and more importantly, why did so many of them rely on references from the last century?

Between the Backstreet Boys, a Jurassic Park reboot, and a call back to every 80s/90s sitcom, it feels like these brands are trying to tell us something. More on that later.

In today’s newsletter:

🗞 The Big Story: Do Olympic Athletes Get Paid?

📉 Biggest Loser: What Happened to Phiten Necklaces?

🏆 Winner’s Circle: How Much are Olympic Medals Actually Worth?

🗞 The Big Story

Do Olympic athletes actually get paid? Well, the short answer is no; however, the real answer is probably a lot more complicated than you might think.

Let me explain.

Background: Even though the International Olympic Committee made $7.6 billion during its last four-year cycle, the organization is technically a non-profit, claiming that 90% of its income, or approximately $4.2 million per day, is used help support the development of sports and competition around the world.

However, while that mission sounds great on paper, it also gives the IOC a great excuse to not directly pay any of the 2,900 athletes who are competing in this year’s Winter Olympic Games, but that doesn’t mean they’re not still getting paid.

Pay-to-Play: For example, Singapore, which has only one athlete competing in this year’s games, is offering $1M for a gold medal, down to $250,000 for a bronze medal. There are even reports of athletes receiving apartments, cars, and, in one instance, an Indonesian badminton gold medalist being gifted:

• Five cows

• A meatball restaurant

• A new house

For context, these sorts of exorbitant payouts are typically only made by countries that don’t send a lot of athletes to the Olympics. In fact, athletes from Great Britain, Norway, and a handful of other countries don’t get anything for placing on the podium.

But what about American athletes?

Where Money Is Spent: According to the most recent U.S. Olympic Committee financial filing, during the last Olympic cycle, Team USA earned approximately $345M, which they used to pay for programs for their athletes, like:

• College scholarships

• Health insurance

• Tax support

However, $5.6M of that money also went to what they called “Operation Gold,” which paid athletes directly for medal performances, ranging from $37,500 for gold, down to $15,000 for bronze.

I guess they could always sell their medals if they need a bit of extra cash…

📉 Biggest Loser

What the hell happened to Phiten Necklaces? Because not that long ago, they were worn by hundreds of professional athletes across every major sport.

But now, they might actually be making a comeback, just not for the reason you might think.

Phiten’s Origins: Phiten was started by a Japanese chiropractor in 1983, who claimed that his titanium-infused products could “produce an electrical charge that relieves pain, increases energy, and speeds recovery.” And after gaining an initial following in Japan, Phiten necklaces eventually became massively popular in America after Hall of Fame Pitcher Randy Johnson discovered them during a 2001 All-Star trip to the country.

In fact, according to one report, by 2009, Phiten was selling more than $200 million in product per year, with athletes ranging from Matt Hasselbeck to Justin Verlander wearing them during games and earning the company millions more in free exposure.

However, unfortunately, the good times didn’t last long.

Phiten’s “Health Benefits”: Even though players seemed to believe in the health benefits of wearing the product, the company’s claims that their necklaces could “maximize your potential energy and strength” were never actually scientifically proven, resulting in Phiten having to settle a $3.2 million class-action lawsuit in 2011 for false advertising and being forced to offer free refunds to their customers.

And even though athletes at every level continued to wear these things through the mid-2010s due to some combination of superstition and style, by the end of the decade, these necklaces had basically gone extinct… or so I thought.

That’s because, during my research for this newsletter, I learned that Phiten necklaces are actually making a comeback across MLB, with teams like the Baltimore Orioles and Pittsburgh Pirates wearing them for old times' sake.

And even though players now seem skeptical about the potential health benefits, it seems like the one thing these necklaces actually do provide is good team morale.

🏆 Winner’s Circle

How much are Olympic medals actually worth? Well, even though this year they’re reportedly “worth more than ever,” it’s still probably not as much as you might think.

Let’s break it down.

First Olympic Medals: Even though the Olympic Games originated in ancient Greece nearly 3,000 years ago, the first Olympic medal wasn’t awarded until 1896, when the first-place winner was given a silver medal, second-place a bronze, with third-place being left with nothing.

However, that system changed just 8 years later, during the 1904 Olympics in St. Louis, when the event's organizers decided that winners deserved gold medals, with second and third receiving silver and bronze, respectively.

Now, from 1904 to 1912, medals were actually much smaller and far less valuable than they are today. For example, a gold medal at that time weighed about 26 grams, and even though it was made of pure gold, it would still be worth about $530 in today’s money.

Meanwhile, a gold medal today weighs 19.5x more at 506 grams, but that doesn’t mean its value has increased by the same amount. That’s because the medals that the winners will be receiving this year from the Italian State Mint don’t actually contain a lot of rare metals.

Olympic Medals Value: For example, the bronze medals are made out of 420 grams of copper, meaning they’re only worth about $5.60 a piece. Silver medals, however, are made 100% out of silver, which, given current prices, means they are worth about $1,400. However, gold medals contain only about six grams of real gold, with the remaining 500 grams being silver, valuing each at about $2,300.

But what that might not sound like a lot, it’s still the highest an Olympic medal has ever been worth, but why?

Well, it’s simply because gold and silver prices have skyrocketed in the past year. Meaning the same gold medal awarded in Paris just two years ago is actually now worth more than double its original value.

And given the fact that Italy has to make 1,146 of these things between the Olympics and Paralympics this year, that means they’ll be spending $1.42 million on medals alone.

⏱️ In Other News

• How Strictly B-Ball took over the internet

• Ukrainian skeleton racer out of Winter Games after refusing to change helmet honoring friends

• YouTube Pirating of Netflix’s Sports Podcasts Has Already Begun

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👋🏻 Happy Friday!

Here were my top 3 favorite Super Bowl ads:

1. Relax Your Tight End

2. Justaguy

3. Keg

Send me your favorite(s) if you have any. I’m curious what this group considers to be a “good ad.”

That said, I think brands are starting to realize we’re fully in a K-shaped economy: Gen X and Boomers have the most disposable income, while a large portion of young people can barely afford rent.

That’s my theory, anyway, as to why we saw so many old actors and musicians get airbrushed for Super Bowl ads.