Figure skating’s ongoing efforts to prove that their sport is more popular than football has given fans a new topic of discussion. And if the talk about higher ratings of the “figurine” is justified, then the comment of the President of the Center for Sports and Education “Sambo 70” Renat Laishev about the higher earnings of figure skaters looks, to put it mildly, ridiculous.

Even the players of the outsider of the Russian Football Championship earn more than the leading Russian athletes from figure skating …

Or is there something we don’t know?

“Football players will cry with envy”

The opinion of Russian representatives of figure skating that their sport in our country is more popular than football has a basis. The ratings of the top figure skating tournaments often exceed the broadcasts of the matches of the Russian national team. However, in general, in figure skating, the season is much shorter, and there are much fewer significant events in it. The popularity of the main stars of the “figurine” really rolls over. According to the audience in social networks, Medvedev, Zagitov, Trusova and some other figure skaters surpass most of our players.

Photo: © RIA Novosti / Svetlana Shevchenko

If the “figure” in Russia is more popular than football, then the earnings of figure skaters, in theory, should be higher, – they calculated in figure skating. We all know about the salaries of Russian football players, whose cosmic level has been misunderstood by ordinary people for more than a decade. Nevertheless, the head of the Sambo 70 Sports and Education Center, Renat Laishev, decided to upset the football world in this matter:

– Why then do football players get more skaters? Would you like to tell the truth? If the players find out how much the leading Russian figure skaters receive, they will cry. I mean, not from laughter, but from envy. It’s like a secret, but such an open secret that everyone knows about, but does not talk about. Of course, we are not talking about ordinary participants in the Russian Figure Skating Championship, but about big names. And this is another indicator why figure skating is more popular than football,” Laishev told Match TV.

Is Laishev deeply mistaken?

Representatives of the “figurine” should stop at the victory in the issue of the higher popularity of their sport. And you don’t have to go far here – the maximum earnings of the most popular athletes from figure skating, take the same Kamila Valieva and Anna Shcherbakova, for a year will be no more than 150-200 thousand dollars. And for this they need to win at once in several major starts such as the World Cup and the Olympic Games.

Yes, in addition to prize money for victories, the most popular figure skaters in Russia earn on exhibition shows and advertising contracts. Perhaps this is precisely the “secret” that Laishev is talking about. However, even with crazy sponsorship and advertising earnings, leading skaters do not reach the salaries of football players. Moreover, they play not in the top clubs, but as part of the outsiders of the Russian Premier League.

This season, Torpedo is in last place in the RPL. According to open data from the network, the average salary of the players of this team is about 230 thousand euros per year, and this is without bonuses. To set as an example the average salary of the players of the country’s top clubs would probably be too cruel to Laishev. So “more popular” does not mean richer.