How much I made as ...
 

How much I made as a World Cup Downhill and Enduro racer

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Not me. Wyn Masters. 

He tells it all from his perspective in this here video. 

Quite interesting. 


 
Posted : 10/03/2026 2:09 pm
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Yeah, I found this a really interesting watch. A good insight into the dedication and quantity of work required to make even enough to live on. 

Wyn seems to have been pretty shrewd in the path he's taken with the content he creates as well, seeing himself up for post racing career. You can see why the big names are already working on future opportunities in the later years of their career.

I'd be interested to see something similar from someone who is more of a YTv personality than racer. I suspect that pays far better, but the veneer of influencer is obviously designed to give that appearance. My wife has worked around 'ambassadors' in previous roles and it's very revealing as to how much of their wealth is actually on loan from marketing departments.


 
Posted : 10/03/2026 2:29 pm
kayak23 reacted
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Haven’t watched it yet, but chatting with Ed Masters last year he told us all about the private trail digging work he and Wyn did in remote locations for a very wealthy man and he reckoned that paid for a lot of their racing.


 
Posted : 10/03/2026 8:34 pm
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A very interesting video. I was pleasantly surprised how much he was getting paid at GT, it puts him in the top earning bracket for the Uk. I imagine given how much of the year is travelling on expenses that salary goes further than it would for most on a 6 figure salary


 
Posted : 12/03/2026 2:00 pm
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Yep enjoyed that. Most surprised by his GT salary, the years of making no money did not suprise me. 

Salary now for being an "ambassador" and the sponsorship deals would be interesting 


 
Posted : 13/03/2026 8:59 pm
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I always find the disparity in athletes wages between sports quite depressing (though not surprising)

Is a Premier League footballer worth £100k or more a week? You'd probably have to drop down to 3rd or 4th tier clubs to be 'only' earning £100k per year!

My sister was a professional triathlete for 15 years or so, raced at 2 Olympics and won/podiumed multiple world cup races. I'm not sure if she ever cracked £100k a year during her career, though she may have in years she won more races and got more prize money.

Post racing she does a bit of commentating (Paris Olympics for French TV as she's France based) and runs a swimwear/wetsuit company.


 
Posted : 15/03/2026 10:01 am
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Posted by: ajantom

Is a Premier League footballer worth £100k or more a week? You'd probably have to drop down to 3rd or 4th tier clubs to be 'only' earning £100k per year!

 

Yes, based on the revenue they generate for the clubs and/or the TV companies that pay those wages.


 
Posted : 15/03/2026 1:03 pm
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Posted by: tomhoward

Yes, based on the revenue they generate for the clubs and/or the TV companies that pay those wages.

Hmm, that's a slightly disingenuous answer.

Obviously I know they generate income for clubs, sponsors, etc. but I also don't think anyone should be paid that amount of money for kicking a ball around (however skilled they are at said kicking).

This is getting off topic, but here's my two pence worth...

I'm probably quite socialist in my views, and I know it will never happen, but shouldn't we give credit and decent wages to people who do actually important jobs, like carers, nurses, teachers/teaching assistants, firemen, ambulance drivers, and so on. All of these people are far more deserving of decent recompense than someone who plays sport for our entertainment.

Such is the topsy turvy and rather shit society we live in 😞


 
Posted : 15/03/2026 4:19 pm
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Oh I agree, but this is the society we live in, and society defines worth.


 
Posted : 15/03/2026 6:27 pm
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Posted by: ajantom

Is a Premier League footballer worth £100k or more a week? You'd probably have to drop down to 3rd or 4th tier clubs to be 'only' earning £100k per year!

No. But it’s what the market rate is. Just as Hamilton isn’t worth the millions he earns for driving round a track. But that’s the world we live in. As I said earlier I was surprised how much Wyn was earning especially the way pinkbike likes to portray them all giving on pennies


 
Posted : 15/03/2026 6:47 pm
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Posted by: ajantom

shouldn't we give credit and decent wages to people who do actually important jobs, like carers, nurses, teachers/teaching assistants, firemen, ambulance drivers, and so on

100% with this, but the market doesn't value them as they generate no profit to pay them more with.Sadly...

Posted by: tomhoward

this is the society we live in

 


 
Posted : 15/03/2026 7:42 pm
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I was surprised how much Wyn was earning especially the way pinkbike likes to portray them all giving on pennies

I think it was odd it was portrayed as a race salary because despite being on the race team he was clearly paid as an influencer / ambassador. Someone with his results probably would be on a deal with no/minimal pay but his youtube work ensured he was one of the highest profile riders.

 


 
Posted : 16/03/2026 11:17 am
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Posted by: tomhoward

Yes, based on the revenue they generate for the clubs and/or the TV companies that pay those wages.

Isn't the reason they want us to pay £30 a month to watch downhill racing because these football players don't actually generate enough revenue to cover what they paid for the TV rights?

So they had to bundle a bunch of other sports unrelated to football into the 'package' so that footballers get the money from those sports.  Those of us who like watching downhill and are willing to pay for it are basically ensuring footballers get more while downhillers get **** all.


 
Posted : 16/03/2026 3:06 pm
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Posted by: ajantom

I'm probably quite socialist in my views, and I know it will never happen, but shouldn't we give credit and decent wages to people who do actually important jobs, like carers, nurses, teachers/teaching assistants, firemen, ambulance drivers, and so on. All of these people are far more deserving of decent recompense than someone who plays sport for our entertainment.

I'm reminded of a few years ago when there was outrage that the CEO of Tesco was on multimillions/year. When many of their staff claimed benefits.

Is that right, no... but I worked out if the CEO worked for free and distributed the money among all their staff, everyone would have got an extra 50p a week.

We give ungodly amounts of money to what, 1000-2000 people, in the PL and CL - to entertain 70 million of us (maybe half the UK population might be entertained by football, so say 35 million), plus more around the globe. Thats a few pounds a week per fan. 

 


 
Posted : 16/03/2026 5:21 pm
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Posted by: BruceWee

Isn't the reason they want us to pay £30 a month to watch downhill racing because these football players don't actually generate enough revenue to cover what they paid for the TV rights?

Discovery could only dream of having the games Sky got/have.

in fact I think they got everything Sky didn’t want.


 
Posted : 16/03/2026 5:26 pm
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Posted by: tomhoward

Discovery could only dream of having the games Sky got/have.

in fact I think they got everything Sky didn’t want.

Yeah, but what they do have is still a bunch of guys on at least £100,000 per year.

I'm pretty sure the switch from £7 a month with GCN+ to £30 a month with Discovery didn't result in any extra money for the cycling teams so that money had to go somewhere.


 
Posted : 17/03/2026 7:44 am
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Posted by: ajantom

Posted by: tomhoward

Yes, based on the revenue they generate for the clubs and/or the TV companies that pay those wages.

 

This is getting off topic, but here's my two pence worth...

I'm probably quite socialist in my views, and I know it will never happen, but shouldn't we give credit and decent wages to people who do actually important jobs, like carers, nurses, teachers/teaching assistants, firemen, ambulance drivers, and so on. All of these people are far more deserving of decent recompense than someone who plays sport for our entertainment.

Such is the topsy turvy and rather shit society we live in 😞

TBH we’ll pay someone on the telly/film more to pretend being the above 🙂

 

 

 


 
Posted : 17/03/2026 12:48 pm