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≡ DIAMOND LEAGUE ≡
“Following a decision by the Diamond League General Assembly on Sunday, the total amount of prize money paid over the course of the season will increase to 9,240,000 US dollars in 2025.
“The new total is almost a third higher than the sum paid during the pandemic-affected period of 2021-2024, and the highest ever since the Diamond League’s launch in 2010.”
This comes less than a week after the close of the 2024 Diamond League at the Memorial Van Damme in Brussels (BEL) with the Diamond League Final.
The increase is significant from the standpoint of in-meet prize money:
● 2024: $25,000 per event in 14 Diamond League meets ($10,000-6,000-3,500-2,000-1,250-1,000-750-500).
● 2024: $60,000 per event in the Diamond League Final ($30,000-12,000-7,000-4,000-2,500-2,000-1,5000-1,000).
The announcement stated the new prize levels:
● 2025: $30,000-50,000 per event in 14 Diamond League meets (no distribution yet)
● 2025: $60,000-100,000 per event at the Diamond League Final (no distribution yet).
So in terms of the total prize money available:
● 2024: $4.96 million-plus at the first 14 meets (14 events x $25,000 each x 14 meets).
● 2024: $1.92 million at the Diamond League Final (32 events x $60,000 each)
● 2024: $6.88 million total, plus a little more for ninth-placers in the 100 m.
vs.
● 2025: $7.00 million at the first 14 meets (no breakdown given)
● 2025: $2.24 million at the Diamond League Final (32 events x $70,000 average)
● 2025: $9.24 million total, an increase of 33.7%.
The announcement also noted a lot more in addition to prizes:
“Including promotional fees for top athletes, a total of around US$18million will be paid to athletes in total over the course of the 2025 season, with many more millions being invested in athlete services such as travel and transport, accommodation and medical and physio provision.”
The 2025 Diamond League schedule is out, with 15 meets strewn across five months:
● April (1): Xiamen
● May (3): Suzhou, Doha, Rabat
● June (4): Rome, Oslo, Stockholm, Paris
● July (3): Eugene, Monaco, London
● August (4): Chorzow, Lausanne, Brussels, Zurich
In between all of these are expected to be four Grand Slam Track meets, with one in Los Angeles and three elsewhere, at dates yet to be announced. The World Athletics Championships is now (finally) at the end of the season, in Tokyo from 13-21 September.
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The Diamond League will also undergo a radical audience shift in the U.S., as NBC will only televise the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene in July. The other 14 meets will be on the FloTrack streaming service, which announced a multi-year agreement for the Diamond League in April.
NBC had pushed live coverage of the Diamond League onto its Peacock online service, which had 33 million subscribers as of the end of June, at $7.99 per month. The Sports Business Journal reported in May that parent company FloSports expanded to “almost one million subscribers (80% of whom are on annual plans)” by the end of 2023.
FloTrack subscriptions are $29.99 per month or $149.99 annually.
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