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Theres so many sloperiders on Facebook whinging the opposite lol. one of the riders who was ment to ride at Crankworx Abused the sh!t outta me, taking personal shots... I sent all the info to their sponsor and After about 6 hours theyd gone back an deleted all their comments on every post haha

The NFL doesn't pay players. F1 doesn't pay Lewis. The NBA doesn't pay LeBron. The venues they play in don't pay them either. I don't think you understand who the riders "work for".

Maybe from the Crankworx perspective the optimum resolution might be to change it from a competition to an exhibition. Invite 5 top riders - 5 male & 5 female - and pay them what amounts to a generous appearance fee that includes travel/lodging. Hold the exhibition the last day of the Crankworx event. Charge a separate ticket price for fans to watch the event in person - maybe in the form of an add-on to any other event ticket prices. (So, slopestyle by itself $10, but slopestyle added to 3-day pass or whatever only $5... just making up numbers here...

It took my union close to 18 months to negotiate our latest contract for marginal increases. Most contract negotiations with unions take time you can’t just show up and demand more then walk off after a few days of talks. I definitely think they should be paid well but like others have said how much is actually available to spend on athletes after all the event costs are considered. Most cycling disciplines do not make much from prize money and very few get appearance money.

A bunch of privileged kids on bikes demanding buffet lunches and 2k travel from Red Bull to spin off ramps doesn't exactly draw massive public support of the masses. Nor does their strike impact lives like say UPS or a dockworker. Let the kids have their temper tantrum. The adults will ride bikes and make fun of them on vital.

Do tell us what union the slope riders are in? My wife’s in a union at her work (local council in the UK). After over 6 months of negotiations her union managed to secure a pay rise that was exactly the same as the original offer. Bravo Maybe if you put your view across without insulting everyone we’d pay you some attention. I would say eff off back to PB, but that would be unfair to them. Pipe down Greta

If they don't like their pay from Crankworx, they should get a job that pays more. This entitled mindset must be driven by a overvalued self worth to their sponsors? Crankworx needs to create some macro and micro economics classes as well as basic accounting with profit and loss education. Maybe slopestyle competitor isn't such a great career choice?

And so far all they’ve achieved is getting one of their main headline events cancelled… oh and a few forum posts. Great union so far.

I can feel the teenage angst bleeding through here, so I know I'm not going to change your mind. For anyone who is intellectually curious around the subject and how wrong this person is, here is an easy example to follow. The TL;DR is supply and demand underpins how "markets work". Not name calling and employees banding together (ironically what you just described has more Marxist tones, which is fine). Anyway - my example for anyone who cares... At the pointy end of the spear in the live performance space, its pretty widely acknowledged the best in the world right...

Do they deserve more? Sure... But, that doesn't mean the money is there to pay them more.. They can always try and get a spot on the Nitro Circus or do like some guys have done and get into the stuntman business..

Assume you'll let us all know how your negotiations go on Monday Daniel, when you give your employer a 2 day ultimatum for more compensation. See if you can get your colleagues onboard.

You might have "corporate apologist" and those who "understand how a market works" confused. Just an observation.

Like people have said, slopestyle just isn't something that 95% of riders out there do when they mountain bike. With the XGames and say SuperCross/Motorcross, that's what you do. You ride a BMX to do tricks and that kind of riding. While people aren't gonna do SuperCross, at the end of the day it's still just riding a dirt bike. For mountain biking, most people can relate better to Enduro or DH. Slopestyle is like just some crazy circus act now that no one can relate too. It's not selling the sport of Mountain Biking the same way a racing...

I wonder if this is what has ultimately triggered all this. The riders feeling nervous about being a sideshow to the DH. Maybe cover their fees, but demanding an 'appearance fee' is a bit arrogant tbh, especially 2 days before the event. I've never been a fan, so may be jaded Cramming all the spins in isn't really stylish, give me a floaty 360 tabletop any day! (yeah yeah, ok grandad)

This is exactly the mess WC DH and WC racing in genera doesn't need. With having GCN as the one stop shop platform last year, I was happy with the coverage and access. But this different region, different provider stuff is a nightmare for DH. Exactly how to kill viewership. The left over people from ESO need to push for an F1.com style service where you can access live coverage, highlights, BTS and stats etc... all in one place.

If one thing is clear its that we are all broadly speaking with very little data (myself included) . We don't know the structure of the event with respect to certain parties involvement (like Red Bull), what kind of revenue it produces from sponsorship, ticket sales, streaming, government subsidies (though great job on behalf of the other poster here) etc. This is one of those situations where transparency at least to the riders would go a long way. I don't think anyone is against the riders getting a fair cut, whatever that may be, if real money is changing hands...

Doesn't Red Bull only broadcast the event not own it? So why would it be on them to pay more. That would be like saying a tv network should pay pro players more.

Give the money to the Womens purse

Same here, but not everyone can be Neko Mullaly. I have met many pros as well I have even dug at rampage. I agree with what your saying but I also don’t. Some people are Jared Graves and some people are Neko Mullaly. Either way these guys should have rode.