2012 Korean pro earning

[hailthorn011]

I think the Japanese chart for something like this would be fascinating. And considering all the titles Iyama Yuta won in 2012, he probably made a fair amount. From what i gathered, Iyama Yuta earned this last year alone:

Honinbo: $415, 000
Oza: $173, 000
Judan: $148, 000
Tengen: $122,000
Gosei: $67,000

Estimate: $925,000

This is an estimate because this data only includes that data. But Iyama Yuta earned 265,168 more than the top earning Korean player. Of course not every player wins as many titles as Iyama did in a single year, but I think that's pretty interesting.

[lemmata]

Prize money numbers from the Nihon Kiin (2011) converted using today's exchange rate to USD.

1. Cho U: $1,026,000
2. Yamashita Keigo: $977,400
3. Iyama Yuta: $640,600
4. Takao Shinji: $373,600
5. Hane Naoki: $318,400
6. Kono Rin: $284,400
7. Yamada Kimio: $217,000
8. Xie Yimin: $213,500
9. 25th Honinbo Chikun: $204,600
10. O Meien: $158,400

By the way, it seems to me that the total earnings for the top go players in the world may be strongly affected by when the Ing Cup (quadrennial) and the Chunlan Cup (biannual) are held. In 2013, the finals of both tournaments will be held, so the 2013 numbers will look inflated when they come out end the next year.

[emeraldemon]

I think maybe the most useful comparison is to average salary in Korea. It's surprisingly hard to find a number in English that hasn't already been converted to dollars, but according to this 2008 data average Korean salary is about 25 million Won. From that point of view 120 million Won seems pretty nice.

[tapir]

I think maybe the most useful comparison is to average salary in Korea. It's surprisingly hard to find a number in English that hasn't already been converted to dollars, but according to this 2008 data average Korean salary is about 25 million Won. From that point of view 120 million Won seems pretty nice.

Well, I distracted people by mentioning average wages in Switzerland, but we are talking about a top10 player. Even most players on this list now, won't be there in 5 years, and 95% (or how much?) of professional players earn less (will top 50 still earn 25 million won, I doubt it) and support themselves by other means.

[Knotwilg]

It is always interesting to discuss the fairness of someone's earnings. To me the only oddity is that not more Koreans enter the Japanese scene, as there seems to be more money out there for Go players. Is there a restriction and how did Cho U pass?

Otherwise, this world is not a meritocracy where some objective argument converts skill into money. Professional athletes, especially in long distances, earn notoriously little money except for a happy few household names and even those do not compare to football stars (soccer), tennis players, golf players, boxers or race car drivers. Even those highly skilled people who are already at the high end of the salary scale, do not earn nearly as much money as professional money makers like Carlos Slim, Warren Buffet and their likes.

Football stars only partly earn their money because of their excellence. They (chose to) excel in a skill which happens to have big economic value. Part of their "merit" lies in dealing with fame. Football stars do not lead a normal life and are harassed by tabloids. They do not really realize that and often take their huge salary for granted, pressing to be "left in peace and just be admired for their skill". That's not the way it works and I wouldn't probably want to switch with them.

Baduk stars also enjoy some popularity but their following is probably smaller and more educated. This means they do not suffer from the excesses of fame but neither do they get the reward for dealing with it.

So there is an economic value linked to high salaries for excellence in skill and much of that has to do with fame. There is some fairness in that, although many would probably take the private pool WITH the barbed wire.

And then there are those who do not respond to economic value but even manipulate it. Their art is making money, selling short or buying undervalued stock. They don't have to deal with fame as much as sport stars, because their money is not a reward for fame. Their money is the very subject of their skill. There is certainly no fairness in that.

The world is not a meritocracy, people. As Chester Karass said, you don't get what you deserve, you get what you negotiate.

[emeraldemon]

To me the only oddity is that not more Koreans enter the Japanese scene, as there seems to be more money out there for Go players. Is there a restriction and how did Cho U pass?

I asked almost the same question in this thread. You might find the responses interesting.

[Mef]

To me the only oddity is that not more Koreans enter the Japanese scene, as there seems to be more money out there for Go players. Is there a restriction and how did Cho U pass?

I asked almost the same question in this thread. You might find the responses interesting.

Indeed, John F.'s response doesn't quite come out at and explicitly say it, but it looks like the real reason more Korean pros don't come over and play in Japan is...well..they don't train in Japan. From the perspective of someone like Lee ChangHo or Lee SeDol, in hindsight it might make a lot of sense to think "Oh, they could have gotten more money if they had just developed in Japan so they could win the more lucrative tournaments". Realistically though by the time they would have developed to the point it is clear they could be a top pro, they already have a mentor and they are more or less committed to the pro organization they would eventually play for. For example - Cho U went to Japan to study around the age of 10. This is about the same age Lee ChangHo became a live-in pupil with Cho Hunhyun. It's safe to say that, for both players, shortly thereafter they were more or less committed to where they would become professionals simply by nature of their training. In that sense, making the decision of playing in Japan would have to be one made by the parents of the player and would probably require them to already have contacts with a Japanese professional.

[SmoothOper]

If you compare them to the Jordans(1st athlete billionaire) not so hot, but to the track and field team, or your average football lineman... Not so bad and they won't have had two or three different knee reconstruction surgeries, and don't forget the farm team baseball players or the NFL practice teams.

[badukJr]

If you compare them to the Jordans(1st athlete billionaire) not so hot, but to the track and field team, or your average football lineman... Not so bad and they won't have had two or three different knee reconstruction surgeries, and don't forget the farm team baseball players or the NFL practice teams.

Yeah, but that's a bum comparison. These guys aren't life long 1dan, they are the best players in Korea. In the NFL:

For the 2012 season, minimum NFL base salaries are ...

1) Rookie - $390,000
2) 1 year - $465,000

1 year players slot into 2nd on that list. And this is minimum salary... i.e 3rd stringers. Many practice squad players clear over $100k a season.
So like, 98% of KBA pros don't even clear practice squad player salary.

[oren]

People playing a board game a few people care about versus a sport that half the country watches. There's not much of a point for comparison.

[Mef]

If you compare them to the Jordans(1st athlete billionaire) not so hot, but to the track and field team, or your average football lineman... Not so bad and they won't have had two or three different knee reconstruction surgeries, and don't forget the farm team baseball players or the NFL practice teams.

Yeah, but that's a bum comparison. These guys aren't life long 1dan, they are the best players in Korea. In the NFL:

For the 2012 season, minimum NFL base salaries are ...

1) Rookie - $390,000
2) 1 year - $465,000

1 year players slot into 2nd on that list. And this is minimum salary... i.e 3rd stringers. Many practice squad players clear over $100k a season.
So like, 98% of KBA pros don't even clear practice squad player salary.

Yes, but there are dozens of smaller football leagues (like Arena Football) where the athletes are lucky to make $30,000/year. Also worth considering for the case of football, much of the "minor league" development is actually done by colleges which are not allowed to pay players a salary even though they bring in large amounts of revenue. Realistically, a player who has 1 year of NFL experience has already excelled in what could be considered a professional environment for as many as 6 years (1 or 2 Redshirt years, 4 years of NCAA eligibility, 1 year of NFL). This would be more like the go equivalent of a 7-9P who is winning smaller tournaments, maybe participating in league play, etc.