NEW YORK (CNN/Money) -
Never has creeping commercialism in sports been such a reason to cheer as it was Thursday, when jockeys got the right to wear ads in the Kentucky Derby.
Five jockeys, including Shane Sellers -- who will be riding favorite The Cliff's Edge in the Derby -- went to court and won the right to sell relatively small patches on their pants or turtlenecks to advertisers. The jockeys on the favorites could see $30,000 for this Saturday's race.
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| Jockey Jerry Bailey wore an ad on his leg when he won the Belmont Stakes last year in New York on Empire Maker. Thursday a federal judge opened the way for jockeys in Kentucky to be able to wear ads. |
I know that there are people who fear that jockeys will now look like logo-covered Nascar drivers, ruining the majesty and tradition of the Run for the Roses. But if tradition-rich events like golf's Masters can survive Tiger Woods and the Nike hype machine, the Sport of Kings can withstand a few ad dollars trickling down to its peasants.
The ads are small enough that you need a high-resolution photo to see some of the logos. But if that's big enough for advertisers, it'll be a big improvement in the finances of many jockeys, who are perhaps the most abused group of professional athletes in North America.
Racing is a physically grueling sport that is incredibly dangerous to boot. What the jockeys do to maintain their riding weights is one of the most disturbing aspects of any sport -- jockeys' locker rooms have special toilets to facilitate those who vomit their food regularly.
Ads won't help those problems. But they are important because jockeys go home with virtually nothing if they can't finish in the top three positions in a race.
Tough work if you can get it
The 17 riders who finish fourth or farther back in Saturday's Derby will essentially go home with $56 for the race. And outside of the big dollar, high profile events like the Triple Crown races or the Breeder's Cup, even many of the winning paydays are shockingly modest.
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"I rode one horse today -- my horse finished second," jockey Brian Peck told me. "I get about $400. My agent gets 30 percent. The valet gets his cut. Uncle Sam gets his cut."
Out of the 2,000 jockeys working in the sport, Sellers and Peck estimate that the majority are getting by on maybe $20,000 or $30,000 a year after agent and valet fees.
Few jockeys at that level will be selling ads for $30,000. But even a few hundred dollars a month would mean a great deal for them.
"This is a game, it's chicken one day, feathers the next," said Peck. "I've had meets where I went 0-for-60. You can go feast to famine and back and forth so fast it's not funny. And when you get hurt -- I went 10 months once without a paycheck coming in."
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Some jockeys, including Sellers do make good money.
The Daily Racing Form's jockey rankings show him No. 7 so far this season with winnings of $3.3 million. (That's total purse; he gets less than 10 percent of that.) But Sellers rode in over 400 races and finished in the money more than half the time. Typical jockeys don't do nearly as well.
Whose hands on the ad dollars?
Sellers has yet to decide which sponsor's ad he'll wear on Saturday.
"I've already turned down a couple I thought were distasteful," he said. "I don't want to hurt the game of horse racing."
Churchill Downs, home of the Derby, didn't have any problem with the jockeys selling ads as long as the advertisers didn't compete with any race sponsors. But horse racing isn't exactly flush with money. Television ratings are virtually non-existent outside of Triple Crown races (a result of the sport's early fears that TV coverage would mean fewer trips to the track and less betting).
"This is going to open the doors for younger riders who will follow me" said Sellers, 37. "Hopefully in 10 years we can all look back on this -- the riders, owners, race tracks -- and say that was a silly fight, this helped bring the money that was needed into the sport."
The danger is that now the door has been opened, the owners and tracks will push through and grab that money. The statement from Kentucky Horse Racing Authority chairman Bill Street about Thursday's court decision raised that possibility.
"The horse's owner, who pays all bills, should be an active participant in the decision-making process on advertising worn by jockeys," he said. "In addition, the authority recognizes that racing associations may also regulate advertising worn by jockeys."
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In the end, then, ads will be worn. Now, jockeys need to make sure that more than just a small percentage of the sponsor money reaches their pockets.
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