Hakuho income after intai

[Gernobono]

Can someone hear tell, how much Hakuho would earn less, if he took an oyakata-income instead his rikishi-income (official one)

[Churaumi]

IIRC, a yokozuna makes ¥5 million a month, totalling ¥60 million a year, and a new oyakata makes about ¥10 million a year. But, there's lots of perks.

[Yamanashi]

57 minutes ago, Churaumi said:

IIRC, a yokozuna makes ¥5 million a month, totalling ¥60 million a year, and a new oyakata makes about ¥10 million a year. But, there's lots of perks.

Absolutely!  I bet Hakuho is green with envy seeing Araiso-oyakata in his awesome blue windbreaker.

[Churaumi]

The kensho and mochikyukin money are probably what he'll miss most, not that the kensho has been flowing his way lately...

[Tsuchinoninjin]

The amount of outside perks really can't be understated. I think I remember a story of a rikishi who had just gotten into makuuchi getting gifted a mercedes benz from a supporter, when driving wasn't so taboo. If a rank and file guy gets that, the imagination wonders what Hakuho might be receiving.

And I don't think those will slow down if he opens a heya. Hell, he'll probably get more.

[Seiyashi]

7 minutes ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

The amount of outside perks really can't be understated. I think I remember a story of a rikishi who had just gotten into makuuchi getting gifted a mercedes benz from a supporter, when driving wasn't so taboo. If a rank and file guy gets that, the imagination wonders what Hakuho might be receiving.

And I don't think those will slow down if he opens a heya. Hell, he'll probably get more.

May not be that exact case, but Ishiura was (is?) sponsored by McLaren and he arrived at the Kokugikan in a McLaren car once before on his birthday.

And it's more than likely Hakuho will just take over and rename Miyagino-beya, just like Takanohana with ex-Futagoyama-beya.

[Yamanashi]

44 minutes ago, Tsuchinoninjin said:

The amount of outside perks really can't be understated. I think I remember a story of a rikishi who had just gotten into makuuchi getting gifted a mercedes benz from a supporter, when driving wasn't so taboo. If a rank and file guy gets that, the imagination wonders what Hakuho might be receiving.

And I don't think those will slow down if he opens a heya. Hell, he'll probably get more.

The "ban" on commercial income by rikishi seems to be a little vague, but there's no doubt that it's less restrictive for an oyakata.  Look at the hailstorm of commercials Kisenosato got when he became Araiso.  Good-looking Kotooshu still gets a few endorsements for hot cars, cool-looking clothing and shoes.  I don't know what the official "connection" is between Hakuho and Hakuho rice right now, but it will certainly be more "transparent" when he's done as a rikishi.  And that's probably small potatoes (?) compared to the rest of his endorsements.

Edited October 2, 2020 by Yamanashi
cannt typ.

[Yamanashi]

I know, it's me, but this is really a serious question:  have any retired rikishi endorsed weight-loss programs?  None come to my mind, but I'm a newbie to Ozumo.  It seems to me that it's a no-brainer.

[Churaumi]

Orora has done some healthy living stuff, but I don't know if that's because he's getting paid to or he has seen the light and is trying to spread the good word of not actively trying to be 300 kilos.

[Akinomaki]

8 minutes ago, Yamanashi said:

I know, it's me, but this is really a serious question:  have any retired rikishi endorsed weight-loss programs?  None come to my mind, but I'm a newbie to Ozumo.  It seems to me that it's a no-brainer.

What would you call endorse? As CM for a company that provides them? Takanohana (while still in the NSK), Amuru and Takanofuji (after leaving) showed what can be done and was necessary, apparently with their own programs. Taka was asked often in interviews about his weight loss, I don't recall what he endorsed. Amuru has his sumo dojo in a fitness gym, I'd saying he's closest to endorsing weight loss programs: he provides them

On 31/08/2020 at 17:52, Akinomaki said:

Articles keep appearing about Amuru, he works there since last year April and aims to open his own gym in the future. To be able to give the proper instructions how to use the muscles etc., he's going to Japanese classes 3 times a week. The weight is 105kg now (192cm), down 30kg or more from his active days. He had 78kg when he came to Japan at age 18, his Japanese brother-in-law had recommended it to him. Now he's in Japan for over 18 years, longer than he lived at home.

His interest in becoming a trainer stems from his own serious injuries, left knee in makushita, right knee in juryo. He then received advice from experts and learned about the importance of stretching etc.: "I regretted that I didn't take care before the injuries."

The gym had to close for a month due to Corona, after reopening people were hesitant - that led to the Online dojo. He is instructing also in Russian and English, customers from abroad can join.

 oo

[Asashosakari]

59 minutes ago, Yamanashi said:

I know, it's me, but this is really a serious question:  have any retired rikishi endorsed weight-loss programs?  None come to my mind, but I'm a newbie to Ozumo.  It seems to me that it's a no-brainer.

As Akinomaki already said, "endorse" might not quite cover it, but there was this:

Edited October 2, 2020 by Asashosakari

[Yamanashi]

Thanks to @Asashosakari and @Akinomaki for the references.  By "endorse" I mean either directly go on a TV commercial or otherwise promote a product in return for pay.  It seems like such a good idea, but there aren't nearly as many overweight people in Japan as there are in the U.S. 

Takanohana writing a book on healthy eating/lifestyle would definitely count.  As an aside, of all the high-ranked rikishi I have seen (now or in historical pictures), Yokozuna Takanohana stands out to me as a thin man wearing a fat man's body.  Every time I see that body in videos I almost gasp; he looks like he's wearing one of those sumo costumes.  It's not surprising that he could shed the weight afterward.

[Katsunorifuji]

10 hours ago, Churaumi said:

IIRC, a yokozuna makes ¥5 million a month, totalling ¥60 million a year, and a new oyakata makes about ¥10 million a year. But, there's lots of perks.

60 million yen equates to a bit $600,000 USD per year if my math is correct. That seems low for someone who’s considered the best of all times. A rookie in the NFL is guaranteed $480,000 according to a quick google search.

Do the perks and extra bonuses for winning total up to a significant amount more, or are these guys really making amounts that would place them on the lower end of most profession sports (at least comparing to US leagues)?

[Eikokurai]

2 hours ago, Katsunorifuji said:

60 million yen equates to a bit $600,000 USD per year if my math is correct. That seems low for someone who’s considered the best of all times. A rookie in the NFL is guaranteed $480,000 according to a quick google search.

Do the perks and extra bonuses for winning total up to a significant amount more, or are these guys really making amounts that would place them on the lower end of most profession sports (at least comparing to US leagues)?

The NFL is the most popular sport in a huge sports market. Sumo is niche even in Japan. It’s not really worth comparing them. I’d put sumo on a level with sports like snooker or darts in the UK.

Besides, pro rata, sekitori are pretty well paid. If a Yokozuna makes $600,000 a year, that’s about $600 for every second he’s fighting. :)

Edited October 3, 2020 by Eikokurai

[Kyokufuji]

6 hours ago, Katsunorifuji said:

60 million yen equates to a bit $600,000 USD per year if my math is correct. That seems low for someone who’s considered the best of all times. A rookie in the NFL is guaranteed $480,000 according to a quick google search.

The average professional baseball player in Japan’s highest league (NPB) makes $300,000.

The average American baseball player in America’s highest league makes $4,400,000.

The comparison you are making is a double apples to oranges comparison. Two very different countries, two very different sports.

[Shatsume]

3 hours ago, Eikokurai said:

Besides, pro rata, sekitori are pretty well paid. If a Yokozuna makes $600,000 a year, that’s about $600 for every second he’s fighting. :)

That's a bit Sloppy mate, although technically correct, it implies that competition bouts are the only work they do. Take training/travel away from home and public appearances/duties in to account and it's more like 10 cents a second. Slight difference, although still a number I personally wouldn't sniff at 

[themistyseas]

10 minutes ago, Kyokufuji said:

The comparison you are making is a double apples to oranges comparison. Two very different countries, two very different sports.

That, and of course as Churaumi stated above, there is the Mochikyukin system that augments the salary. Some sports have performance bonuses, but certainly none that I know of are as comprehensive as this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mochikyūkin

Unless there has been some change in the system I'm not aware of or that hasn't been published, the compensation Hakuho gets from the Association for putting up GOAT numbers would dwarf 60M yen/600K USD. I'm not sure I'm able to do the maths but would love to see someone have a go!! :)

[Eikokurai]

1 hour ago, Shatsume said:

That's a bit Sloppy mate, although technically correct, it implies that competition bouts are the only work they do. Take training/travel away from home and public appearances/duties in to account and it's more like 10 cents a second. Slight difference, although still a number I personally wouldn't sniff at 

I know, hence the smiley face. ;)

[Akinomaki]

The basic monthly salary for a yokozuna is now 3 million yen, with the standard allowances etc. he has a minimum of 48 million a year. Including his immense basho bonus mochi-kyuukin, Hakuho last year was reported with a sumo income of 91.59 million (with figures from last year Haru) http://career-picks.com/average-salary/rikishi-kyuryo/index.html#17009000

- plus his kensho total of 1057 - 30 million. Plus yusho money and money from appearing at 1 day tournaments etc. The amount of tanimachi gifts etc. is of course unknown, he also had some income from CMs, books and TV appearances.

I don't know if the toshiyori figures are up to date, the ii-in equivalent pay a retired yokozuna gets from the start amounts with all the extra payments to about 16 million a year. http://www.sumoforum.net/forums/topic/31101-sumo-kyokai-revenue/?page=2&tab=comments#comment-414375

What he also gets for the start is quite some retirement money, a big part of it undisclosed, but he then gets all that remains from what the NSK kept for him of his really big past kensho numbers.

Edited October 3, 2020 by Akinomaki

[Katsunorifuji]

5 hours ago, Kyokufuji said:

The average professional baseball player in Japan’s highest league (NPB) makes $300,000.

The average American baseball player in America’s highest league makes $4,400,000.

The comparison you are making is a double apples to oranges comparison. Two very different countries, two very different sports.

I wasn’t aiming so much for an apples to apples comparison but chose the NFL because it was another sport where someone who is heavy and strong can make a name for themselves as an offensive lineman. With the big pay differential it surprises me a bit that we don’t see more people start in sumo and then try their hand at American football if their sumo careers don’t look to take off. I know the skill sets aren’t a 1 to 1 transfer but the foundations aren’t all that different. 
 

But my main question was more about how much extra someone like Hakuho, or anyone in the salaried ranks, can pull in with all the added awards and prize money. I know sumo loves it’s awards so that base salary is a lot like the CEO who $1million as a salary but then $20 million in stock bonuses. My curiosity was around how much the sumo “bonuses” increase their earning potential. 

[Asashosakari]

10 hours ago, Katsunorifuji said:

I wasn’t aiming so much for an apples to apples comparison but chose the NFL because it was another sport where someone who is heavy and strong can make a name for themselves as an offensive lineman. With the big pay differential it surprises me a bit that we don’t see more people start in sumo and then try their hand at American football if their sumo careers don’t look to take off.

And compete for NFL spots with thousands of hopefuls who've been living and breathing football since childhood and usually gone through high-quality collegiate programs already? You can ask ex-Wakanoho how that worked out for him...

 

10 hours ago, Katsunorifuji said:

But my main question was more about how much extra someone like Hakuho, or anyone in the salaried ranks, can pull in with all the added awards and prize money. I know sumo loves it’s awards so that base salary is a lot like the CEO who $1million as a salary but then $20 million in stock bonuses. My curiosity was around how much the sumo “bonuses” increase their earning potential. 

Unless a rikishi is regularly winning the makuuchi yusho, the various opportunities to get non-salary money from the Kyokai really don't amount to all that much. Kensho are probably the biggest deal, but for those they're largely dependent on how they're regarded by third parties, so not much different from direct tanimachi support and the like. (Unless a rikishi has a knack for beating opponents who are themselves kensho magnets, of course.)

Edited October 4, 2020 by Asashosakari

[Benihana]

On 03/10/2020 at 13:14, Akinomaki said:

he has a minimum of 48 million a year

That's about €390000. Even the poorest clubs in the German Bundesliga pay more on average. Yes, there's mochi-kyuukin and kensho and so on, but still it's a joke.

[Asashosakari]

Those comparisons don't become less apples-to-oranges by switching from USA/NFL to Germany/Bundesliga.

[Tsuchinoninjin]

On 03/10/2020 at 09:11, Katsunorifuji said:

I wasn’t aiming so much for an apples to apples comparison but chose the NFL because it was another sport where someone who is heavy and strong can make a name for themselves as an offensive lineman. With the big pay differential it surprises me a bit that we don’t see more people start in sumo and then try their hand at American football if their sumo careers don’t look to take off. I know the skill sets aren’t a 1 to 1 transfer but the foundations aren’t all that different.

I think its probably going to go easier the other way NFL -> sumo. Having been around both rikishi and players, the offensive linemen are just so much bigger. One guy's forearm was bigger than my thigh. They are just monsters. Probably running backs might make the jump too, but the DLs already have tons of experience with belt grip and holding the OLs back The long shot is getting one of those guys to accept sumo culture and everything.

The min salary for NFL players is definitely higher than makuuchi average but also a lot of those guys don't make it more than 2 years.

 

[WAKATAKE]

One thing to consider that I have not seen brought up, the cost of living for a lot of wrestlers if they live at the heya is extremely low. Plus their food is paid for and I’m sure they get a lot of money and gifts from supporters too