UPDATE: 2024 CrossFit Games Prize Purse Details Revealed, No Increase From 2023 for Elites
Additional reporting by Joe Genetin-Pilawa
UPDATE (6/20/24): During the week of June 17, 2024, the CrossFit Games Rulebook (Section 5.16) was updated to reflect additional details about the 2024 CrossFit Games prize purse.
In short, the cash prizes awarded to the top performers at the Games will not increase from the 2023 season. All cash prizes will be paid in U.S. dollars. Here are the exact details:
Individual and Team Divisions
Individual Division Prize Purse, Overall Men and Women
- First Place: $315,000
- Second Place: $125,000
- Third Place: $85,000
- Fourth Place: $60,000
- Fifth Through Eighth Place: $45,000, $40,000, $35,000 and $32,000, respectively
- Ninth Through 20th Place: $29,000, $26,000, $20,000, $18,000, $15,000, $14,000, $13,000, $12,000, $11,000, $10,000, $9,000 and $8,000, respectively
- 21st Through 40th Place: $7,000, $6,750, $6,500, $6,250, $6,000, $5,750, $5,500, $5,250, $5,000, $4,750, $4,500, $4,250, $4,000, $3,750, $3,500, $3,250, $3,000, $2,750, $2,500, $2,250, respectively
Individual Division Prize Purse, By Event Finish, Men and Women
- First Place: $3,000
- Second Place: $2,000
- Third Place: $1,000
Team Division Prize Purse, Overall (Prize Per Team)
- First Place: $100,000
- Second Place: $75,000
- Third Place: $45,000
- Fourth Place: $30,000
- Fifth Place: $25,000
- Sixth Through Tenth Place: $15,000, $12,000, $9,000, $6,000, $3,000, respectively
Age Group Divisions
Masters 35-39 Division, Prize Purse, Overall Men and Women
- First Place: $25,000
- Second Place: $10,000
- Third Place: $5,000
Masters, 40-44, 45-49, 50-54, 55-59, 60-64 Divisions, Overall Men and Women
- First Place: $10,000
- Second Place: $5,000
- Third Place: $3,000
Masters 65+ Division, Prize Purse, Overall Men and Women
- First Place: $5,000
- Second Place: $3,000
- Third Place: $2,000
Adaptive Divisions
Adaptive Divisions, Overall Men and Women
- First Place: $2,000
- Second Place: $1,000
Third Place: $500
ORIGINAL STORY (5/11/24): In a press release on Friday, May 10, the CrossFit Games team announced a total $3.3 million prize purse for the 2024 season “across the Individual, Team, Adaptive, and Masters divisions spanning the Semifinals and CrossFit Games championships.”
The details: This reveal was one piece in a series of news drops in the late afternoon and evening. The Games team also announced updated strength of field calculations, updated worldwide rankings, and the competition schedule framework for Semifinal weekends.
[Related: 2024 CrossFit Semifinals Rosters Revealed — Breaking Down the Numbers]
- From the release: “‘We feel very fortunate that GORUCK and Northern Spirit are on board this year,” said Dave Castro, General Manager of Sport and Education at CrossFit.
- “On top of the prize money, our partners provide a generous uniform kit for each athlete, and while we introduced a new model this year in partnership with WheelWOD and Legends, we’re proud to continue contributing to the prize purse for our top adaptive and masters athletes,” he concluded.
There were no additional details provided about how the total prize purse would be distributed except that “[a]ll 40 men and 40 women in the Individual division at the CrossFit Games, as well as the top 10 team finishers, Adaptive division podium finishers, and Masters division podium finishers, will receive a portion of the $3.3 million-plus prize purse.”
Why this matters: Last season, the Semifinals prize purse was $431,000, and the total CrossFit Games purse, across all divisions, was $2.945 million. That put the entire prize purse for the season at $3.376 million.
- The 2024 purse, as noted above, is described as “$3.3 million-plus” in CrossFit’s press release.
One big thing: For the first time in the history of the CrossFit Games, the prize purse will not increase year over year.
- Remind me: In 2021, the prize purse was $2.5 million. The winners each received $310,000, and the top 20 Games athletes all received a cash prize.
- For the first time in history, every individual Games athlete received a cash prize in 2022, while the top athletes did not see a pay increase. Last season, however, the top 20 all received a pay increase, with the top 10 seeing a $5,000 increase.
- The 2023 Games then saw the biggest purse yet, the payouts to the top five individuals being $315,000, $125,000, $85,000, $60,000, and $45,000, and then paid out all the way to the 40th place finisher, who earned $2,250.
- Meanwhile, the 2023 Semifinals paid out $10,000, $7,000, $5,000, $4,000, and $3,000 to the top five, respectively, with each additional Games qualifier earning $2,000.
Although GORUCK is the Official Apparel and Footwear Provider of CrossFit and the CrossFit Games — and the “most important partner,” according to CrossFit CEO Don Faul — there is no title sponsor this year for the first time since 2010. (Reebok held that title from 2011 to 2020 and NOBULL from 2021 to 2023).
The big picture: Though the exact breakdown of this year’s prize purse has yet to be announced, what we know so far suggests little to no change from last season. And when we consider global inflation — currently expected to be 5.9 percent in 2024, according to the International Monetary Fund — athletes could effectively see a pay cut this season.
While the top couple athletes in the world will take home six figures at the Games, the large majority of athletes are still nowhere near being able to make a living from CrossFit’s prize purse alone.
Featured image: Ava Kitzi