The World Athletics governing body secured a 10.5% rise in revenue year-on-year (YoY) during the 2024 financial year.
The income for the Monaco-based global body totaled $59.8 million over the course of last year, as announced during the latest World Athletics congress, held on Thursday, September 11. The equivalent 2023 figure, meanwhile, came to $54.19 million.
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Of this revenue, $44 million came from the commercial and broadcast sectors, with two new significant commercial partnerships taking effect – with Sony and Honda – as well as supply deals starting with Morinaga, Pocari Sweat, and Corpay.
On the broadcast side, a new deal was secured with the European Broadcasting Union umbrella of free-to-air broadcasters on the continent.
World Athletics’ international rights are sold by Japanese agency Dentsu as part of its 10-year agreement that ends in 2029. Under that deal, Dentsu distributes the governing body’s international sponsorship and licensing rights, as well as media rights outside Europe and sub-Saharan Africa.
The total revenue figure listed above does not include the dividend provided by the staging of the Paris 2024 Olympics last year, at which the various athletics events proved popular, with World Athletics claiming that a total of 1.2 billion people "tuned in to watch athletics" from the Games.
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By GlobalDataLast year's Olympic dividend came to $39.6 million, which meant that all-encompassing World Athletics revenue for 2024 was $99.4 million, with a cash position of $40 million.
In terms of funding for the various World Athletics member federations and area associations in 2024, meanwhile, grant funding increased by 2%.
These figures were disclosed ahead of the start of the 2025 World Athletics Championships, which are taking place in Tokyo, Japan, between September 13 and 21.
Seb Coe, president of World Athletics, has now said: "Athletics is currently a hot commodity and people want to be a part of it. But we need to adapt to new and changing realities and keep new generations of fans engaged with our sport.
“One important way is to continue to focus on innovating our sport and the product, which is embedded in our new four-year strategic plan, Pioneering Change (2024-2027), and supported by a dedicated innovation team developing data-driven strategies."
More recently, late August saw World Athletics launch a revamped direct-to-consumer (DTC) streaming platform for fans to follow the sport globally.
World Athletics+ has been rolled out as the new name and identity for the organization’s fan platform, previously known as Inside Track.
The rebranded service offers free access to live competition streams, exclusive interviews, behind-the-scenes features, and fan experiences and rewards.
