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CWP Interview 8-Mar-2011 At 1:32:48 PM hangdog

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I just read Chris's interview and i can understand his frustration with comp climbing and his ability to make a living doing what he loves.
I don't know Chris ( i guess that he is a cool guy) however i have looked at his website and he does link to his sponsors. He thanks them for their support but you have to ask what do the sponsors get in return for sponsoring him. Realistically most of the sponsors aren't giving much because they aren't getting much. In other sports the sponsors get a lot more in return for their support of an athlete. If it wasn't for the links on the website would you know who his sponsors were? Compare that to most other professional sports and you look at a person and you know who is paying or providing them with cash or equipment. I understand that most climbers don't want to stickered up and have a brolly dolly with logoed umbrella over them whilst getting ready to send. ( dont dismiss though it could work:). But if you cant tell who is paying them then why would they cough up the cash.
A lot of the sponsorship in climbing is done for the warm fuzzy feeling they get from helping someone out and not for real returns on their investment.
I am not going to diss on the people running comp climbing in Oz as they do a fab job . Years ago i was directly involved in organising climbing comps and found it quite a frustrating experience as unlike nearly all other amateur sports the winners expected a prize. Not just the satisfaction in competing. We spent a lot of time contacting the small pool of sponsors(the same people now suffering from o/s online trading) and asking them to help out with prizes. They always did and we put up their signs and thanked them and appreciated what they were doing for us. Luckily no number crunchers were involved as they would have said why are we doing this.
I was involved in another competitive team sport prior to climbing nobody got a prize unless you won the comp at seasons end. The attitude and expectations were vastly different to the open comp climbers. I often got the feeling that if the prizes weren't good enough then they wouldn't come.
Realistically the new heroes are global and they are the ones getting the investment. and being the best In Oz probably wont equate to dollars in his pocket.