What is an average rate for HS, College and Pro Sports???

I'm sure this has been asked a million times and now a million and one.

I see tons of post that tell everyone to get paid for the work we do and never give away images. I support this 100% but understand some fees can be cut to get in the RIGHT door.

The problem is I can't seem to find sites that tell us what we should be charging to photograph a sporting event at all levels.

High School: I currently get $75 to shoot one team and if both teams are required then I get $125. I normally do Freshman, JV and Varsity in the same night where both teams are required and I really don't think $375 for 3-5 hours of work is all that bad (between 125-75 an hour).

College and Pro Sports: Indi Jeff and others please help me out here.

I just want to make sure what I should be charging so the industry does not keep declining from everyone doing jobs for free and giving away images to get the bye line.

Thanks....Dave

pyterps wrote in post #4615200
I'm sure this has been asked a million times and now a million and one.

I see tons of post that tell everyone to get paid for the work we do and never give away images. I support this 100% but understand some fees can be cut to get in the RIGHT door.

The problem is I can't seem to find sites that tell us what we should be charging to photograph a sporting event at all levels.

High School: I currently get $75 to shoot one team and if both teams are required then I get $125. I normally do Freshman, JV and Varsity in the same night where both teams are required and I really don't think $375 for 3-5 hours of work is all that bad (between 125-75 an hour).

College and Pro Sports: Indi Jeff and others please help me out here.

I just want to make sure what I should be charging so the industry does not keep declining from everyone doing jobs for free and giving away images to get the bye line.

Thanks....Dave

Are you asking about team portraits or shooting games?

Action shots of the games

Dave, are the shots you provide to the team for a specific purpose such as promoting the program? Are there other sales opportunities in selling to individual players and their parents?

Tim

Your high school pricing is right there, at least from my experience. Now college will depend on if it is a Div 1, II, or III school. IUPUI pays $125 a game, U of Ind'pls pays $75-$125 depending on the sport.
Pro, I guess that too depends on the sport and team. Some teams will pay, some won't. The local minor legaue (triple AAA) baseball team "let" a guy I know come shoot for them for free. Lucky guy huh?
Really I don't have enough experience with pro sports teams to give you a good definitive answer.

More threads:

How to start selling ball game pictures to parents?

Charging for Shooting Sports Pictures

You've got to be kidding me! (Re: Picture prices)

How to determine what to charge for taking team pictures?

IndyJeff wrote in post #4618167
Your high school pricing is right there, at least from my experience. Now college will depend on if it is a Div 1, II, or III school. IUPUI pays $125 a game, U of Ind'pls pays $75-$125 depending on the sport.
Pro, I guess that too depends on the sport and team. Some teams will pay, some won't. The local minor legaue (triple AAA) baseball team "let" a guy I know come shoot for them for free. Lucky guy huh?
Really I don't have enough experience with pro sports teams to give you a good definitive answer.

Around here no HS's pay - you just get the contract and make your sales (if a contract is involved at all for action shots - T&I shots you land that deal with a contract for the school or individual teams).

College really depends as Jeff mentioned. Local JC doesn't have a photog and just uses some bad snap shots from a P&S, the D-3 school does but just a basic salary and he shoots what he wants when he wants I believe, while a guy I know that shoots D-1 gets $325/game for most sports but $450 more for football I believe. Somewhere in that range. Depends on the school and how good you are and can negotiate I assume.

Pros - Jeff nailed it on the head again, MILB teams do that crap all the time. Then they can't figure out why everyone hates there card sets and they never have any good photos to use. One team around here "gave" the deal to someone who would do it for free because the old photog asked for a day fee to come in and shoot the individual and team shots. One team I shoot for doesn't pay $$ but they make up for it in other ways making it worth it. Another team gives $300 for the season, and of course they're bankrupt and haven't paid...teams differ and it doesn't matter level. A-ball to AAA in baseball, same with hockey. Every big league team though has a photog on staff that shoots all season, salary based and usually keep the rights to (least the guys I know do).

Just like selling prints in different areas of the world the prices differ with day rates and everything to. Triple-A team photog I know gets good $$ every game he shoots for the team, 45 mins down the road they have a free photog and refuse to pay. So, ya just never know.

Jeff, Frank and MJ

Thanks for the replys and the links and it is nice to know that I'm close to the right price and if things go according to plan the business side of the College/Pro sports will take off and the site will start getting some good advertising that will keep us all going.

The HS stuff I do is for the yearbook and I shoot about 15 different HS's in the area. I place the images on the web and let parents that ask know where they can view/order. I am getting some business cards made and will start handing them out at games and see if the internet sales starts taking off.

Dave

I am on the same boat with HS in my area. They do not pay. In fact, if you get an athletic booster to support you and hand out some flyers or make an announcement, they want a percentage of your profits to come back to their organization.

I've heard of a few locals that got set up with private institutions and have marketed themselves well enough to be paid a flat rate for every kid on the sports teams they cover to shoot for them and provide a poster of the kid at the end of the season.