Pro riders & injury pay/insurance.

Not sure about Injury pay.

I have noticed his merch sales and clothing company seem to expand everytime he gets hurt.

Seems like he is spending his off time building that business maybe to help pay his bills.

It is a interesting subject that has very few reliable sources besides riders themselves.

Aren't they all independent contractors, which is why it can't be considered works comp. And they have to carry their own insurance?

Injury clauses vary obviously, but I would have to assume there are kickers in the case of an injury during a race. Most likely base salary is being paid.

It sounds like every contract has an injury clause where they would not get paid, but most sponsors do not enforce it.  They are all contractors, so could (and should) buy their own short term and long term disability policy in addition to using the marketplace for health insurance. 

It depends on the contract, but I’ve heard of some interesting language on some of the riders deals IE a stair step style clause where they will get paid their regular rate if they miss a few races, but if they miss more than say 5 in a row they get half pay, then 10 quarter pay. This is all second hand but when you see guys like AC come back for a couple rounds then go back to the bench it does kind of make sense.

Well I guarantee Mitch changed his injury clause way back in the Ciancarulo days..

Colt Nichols mentioned part of the reason he left Star in the middle of outdoors was because he wasn't getting paid while hurt.

Those types of policies are specialized and are not cheap.  Lloyd's of London stuff.  Chad Reed could address this, probably.

Yeah it varies from the little I know. Say you take out an insurance policy on yourself like 3rd party they pay you x amount of your monthly pay up to x amount. Contracts are mostly case to case basis but I’m sure there are some similarities. 
 

Speaking of it’s not a horrible idea for an average or to take a policy out on their self for a normal job as a nice piece of mind. I had one that wasn’t too pricy got cheap got hurt and kicked myself in the ass. 

I believe the Lyods policy it a type of policy where you’re betting on yourself to win etc. Not for injuries from what I understand but could be wrong. 

I would expect someone like Forkner to have athlete insurance. They offer policies for temporary and permanent disability which are intended to cover "loss of future earnings." Very expensive policies but necessary in a high risk sport like motocross. Dudes gotta pay the bills somehow. As for his contract with Pro Circuit... hard to say what they would agree to given his history of crashing. Probably not too favorable from a base pay perspective. I wouldn't be surprised if he gets $0 from Pro Circuit.

That's the policy Reedy bought...which paid off nicely for him.  

Lloyd's sells policies from normal auto insurance to giant cargo ships and tankers.  They also sell "specialized" or one off policies like Reeds.  I don't know if Allstate etal does that sort of thing.

If it was a "loss of earnings" type policy...I'd guess Austin's premiums would be heavy.

Didn't Jeff Emig have an insurance payout on a career ending injury that prevented him from ever racing for money again?

A few riders have had these and ive always been curious about them. I haven’t been able to find much in the way of details so if anyone can shed light on these types of policies it would be much appreciated.

More of not allowed to sign a contract. He raced the pro sport class that pays cash. His policy was aprox 80k in 99. Today it would cost 180k . No top 250 rider could afford it on a 200+ k contract. Ryno had a L. London he went to get it and his policy was void. Too many injuries. That’s why he raced the 125 Ktm.  All contracts r diff I think it’s rare for a rider to get paid all yr . Most hv a few weeks. You could start a buisness that pays you when your hurt, but it’s your money . Smart to tax defure some money. I,m sure some riders hv the race money going into a buisness for tax purposes. Or even a Roth ra you can borrow against it without penalty’s. I,m a ic the co doesn’t pay me they pay my buisness. It’s easy to do I did it on my phone Zen buisness. Open a buisness account it just takes a few minutes. Hv the buisness pay you injured or not. Then your covered.

Millsaps

Tell colt45 that who went over six months without a pay check when he was with star yamaha. 

Lloyds of London isn’t exactly a company, but rather a syndicate of companies that help spread risk amongst themselves. 

An insurance policy isn’t something that you bet on yourself to win. Insurance policies are there to pay off a loss of some kind. The principle is that they ‘make you whole again’. That means you have to have suffered, some sort of loss or are liable for a loss. 

Contracts like Reed has talked about may be available through some of the companies that participate in Lloyds, but they aren’t actually an insurance policy. If Suzuki had taken out the policy, then it could have been considered insurance. 

Everyone should have some sort of income replacement insurance in place. It’s usually a lot cheaper than most people think. 

Lloyds of London and other similar companies 100% provide insurance” for championships. In the past it was more affordable and many(chad reed the most noteworthy that speaks on it) take out policies that pay big for a championship. Now days the cost of the policy makes it not worth it for most. 
 

You are focusing on the word insurance for some reason. Whatever the official term is, people in the industry refer to it as insurance. 

The insurance policy we're talking about here is called "athlete loss of value insurance."  They cost tens of thousands of dollars a year. A top NFL player is going to be paying low six figures for one. I would expect a pro motocross racer to be paying anywhere from $25k - $50k a year for insurance for maybe a $500k benefit. It's largely dependent on their contract value. Big money professional athletes are getting $1M to $5M benefit policies. Again, a factor of their contract value.

Lloyds of London is a big player in this game but not a direct insurer. It's a marketplace. International Specialty Insurance is one of top insurers for loss of value policies. Very common for celebrities, pro (and now college) athletes, and corporate executives to have these. 

Yep. That’s why I said most. 

https://transmoto.com.au/chad-reeds-4-million-insurance-payout/
 

reed goes into great detail about the insurance policy. You are correct in the fact that Reed couldn’t take it out in himself. That was news to me. 

Reed had what's called "Contractual Bonus Insurance." Different but, in addition to, loss of value insurance. Those of us around long enough to remember the 2009 Motocross season will remember why it was lucrative for Reed. 

You are correct. Peick did have a career ending insurance policy he collected on. 

I’m a commercial insurance broker who specializes in healthcare practice groups. I never thought I’d be reading about Lloyd’s on VitalMx lol 😂 

i had a good friend of mine that rode for a factory team with millsaps and trettle that was ran by a guy with the last name hewit before it folded. i think if i can recall their was some type of deposit that was needed to cover times like if you were hurt, paychecks came out of your deposit? i dk how true that is. But i remember hearing a scenario like that.

Depending on the rider, and the amount of pull they have, they can miss x amount of races before the paycheck stops. A guy like Tomac probably negotiated no pay stop at all. If their injuries carry into the next season, they won’t get payed for that season until they start racing 

  Career ending insurance is up to the rider to obtain, and it’s expensive. Ernie was not going to get it because of cost, but his manager made him before the season started. 

One of my college roommates was injured in his 3rd year in the NFL.  He was very fortunate; his father was an accountant and had him purchase a pretty large disability policy.  It was for serious disability, if it only affected his ability to pay football it wouldn't have paid out but more of a total disability so it wasn't as expensive as it could have been.  It was a lifesaver for him and he chose to have annual payouts with inflation escalators, so he has a decent income for the rest of his life.  

Most young guys think they are invincible, and it will never happen to them.......