Katinka Hosszu finished up the 2016 FINA World Cup Series with over $386,000 in prize money. After competing in nine swim meets across a three-month span, that's not a bad payday for the Hungarian swimmer.

FINA should be applauded for having such large payouts and creative cash incentives in its World Cup tour, and props to Hosszu for taking full advantage of the system to get as much money as possible.

However, the top American, Katie Meilli, earned $28,250 on the tour (eighth-highest female earner). The top U.S. male, Josh Prenot, only made $9,500 (16th-highest male earner). The drop-off in earnings after the top 3-4 swimmers is staggering. Looking through the list of top earners, there aren't a lot of household names from the Olympics on the sheet. Why is that?

Overseas Scheduling Woes

The problem stems from the current format of World Cup and the timing of its meets. The World Cup annually hosts its tour between August and October, which is the worst three-month span in the year to hold the series. Judging by the continuous lack of big names at World Cup events, especially from the North and South American countries, a lot of the top swimmers agree.

In an ideal world, the World Cup's schedule would be pushed back three months and run from November-January, which would serve as a tuneup for the start of the season. It would also give swimmers the opportunity to race the sport's superstars on the international stage in a format different from the usual long-course big meets such as the World Championships and the Olympics. A lot of swimmers are burned out or exhausted by the time August rolls around and are looking for some time off to recharge for the next season.

The grueling travel and competition demands of the World Cup schedule do exactly the opposite of that. Because of the financial incentives to do the full series, athletes don't complete their season until the end of October. If the athletes take an extended break after the World Cup, then there is a risk that athletes won't be at peak performance for the early spring, which is when a lot of countries have their Olympic and World Championship trials.

Similarly to the athletes, the media is also saturated and burned out on swimming coverage after the Olympics or World Championships. If there are no big names competing, the World Cup tour will not get the media attention in August and September as it would during other points of the year.  

Stateside Identity Crisis

The closest competition that USA Swimming has to the World Cup tour is the five-event Arena Pro Swim Series (APSS), which has steadily grown in popularity over the years.

However, the APSS is currently struggling with an identity crisis, stemming from the prize purses available to its athletes. For events at the APSS, a first-place finish gets $500 and five points, second place gets $300 and three points, and third place gets $100 and one point.

This year, the male and female athletes with the most points receive a one-year lease on a BMW, a stipend from USA Swimming to help with car expenses, and $10,000. USA Swimming has roughly $40 million in projected annual revenue for this year, largely consisting of membership fees, ticket sales, meet entry fees, and sponsorships/ partnerships, but those financial rewards are not being proportionally seen in the cash payouts for the series' events.

For the majority of the APSS' competitors, the meets are not shave-and-taper situations. At the same time, professional swimmers are going to want to go after first place to try and get the cash. However, the payout for the events isn't big enough to warrant planning a season around the series or even going to all of its events.

A swimmer would have to win a couple of events just to pay for his or her flights, hotels, food, and supporting staff. Complicating the identity crisis further, sponsors want to see their swimmers wearing their newest tech suits. So the majority of the people at the meet are suited up, even though it isn't a big meet on their annual schedule.

Fixing The Optics

The past two Olympic Trials have drawn positive reviews from athletes and spectators alike, because both meets were a complete "experience." There were DJs, pyrotechnics, and great atmospheres inside the stadiums. That's not to say there has to be fireballs going off after every race at the APSS, but USA Swimming needs to work on the overall experience of the events if it wants them to be taken to the next level of competitiveness and media attention. That will lead to a snowball effect: More exposure for the swim meets generates increased prize money and draws in better international and national competition. This results in faster times and additional media exposure.

The APSS' struggles were on full display at its Santa Clara, CA, event in June. The meet's psych sheet was filled with domestic and international Olympians, such as Nathan Adrian, Mitch Larkin, Sun Yang, Simone Manuel, Natalie Coughlin, Ryan Murphy, and Conor Dwyer. It had arguably more big names in the swimming world than any Arena Pro Swim Series event in history. But if you were a casual fan of the sport, you may have never known that past and future Olympic gold medalists were about to step up on the block. Sure, the crowd cheered a bit after Yang posted a world-leading time in the 200-meter freestyle, but for the most part, heat after heat went by without any attempt to build up the atmosphere in the venue.

Is there a perfect solution for all of the issues with the World Cup and APSS? No, but the swim community's goal should be to recognize both series' problems and unite to make changes.

Both the World Cup Tour and the Arena Pro Swim Series have areas to improve on, but it's also important to reiterate that they have a lot going for them as well. As a swim community, let's continue to work toward developing our sport and make this Olympic cycle even more successful than the last.

By Andrew Gyenis