The 2025 Strongest Man On Earth competition took place on August 16-17 in Loveland, Colorado. It was one of the most intense shows that we have witnessed in recent years, with the battle for the title coming down to the final event. So, with all of the athletes putting in an incredible effort, Brian Shaw decided to reveal what the prize purse for the 2025 SMOE came out to this year.
Last year’s edition of the Strongest Man On Earth was one of the highest-paying competitions of the season. So, the expectations for this year were high. However, this year’s prize purse did end up being lower than last year, since it depended on multiple factors. The top-ranked athletes still walked away with a decent amount of money.
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Brian Shaw Reveals the Prize Purse for 2025 Strongest Man On Earth
Brian Shaw started his YouTube video by recapping the entire Shaw Classic, starting with the expo, arm wrestling, and the Strongest Man On Earth. When it came to the Strongman competition, Shaw had nothing but words of praise for all athletes and the effort they put in.
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“I have to say this contest was one of the best Strongman contests from top to bottom, possibly that I have ever witnessed. And you know the guys — so much hard work was put on display. The score sheets were going up and down every event. It was such a wild ride. Going into the second to last event, I think we had almost a four-way tie for first place. It was like half a point separating the competitors out. Honestly, it was incredible the way that it played out and it was really fun to be in the front row to see this contest happen and to see all of the guys. I can’t say enough good things about all of them and the way that they showed up, their attitude, and how they battled.”
Brian Shaw then explained how the process of determining the prize purse went, which included accumulation of money from the livestream purchases, in-person tickets, and sponsorships. However, compared to last year, all of the metrics were down, which resulted in a lower prize purse as well.
“And as you guys know and have heard in the past very much with this event, what we do is we take prize money from the in-person tickets, we take it from the live stream, we take it from the sponsors, and we try to put all of that together and give the athletes as much as we possibly can.
This year, what I do have to say is our sponsorship was down significantly. Our in-person tickets were also down, and our live stream sales were down. So all of those things combined, it was a tough situation to be in and you know Carrie and I talked about this, and basically after everything, all the expenses were accounted for and everything was put into the sheet, at the end of it, we wanted to be able to give at least a good amount of prize money back.
Last year we were above $260,000. We had to drop that pretty significantly this year. And with us throwing in some money. And again, you know, Carrie and I are literally not walking away with anything and are taking a loss here. The prize money was at $180,000 overall.”
Prize Money for Top Competitors
- Evan Singleton: $68,400
- Lucas Hatton: $30,600
- Thomas Evans: $19,800
Brian Shaw pointed out that he and his family walked away without any profit, despite putting in a lot of time and effort to keep things going smoothly. So, he plans on taking a different approach for the next year’s competition, which could include bringing in bigger sponsors or taking some other steps.
“Moving forward, we’re having some different conversations. You know, potentially with bigger sponsors to get involved with the event, trying to figure out what we’re going to do, what the next step is going to be. But at this point, I don’t know exactly what the next step is going to be…
I don’t know what the future holds with the event, but I 100% want to be transparent with everybody…”
Watch the full video here:
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It will be interesting to see what lies ahead for the Strongest Man on Earth, a contest that Brian Shaw has already elevated to incredible heights, with much of the strength community recognizing it as one of the premier events of the season. Even with a reduced prize purse, the 2025 edition still turned out to be a major success.
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