In more news coming out of the SwimSwam Podcast with Kevin Ring, he told SwimSwam that, beginning in January of 2026, the USA Swimming Athlete Partnership Agreement (APA) will be increasing their professional athlete support by 15%.
About 10 minutes into the podcast, SwimSwam Editor-in-Chief Braden Keith asked Ring about the approximately 20-25% increase in USA Swimming executive salaries over the last 15 years while the APA value has not risen at all since its introduction in 2010, and if he could commit to raising that support.
Ring pointed to the fact that salary is always a hot topic in these conversations, and that his salary will be judged based on his effectiveness in his role as CEO.
He went on to say that USA Swimming has “already committed to raising APA by 15% starting in January [2026] for professional athletes. That was something that we talked about openly and Greg [Meehan] advocated right away for it.”
This will be the first increase in professional athlete support since the inception of the Athlete Partnership Agreement in 2010. At this time, only the professional athlete support is increasing while the NCAA and high school numbers, if there are any athletes in these categories in the APA, will stay the same.
USA Swimming also confirmed recently that, while the amount of support has not gone up, the number of athletes included in the Agreement has increased. The most recent funding period, from September to December 2025 saw the 30 athletes of each gender receive funding.
This is an increase of four each gender, eight athletes total, from the January-June 2021 funding period, which had 52 athletes receive funding.
We don’t have the exact numbers for the current athlete support, but according to the USA Swimming Form 990, in 2024 the organization spent just over $4 million on “Medal Money, Athlete Stipends, and Record Bonuses” for 75 different individuals.
Ring continued to discuss the ways that USA Swimming wants to support athletes moving forward to allow them to make a career out of swimming. He said, “what we really start focusing on is, not just the APA, but what can we do to really support the athletes even further because APA is one aspect of support, but what else would we be doing to make sure they all get what they need to allow them to continue to swim and perform at the highest level.”
He also said “My hope and my desire and my plan is that the 15% is going to be a starting point. That between now and 2028 we want to continue to grow that for the professional athletes.”
This conversation is coming at a time when athletes are beginning to speak out about their struggles supporting their families and trying to live on the money they make as a swimmer. Some athletes have even begun turning to alternative sources of revenue, like the Enhanced Games, in order to increase their income.
Watch the full podcast here:
Just one minor critique for the podcast itself and this article. While I had heard about stipends before through some of Mel’s podcasts and other articles, I did not know the acronym “APA” so I found it confusing when I listened and had to figure out what was being discussed. Even in this article, “Athlete Partnership Agreement” was not spelled out until the fifth paragraph. It just makes it a little harder for those of us who aren’t familiar with all the terms if they aren’t explained briefly.
Good feedback, thanks.
Honest question (and I’m not super informed…): should there be a differentiation in compensation depending on the age of the athlete? For a high schooler living/supported by their parents, 1200/month is just bonus money (as I assume most parents are supporting their child without the expectation that they’ll be earning anything). Likewise, I assume (?) national teamers are also getting near/full-ride athletic scholarships in college covering not just tuition but also housing/food. So again, 1200/month is just bonus money. But when that athlete graduates and/or turns pro, 1200/month likely barely covers rent. Should there be an significant increase for post-grads? Or should compensation be purely merit/performance-based?
(I don’t know what the right answer is…)
Wouldn’t the over 24yr old pro have more time to get a supplemental job than the high schooler/college athlete?
Or what about the trust fund kid vs the swimmer growing up below the poverty line?
One pay system is fine they just need to continue to help increase it so that it is sustainable for the athlete.
Why should they have to get a job? Top NFL players are not getting side jobs to supplement income. Swimming is a job if you know what kind of work it requires. This “they should get a job” attitude is the poison within this organization that has stifled our progress helping athletes and is the reason why hundreds have of athletes have quit before their peak!
Just to play devils advocate, a lot of NFL players do take on external endorsements for supplemental income (e.g. Mahomes for State Farm, George Kittle and Saquon Barkley for Little Caesars off the top of my head)
I think the number is higher than 1200/month for post-grads. I think it’s in the high 30s. I’m still working on finding someone willing to tell me the real number.
A high school or college swimmer could also potentially bank a lot of that money, which would be a nice cushion and probably help a lot more people try to go pro in the first place.
Agreed, but I think that’s a hard reality (for not just athletes, but most Americans…). USAS should put in place the infrastructure to allow their athletes to do that easily, even by default. See my comment below (reply to Braden) for a thought exercise of what could have happened to Ryan Lochte’s APA earnings.
Kind of. High school and NCAA athletes can’t just accept this money from USA Swimming like a professional. They must be able to prove that they have swimming related expenses that add up to the cost of whatever money they accept in the form of a stipend. This is because a stipend would be considered pay-for-play instead of NIL. Now what counts as a swimming related expense can be flexible, but it’s hard to “bank” that money when you have to be able to prove that you’ve already spent that amount of money or more.
Yeah but also it’s not entirely clear that pay-for-play isn’t allowed, and the NCAA is kind of afraid to do anything about it because they don’t want another lawsuit.
So, congress needs to figure out some legislation and/or there needs to be collective bargaining.
Let’s GO!! More of this in 2026!!
Finally!
Went from way below poverty line to slightly below poverty line
Based on my (admittedly limited) knowledge of APA, most athletes receive about $1200 a month, give or take. Yes, 15% is absolutely better than zero, and certainly better after 15 years of no increase.
But if USA Swimming is really serious about appropriately compensating high achieving pros and international stars, they need to do some research on how Australia and other nations are doing it.
($16K a year isn’t cause for a celebration)
It’s like someone got in his ear and said “hey buddy, do these few things right on the onset and you’ll off on the right foot!”
And he listened!? That’s the biggest takeaway for me!
inquiring minds want to know…when is this interview being released??!!
It’s on YouTube already
It was on my podcast feed already, so I’ve heard it!
Braden sounds like he recorded it in a bathroom
Was it that bad?? I had my mic on…I wonder if it wasn’t working.
I listen to em on 1.75x so that generally struggles with non-mics, maybe it just used your laptop mic by default?
I just quickly listened to it on YouTube and it seemed better, on my podcast app in my car you sounded significantly worse than Kevin.
Still could make out what you were saying!
So how much will they be making? I’ve never found an actual number
They don’t release the number publicly, but the numbers I’ve always heard have been mid-30ks. So this would be about a 5k/year increase.
I’ve sent out a few messages to see who might be willing to share their APA stipend on background.