Aaron Brown thinks fast

Canadian Sprinter Aaron Brown is a quick thinker. Not just in the literal sense- he has perfected physical speed, as befits a World champion 4x 100 relay racer. But every track and field athlete tries to do that.

What sets Brown apart is how he analyzes and dissects the entire economic model of high performance sport. For someone who is so ready to reassure that he isn't a radical- a lot of Brown's questions might rattle nerves among the money managers at the peak of the Olympic pyramid.

Brown doesn't worry about the superstars, the household names on the track- the athletic 1% has sneaker deals and opportunities aplenty. It's everyone else he sees struggling to make ends meet. One hundredth of a second might make the difference between being famous in the finals, and toiling in the ninth lane, slinging coffee in the off season. Brown's point is that in no other profession do we see only a handful at the apex actually making a living.

How might profit sharing work? Brown considers paydays from the loftiest IOC execs, down through the ranks to the athletes and coaches whose labour- to Brown's thinking- has never been fairly rewarded.

Brown's ideas get to the heart of track and field as a profession. He recognizes that NFL, NBA, NHL, and MLB salaries might be out of reach- but urges track Olympians to consider business models more like golf or tennis, where athletes are well paid, and not entirely dependent on a windfall every four years, when the Olympics roll around.

As he makes clear to Anastasia- All the athletes are thinking it. He just happens to be saying it out loud.