The purpose of this study was to explore the factors that influence elite athletes' perceived extrinsic reward satisfaction in order to assist sport administrators and coaches in formulating management strategies that better align with athletes' needs and expectations, and to provide a basis for future development of a measure of elite athletes' extrinsic reward satisfaction. The sample consisted of 122 collegiate and professional athletes who are currently elite athletes and compete in multiple sports. The main conclusions from the study were as follows First, monetary rewards play an important role in athlete motivation and are directly linked to athlete economic security and improved living standards. This suggests that athletes tend to immediately translate their efforts and performance into monetary rewards. Thus, economic rewards can be an important motivator for athletes to maintain and improve their performance. Second, the importance of expectancyreward and effort-reward indicates that athletes have expectations that their efforts will pay off. When athletes have positive expectations for the future, it drives them to increase their focus and effort in training and competition. Third, recognition and fairness were rated relatively low, suggesting that athletes place more value on rewards tied to specific outcomes than on the approval of others or fair treatment by organizations for their achievements. This suggests that athletes are more responsive to a more realistic and pragmatic reward system in a competitive environment. Based on these conclusions, future research should further investigate whether the same results apply to athletes from different cultural backgrounds or different sports. In addition to extrinsic reward factors, we also recommend further exploration of the various intrinsic factors that influence athlete satisfaction and motivation.