Run The Roads

It’s a story rarely told, but it impacts the sport in a profound way.  Prize money at major road races (i.e. Boston Marathon, NYC Marathon, Chicago Marathon) often rounds out to $500,000 or under, very rarely exceeding anything really worth putting in the newspapers or online.  However, most major road races have budgets to attract runners in that are often three to four times greater than the prize purse, a rarely discussed aspect of the sport called appearance fees.

While reading an article on the Toronto Marathon over the weekend, a read a quote from the race’s director where he stated that the Toronto Marathon was doing rather well for itself considering its appearance fee budget was a quarter of what the major marathons have.

“This has been the race for up-and-comers, with a budget of $450,000, compared with about $2-million for a major marathon.”

The best marathoners in the world attract appearance fees well into the $100,000+ range, with athletes like Ryan Hall and Deena Kastor racking up appearance fees pushing towards $250,000+.  It’s an impressive amount of money, but never manages to find its way to the press.

Money attracts sponsors, money attracts press, money attracts the sporting public’s attention.  Professional road racing has millions upon millions of dollars circulating around each and every year, but few realize it’s there because race directors don’t flash it about.  A major golf event, which usually don’t pay appearance fees, have prize purses of millions of dollars, but most major road races don’t exceed $1 million.

If race directors realized they could promote the amount of money an athlete receives just to show up and compete, that could raise the stake in professional distance running in the American sports landscape.  Money makes the world go round, and if people begin to realize that road racing has more money in it than perhaps realized, then perhaps our sport can start to gain the attention it so rightly deserves.

It’s fantasy football time across the U.S., with millions of people having their annual drafts.  While I’ve never taken part in fantasy football, I have taken part in fantasy track and field when it’s offered byUSATF (the predictions contest).  The fantasy sports realm is a growing one, that keeps becoming more profitable year after year.

One area where I think our sport would thrive is in the fantasy realm.  There are plenty of opportunities to have fantasy leagues, whether they be for cross country, track and field or road racing.  The potential there is huge.  But lets take it one step further…

If fantasy track and field/cross country/road racing really took off, I think a great way to promote the sport would be to have the top professional athletes take part as well, making their selections public so everyone could follow them and comment on their choices.

While they certainly couldn’t be part of a paying league, USATF could assemble this and have a Pro Fantasy League.  It’d be fun to follow, that’s for sure.  Plus, it would promote our sport a bit more, as the stars would be saying who they like to watch and who they think are the best in the sport.  It’s time for our sport to get aboard this crazy train of fantasy sports.

I don’t watch the TV show CSI - Las Vegas very often, but I was flipping through the TV the other day and came across the CSI episode ‘Dead Ringer.’  While I didn’t watch the entire episode, the opening scene was amazing…and yes, it pertains to running.

The opening scene, while obviously scripted and produced, mimicked the Nevada Law Enforcement relay, which runs through the desert outside of Las Vegas every year.  The opening scene (posted below) showed just how cool running can look on TV if time and a lot of money are spent on making it a show, rather than just runners going head to head.

Cycling has done a good job at producing high quality footage for TV, putting in a lot of money to make an energy filled, high impact show.  Road running needs to do the same, spending more money on production and selling the sport to the general public.  TV is powerful and the sport needs to realize this.

Yesterday morning I read a great article in Sports Business Journal on youth sports, and how various sports organizations (NFL, NBA, MLB, MLS) are working hard to improve their youth portion of their respective sport, not only trying to increase popularity, but trying increase the likelihood those young athletes turn into lifelong fans.

Here’s a portion of the article:

“Connecting with children 6 to 13 is paramount in turning them into lifelong fans, according to data compiled by the NFL. Fifty-five percent of avid NFL fans said they became engaged or interested in football in elementary school or earlier. Seventy-five percent of avid fans and 62 percent of casual fans participated in football at some level as a child.”

Looking at those statistics for the NFL, it is quite clear that having youth participation in a sport is a key element to creating fans for the future. Obviously playing a sport as a child doesn’t necessarily translate to becoming a fan of the sport as an adult, the example being soccer, which is maybe the sixth most popular sport in the U.S., but has the largest participation base in the 6-13 demographic. However, having some type of organized, national youth program is a key element to any sport, and one that cross country, road racing and track and field (the three branches of USATF) lack.

The lack of a well publicized youth program is one of the primary factors why track and field isn’t more popular in the U.S. If you look at high school participation, track and field is the third most popular sport behind football and basketball, but ranks well ahead of baseball/softball, swimming, tennis, golf and soccer. That type of popularity should mean good things, but it doesn’t, simply because many track and field athletes by then have played other sport, sports they’d rather watch on TV and follow when compared to track.

So, how does USATF attract new fans into the sport at that age? Well, for starters, they need to establish a youth running program in schools. I’ve actually talked with USATF about this, but starting a national cross country week and national track and field week in elementary and junior high schools would do wonders for the sport.

Second, youth track and field needs to be better organized and popularized, starting with mass organization at the USATF Association level, which the national office can lead. Third, an interactive, easily-navigated, highly organized website needs to be built and marketed to the youth sector of the sport (i.e. SI for Kids), which showcases the best athletes in our sport, so kids can follow their favorite stars, watch interviews, know when to watch a meet online or on TV, etc.

A combination of those three things would certainly help grow the youth level of the sport dramatically and could potentially create more fans at a younger age for the sport, which is always a great thing. USATF is a stretched organization, only able to put so many resources into various aspects of the sport, but this seems more like something USATF can spearhead, but put the majority of the work on the state associations. It is a complex problem, but the solutions are simple.

With the start of the IAAF World Championships less than two weeks away, last minute preparations are being conducted by USATF to make sure Team USA is ready to perform their best in Berlin.  While it has yet to be announced by USATF, according to a Runner’s World interview with Team USA marathon member Matt Gabrielson, Ed Torres was added to the U.S. squad, replacing Fernando Cabada.

Torres’ addition to the U.S. squad gives the U.S. men a strong contingent, with their race taking place on August 22.  Torres, along with teammates Gabrielson, Justin Young, Dan Browne and Nate Jenkins, comprise the men’s team.

One of the most insightful Q&A portions with Gabrielson is when the Team USA Minnesota team member talked about the U.S. preparation for the World Championships race.

Runner’s World Interview - Click Here

So you haven’t yet gone over to Berlin to check out the marathon course like some team members have.

MG: I’ll be going over 11 days before the race. I think there will be enough time to run a six-mile loop on that thing. Or even drive it, or whatever (the course is a 10K loop, with an extra 2K added on the last circuit). We were very fortunate in early June to be able to go out to Colorado Springs to the Olympic Training Center as a team, men and women, and have Dr. Dave Martin, and a few other people, talk to us at the Marathon Summit. They’ve done this for a few years. I pretty much have a picture of the course in my mind already. It was outstanding, the information they presented, and it was kind of a good bonding time, too.

Most people think of track and field and believe that it is a sport that isn’t all that exciting simply because they can’t participate in it, there are too many events and there are few ways to keep track of the top stars in the sport as they run the fastest times of the season in Europe.  I would say the same thing of road racing, except for the fact that many people that do road races don’t even know there is a professional side to it.

Like most individual sports, road racing from a professional perspective, lives and dies by sponsorship.  If athletes aren’t sponsored, they can’t make a living running, as well as prize money, which is barely existent if sponsors aren’t supporting races.  While this can be viewed as a problem, it should be viewed as an opportunity, and a creative one at that.

Many sports, including golf and tennis, live and die by sponsorships.  Many golf tournaments may not be around next year due to companies struggling in the current economic state.  However, many tournaments, and indeed many other sports, are organized properly, thriving with quality sponsorship, but also building up other ways to make money as well.

Where am I going with this…just hold on.

Often times, fans of the sport complain because there aren’t enough professional training groups around the United States, or there aren’t enough high profile competitions, or this isn’t enough prize money at the already existing top end competitions.  Money makes the world go ’round, and it seems like road racing and track and field simply don’t have the dollars necessary to take the sport to the next level in the sporting public’s eye.  I always thought this true, until now.

In the July 13 issue of Street & Smith’s Sports Business Journal, there is an entire section on high-end sports, including sailfishing, sailing, polo, tennis and golf.  While those sports are historically known as wealthier sports, running is never mentioned.  However, when looking at the statistics (login may be required), running could very well be one of the top 3-4 wealthiest participant sports in the world.

The stats:

- While running ranks as the 14th sport in the $250,000+ category, it is tied for fifth in popularity in the $150,000-$249,999 category and is tied for first with golf in the $100,000-$149,999 category.

What do all these numbers tell me?  Well, for starters, they tell me that there is a great deal of personal wealth in road racing.  More so, it tells me that there are financial opportunities for the sport that simply aren’t being utilized.  If any of our sport’s leading organizations took the time to identify some of these high-income level participants, drawing them into the sport on the professional side, this could very easily fund the sport at a much higher level.  Heck, isn’t that why golf, tennis, sailing, skiing, triathlon, all thrive financially?

Road racing is by far the most untapped part of our sport.  Currently, it seems like the Wild West, with little structure, a million events, but few big players.  The opportunity is there to expand road racing, making it a much bigger sport than it currently claims to be.  With millions of people taking part each year in events, and knowing that there are some very wealthy individuals who participate in the sport, this should indicate that road running has limitless potential.  A sport with limitless potential seems like a sport many would eagerly invest in, right?

Universal Sports, who have broadcasted most of the top track and field meets throughout the season thus far, will air the Aviva London Grand Prix on Friday, June 24 and Saturday, June 25.  The Aviva London Grand Prix will host a slew of talented individuals, including many U.S. distance stars.  Here’s the TV information for the weekend:

UniversalSports.com - Website / Live Feed

Friday, July 24 - 12:45pm – 4:00pm ET (LIVE)

Saturday, July 25 - 9:00am – 1:00pm ET (LIVE)

Universal Sports TV Schedule

Friday, July 24 - 3:00pm – 5:30pm ET

Saturday, July 25 - 3:00pm – 6:00pm ET

CHICAGO CONFIRMS WANJIRU FOR MARATHON
By David Monti
(c) 2009 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved

Organizers of the Bank of America Chicago Marathon confirmed this morning that Beijing Olympic Marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru would run their race on Sunday, Oct. 11.  It will be Wanjiru’s first-ever marathon in the United States, and the 22 year-old is hoping for a fast time on Chicago’s famously flat and fast course.

“My only focus between now and October is to prepare and train aggressively for my best performance yet,” said Wanjiru who has won the Fukuoka, London and Olympic Marathons and has a career best time of 2:05:10 set in London this year.

The fastest time ever in Chicago was 2:05:42 set in 1999 by Khalid Khannouchi, a Moroccan who became an American citizen the following year.  Performances at Chicago were held back the last two years by unusually hot weather, especially in 2007 when the temperature reached 27°C (80°F) by the time the men’s winner, Kenyan Patrick Ivuti, hit finish tape in 2:11:11.  In good weather Wanjiru could challenge Haile Gebrselassie’s world record of 2:03:59 set in Berlin last year.  Indeed, Wanjiru told reporters after his Beijing victory last August that he wanted to break the world record this year.

“Sammy is certainly the athlete to watch in this sport right now and we are honored to be able to host him at such a pivotal point in his career,” said Carey Pinkowski who directs the race and recruits the event’s top athletes.  ”We have had the pleasure of witnessing four previous world records in Chicago and if conditions are right, the enthusiastic sports fans in this city could have the opportunity to see that again.”

Three other former Chicago champions were also announced by Pinkowski, including Ivuti, Kenyan Evans Cheruiyot (the defending champion), and Russian Lidiya Grigoryeva (the defending women’s champion).  American women’s record holder, Deena Kastor, will also compete, Pinkowski said.  It will be Kastor’s first marathon since breaking a bone in her foot before the 5 km mark at last summer’s Olympic Marathon; she was unable to finish the race.

“Today’s announcement significantly advances the depth of our elite athlete field for the October 11 race, and continues the tradition of world class marathon competition in Chicago,” Pinkowski concluded.

The Bank of America Chicago Marathon is the second-largest marathon in the United States and helps raise about $10 million for charity.  Last year’s race had 33,033 starters and 31,401 finishers.  Only the ING New York City Marathon is larger with 38,832 starters and 38,096 finishers last year.

ENDS

Every summer many, if not most, of the top American middle and long-distance runners head over to Europe to take part in the annual summer track and field circuit that Europe is known for.  With few opportunities, if any, to race in the United States, this annual migration sees the best of the best perform at their peak away from the American media and American track and field fans.

While the U.S. track and field community is in no shape to put on their own circuit just yet, one American decided to take a shot at earning the “A” standard here at home.  Oregon Track Club’s Stephen Pifer, who finished fourth at the U.S. T&F Championships in the 1,500m only a few short weeks ago, raced at a small meet at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon last night.

Pifer was paced by a few OTC teammates, while trying to run even splits towards the 1,500m “A” standard.  While Pifer came up just short, winning in 3:38.06, he did improve his personal best and showed with another race or two he could certainly drop more time.  Pifer also showed that with the right circumstances, top American distance runners don’t need to go over to Europe to chase PR’s, rather they can stay here in the U.S. and run their fastest.

While the European circuit starts to really heat up this week and next, Pifer’s performances should get some minds churning in the track and field world that there is no reason the U.S. should not have their own circuit.  While prize money may wane a bit compared to the established European meets, the funding of travel would obviously be reduced, while allowing American track and field fans to watch their favorite stars past the U.S. T&F Championships.

Congrats to Mr. Pifer at to the OTC for showing that it can be done a different way.

Video Courtesy of Runnerspace

WHERE ARE THE MEN MARATHONERS IN SEATTLE?

Courtesy of The Biz Runner

I read A LOT of different sources every day to find material for this blog. While interesting, not all of it fits into my marketing, money and marathoning mantra.

I recently came across a stat that has stayed with me. So I’m going to throw it out to you readers. Here’s a look at the demographics of last weeks Seattle Marathon, according to KING5 TV:

Organizers said 80 percent of the runners are from outside Seattle and 60 percent are from outside King County. Seventy percent of the entrants are women.

70% percent of the runners were women? This seems unusually high to me, though to be honest I have no idea how out of the ordinary it might be. I’m going to reach out to the RnR organizers and see what they can tell me about their typical marathon demographics.

If true though, it strikes me as an amazing marketing opportunity for the Seattle event. If you’re a single male marathoner interested in meeting single female runners - this seems like the place to be. You’d have to like your odds in the post-race beer garden - and in what other bar type atmosphere could you ask a woman if she is into negative splits and not get slapped?

Original Blog Post (The Biz Runner)