issue #79: March 20, 2024
Presented by XTERRA — watch the first stop on the World Cup series this Saturday:
The Book Club Q&A link went out to paying subscribers this past weekend. (March 27 at noon PT to chat with the author of ‘What Made Maddy Run.’) And, as always, this Wednesday weekly newsletter is free for everyone, but the audio version is a perk for paying subscribers for their convenience.
We also updated Your Big Calendar of Triathlon Races in 2024.
Today, we have a deep dive on some PTO thoughts + an exciting new partner (with an exciting live World Cup series).
- Kelly
No one invests in something for nothing
I own a few shares and options in companies as part of previous employment agreements, I have my own LLC to operate my business out of, my husband owns some stock in a fairly passive retirement portfolio. And you know how I know that we own these things? Because there are pieces of paper that say so.
So when the phrase “athlete-owned” started popping up in articles about the PTO’s latest funding round, I wanted to know: What pieces of paper do the athletes have that grant them ownership? Do they have stock or options, or maybe they’re part of a non-voting class of shares, or what if it’s like a co-op when athletes sign their membership agreement? It’s definitely not a publicly-owned nonprofit situation — or, at least, profit is very clearly the goal.
Exactly how athlete-owned is the PTO?
It turns out the answer is that once the PTO generates a profit, the Athlete Board will have control over a portion (33%) of those profits and will be able to make decisions on how to redirect or spend that money.
Which is awesome, it’s rare that athletes get any say in their futures, so that’s cool when that happens. But also, that’s not exactly the same as “owning,” now is it.
So who owns the PTO currently?
Here’s what we know:
The first round of funding (Jan. 2020) - Believed to be $12.5 million from Michael Moritz’s Crankstart Investments
The second round of funding (Dec. 2022) - Believed to be $30 million from Moritz & Warner Brothers Discovery
Now they’re reportedly attempting to raise a Series C third round of ~$35M in funding
We don’t know how much equity was handed over in each of those earlier rounds, but originally the PTO decks said investors would own 50% of the company. I don’t think that’s the case anymore, but Series A funding rounds tend to be for about 10-30% of the equity & B funding rounds tend to be for slightly less (but also raise more money). So, let’s assume at this point 50% of the company shares have been handed over in exchange for ~$42.5 million.
Now, if they’re raising another ~$35 million in a Series C, how much more do you think they’re handing over in equity? (At some point you can’t hand over any more of the company because it’s all been handed out.) Are they watering down shares, is this an overvaluation, who owns the remainder of the company right now at this exact moment (ie. the other 50% currently, is it private, is it the original founders, was the first round actually seed money and I’m extrapolating incorrectly here). I don’t know the answers, but here’s the basic math problem I keep coming up against:
Let’s say they ultimately raise ~$80 million in three rounds of funding. Great.
Let’s say they do it in exchange for a total of 50-65% share of the company.
Investors tend to expect a return on their investment (even if they have so much money they don’t super care and are, basically, just buying lottery tickets). That’s sorta how investment works, though. They usually hope for something around 3-5x their original investment and, even if this is a long-term play, it’s still typically a 5- to 7-year timeframe. Let’s even give the PTO some extra time in our calculations because the pandemic wasn’t their fault.
That still means it’ll need to be at least a $600M-$1 billion company by 2029 or so, right?
And, then, there’s this:
The issue of revenue v. profit. My best guess is between payroll, benefits, and overhead (if you add up staff, etc), they’re burning at least $1-1.5M/yr. We know they’re also spending $7M/yr on athlete contracts + prize money for the PTO T100 series. Then we have another few million in event production, marketing expenses, broadcast costs. So if a company is spending $10-12 million/year, then it still has to MAKE MORE THAN THAT IN ORDER TO TURN A PROFIT. Right? And investors want their 5x out of their portion of those profits.
Do you see where I’m going.
Anyway. They're a private company, of course they can raise and spend money however they want. But this has been bothering me for a week or two. And now it can live in your head, too. You’re welcome.
An even better World Tour?
I know, it seems like there are so many pro series right now, but there’s only one that goes off-road. (Look at those photos!) And it kicks off this weekend in Taiwan.
The XTERRA World Cup tour will feature seven stops in 2024, with $340,000 in prize money and ending with the World Championship back in Italy (which also looks amazing). And, it’s all being broadcast LIVE for free.
You can check out the start list for the XTERRA Taiwan World Cup race this Saturday, which is also the Asia-Pacific Championship, and get a full feel of the vibes. (The start list originally included Eric Lagerstrom, but it sounds like he’s nursing a niggle.) It will feature the two-time World Champ Solenne Billouin, who was beat here by Alizée Paties last year, who is also returning — could it happen again? And the Forissier brothers (Felix and Arthur) — yes, the French are really good at XTERRA.
Plus, anyway, it’s XTERRA, which means you don’t know what will happen. The race is held in Kenting National Park. It’ll be hot and humid and beautiful. And last year, two of the French stars flatted at the same spot on the same rock (!).
WATCH IT ALL GO DOWN: Saturday, March 23 at 5:50 a.m. local time // Friday, March 22 at 5:50 p.m. ET/2:50 p.m. PT on XTERRA Live


Results & the best of the rest
Campeche 70.3: Sounds like it was an absolute shitshow (and that’s all we’re going to say about that).
Para Cup - Davenport: Lots of athletes looking for points and wins ahead of the Paralympics — most notably, Alison Peasgood making a comeback after giving birth.
Watch this weekend:
World Triathlon World Cup - Hong Kong: Start lists are here and it appears the points fight is on for the American women.
WATCH: TriathlonLive.tv on Saturday night in the U.S.
XTERRA World Cup Taiwan: Two-time defending world champ Solenne Billouin and a dominant French contingent on the first World Cup stop
WATCH: On XTERRA Live on Friday evening in the U.S.
Mark your calendars for these coming up
World Triathlon will be expanding the field sizes at World Cups and at WTCS Yokohama & Cagiliari (given that whole Abu Dhabi cancellation).
T100 Singapore start lists are out (this isn’t a secret, you can find them on World Tri’s website, since it’s an official World Triathlon event)—and, while it’s understandable, it isn’t a great look that so many of the contracted women have passed on the first two races. (PSA: There are requirements for wildcard hopefuls to know about.)
Oceanside 70.3 will kick-off the Ironman Pro Series in a few weeks and the broadcast schedule is out. (Word is the entry lists got closed early for Oceanside—must be super full.)
Check out all our updated results & how to watch all the races.
The -ish
The rest of the news you should know about from our sports this week.
I’m just giving you all a heads up: I’m going to become full-on obsessed with the Olympics as it gets near (and I’ll be at the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Media Summit next month, to get interviews + video clips with athletes). So here’s Paris news that’s on my radar right now:
Why they dug a $1B hole in Paris to solve their Seine problems. (Youtube)
The whole massive free Opening Ceremony along the river has been scaled back and tickets will now only be by invite — because no one could have seen that going badly. (The Athletic)
Good news: Condoms are being handed out again in the Athlete Village! The pandemic era “intimacy ban” is gone! Have as much athlete sex as you want! (CBS)
Other good news: NBC is gonna show some of the Olympics live in movies theaters, which sounds kinda fun and also sounds like a good use of all those relatively empty movie theaters. (NBC)
Less good news: Russia is launching its own alternative Friendship Games just weeks after the Olympics. And I can’t decide if I think this is terrible or hilarious or hilariously terrible. (ESPN)
The new report from the Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympics found (among many other things) that athletes live in poverty while executives get rich. The report found that 59.1% of executives earn more than $150K and 26.5% of athletes earn less than $15,000. In case you needed proof. (Commission on the State of U.S. Olympics & Paralympcis/KRDO)
Sarah Crowley announced she’s retiring after a 22-year career. (Instagram)
Meet Emma Meyers, the first NCAA varsity paratriathlete. (Triathlete)
FYI, the ten-year deadline for NCAA is 2024. We’ll have to hit the official sports sponsorship numbers this fall, I believe.
You can get all the India Lee you want: On the Chasing the Burn podcast, interview with Slowtwitch, good details in this Triathlete story, her PTO interview, and I just enjoyed these photos. (Apple Podcast/Slowtwitch/Triathlete/Youtube/Instagram)
I had this in my notes last week, but shrug: Ironman launched its new digital dashboard to track all your Ironman results, upcoming race registrations, and data in one place (and, of course, so they can ask you a bunch of questions to sell you stuff — as is the modern way). (Endurance.biz/Ironman)
‘Has triathlon broken its Ironman obsession’ is a bit of a click-bait-y headline, but the sum-up is pretty straightforward: Ironman & full-distance numbers have been dropping for awhile (which we talked some about before) and aren’t rebounding as quickly post-pandemic, but 70.3 is booming and short-course appears to be the growth spot right now. I don’t think it takes a LOT OF THINKING to figure out why. (Triathlete/Triathlonish)
Michelle Vesterby won the overall at Ultraman Arizona. (Instagram)
A record for the longest run in Antartica at 870 miles over 28 days. (Instagram)
This was the best piece I read about the whole Lululemon FURTHER thing, but one fact I feel like no one is talking about is simply that Lulu wasn’t cool anymore (not in whatever word the kids use for cool now) and the whole thing very firmly made it cool again (per the standards of what is cool now). (Outside Run)
Peter Attila and Olav Aleksander Bu might be peak tech bro wellness pod. So you can listen to that. (Peter Attila)
A short history of sports nutrition and how carbs became king. (Precision Fuel & Hydration)
The details in this report on a New York high school creating an abusive culture for its runners are insane. As Fast Women laid out: The coach tied one girl to the back of a truck back in the ‘80s and drove it in order to force her to speed up her turnover. For those in the ‘kids these days just need to be tougher’ crowd 🤯 (Saratoga Springs School District/Fast Women)
Truth: Use a plastic Ziplock bag for your cycling wallet (and keep the same one for months). (CyclingWeekly)
One last thing
We really don’t do this for our health.
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