#23: Tri's (too) many secrets
When is an athlete organization really just an event business.
issue #23: Feb. 22, 2023
Welcome to all you new all-sporters. There are quite a lot of you this week, so hopefully you’re cool. That’s the only requirement. In case you forgot what you signed up for, this your free weekly Wednesday morning newsletter. It typically includes some analysis of the hottest tri news from me (Kelly), a section of results and upcoming races, and then a round-up of interesting things from our sports. We do not do gear reviews or training plans.
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Now, let’s get on to it.
- Kelly
The PTO announces some of the things everyone already knew
Experts say the U.S. government currently has an over-classification problem. As in: millions too many documents get classified secret or top secret or various levels of secret. This secrecy arms race then creates problems for everyone because of bureaucracy and red tape and the general principle that if everything is secret then truly nothing is. (It’s also part of why so many classified documents keep showing up randomly at former officials’ houses.)
Turns out this was a strategy triathlon saw and decided to emulate.
Until I was in Nice last month, I hadn’t actually heard that the PTO’s European Open was going to be in Ibiza in conjunction with World Triathlon’s Multisport Championships. But a lot of people there knew and told me, because triathlon is a tiny sport and it was a frequent topic of conversation. Then Ironman CEO Andrew Messick shared the rumor (along with the one about the Collins Cup being in Morocco at the end of the year) on the ProTriNews podcast—which suggests that it’s not so secret a rumor. And then Jan Frodeno announced last week that he would be at the European Open on May 6—a race that at the time hadn’t even officially been announced yet!
So when the PTO finally announced this week its European Open would be on May 6 in Ibiza, Spain, well.
Photo: The PTO’s Collins Cup winners
The most interesting part of the press release was ultimately the second half: The PTO also confirmed it would be making a couple of key rumored changes to the prize bonus money and to structure of their races.
The PTO Open races will go from a $1 million prize purse to $600K (with $100K still for first, but just $35K now for third). And, more importantly, the European and U.S. races will be limited to the top 30 ranked men and women; and the Asia Open will be limited to top 20.
The end-of-year bonus pool will now be distributed just across the top 50 men and women, instead of the top 100.
There are two responses you could have to this overall move:
Argument #1: The PTO isn’t profitable yet; it’s basically been a charity hemorrhaging money for the last three years—which was welcomed and helped save plenty of pros during COVID seasons. But because it’s reliant on rich investors, I would assume (since I’ve seen this before in funding rounds) that during this last round of raising capital the PTO execs needed to show they both had a plan for financial sustainability and that they weren’t going to keep lighting money on fire. Hence, the budget trimming. I’d also imagine the plan they pitched for financial stability and revenue now hinges on consolidating media around the biggest names. As in: We need to use Lucy and Jan and the Norwegians and Daniela to get huge TV deals, make them household celebrities, sign massive non-endemic sponsors, and then that will be good for the sport, and eventually it will trickle down to the rest of the less big-name pros, and everyone will ultimately benefit. Just trust us.
Argument #2: The counter-argument could best be summed up as: trickle down economics didn’t work so great the last time. (This is mostly an American reference, my international readers.) The problem for the PTO, in both perception and reality, is that this plan creates even bigger gaps between the biggest names in tri and the very-not-big names. And it’s not clear that cost/risk will ultimately make the sport a spectator business or how it’ll play out for development athletes farther down the road, after Jan retires. Take for example this: Only the top 30 ranked athletes get invited to the PTO Opens now—with, I’m sure, some wildcards for high-profile short-course athletes and some roll-downs. The Opens are then worth the most points in the new PTO ranking system. So that, then, gives the top-ranked athletes a leg up on staying the top-ranked athletes and ending the year in the bonus pool. Or this example: From my understanding, only athletes in the top 50 are eligible to sit on (and vote for?) the Athlete Board.
I understand why you need fewer athletes and higher profile ones to make an easier-to-follow big money TV narrative. I understand why investing in the names that will bring in the cash is one business strategy. I understand that if the PTO didn’t try something, it would almost definitely have nothing. I also understand that it’s a lot easier to convince yourself of the validity of your argument if you’re the one who benefits from it.
It’s impossible to know right now which argument will turn out to be the correct one. Give it three to five years and either it’ll have been a brilliant business move or a cash grab. Hard to say which, but the PTO is just a business and it’s gonna business like businesses do.
The PTO schedule:
European Open: Ibiza, Spain - May 6 (both on the same day)
U.S. Open: Milwaukee, Wisconsin - Aug. 4-5
Asia Open: Singapore - Aug. 19-20
Collins Cup: Still a pretend secret
(Canadian Open: canceled for 2023)
Come to Kona camp-cation
In the spirit of investing in what we want to see: The team at Feisty and I have been putting together a media plan for the year, covering the women of triathlon throughout the season and culminating in a week-long Watch the Women in Kona campaign.
Super fun part of that: You can come to Kona-cation! (But only if you’re not a jerk.)
If you want to be involved or learn more about sponsoring our campaign covering the women of tri, email me at kelly@triathlonish.com.
Results: From the calendar
Challenge Wanaka: Won on the run by Grace Thek and Jack Moody, with Sebi Kienle kicking off his retirement tour with a third place while sick. (You can also see all the new PTO numbers in action post-race.)
Wanaka also marked the start of the wild Olympic qualifying year with a sprint Continental Cup full of Australians and New Zealanders (?) doing their thing. Interestingly, long-distancer Kyle Smith took second.
Watch: Mark your calendar
Super League Arena Games: The hybrid in-person/virtual season kicks off in Montreal this Saturday, Feb. 25. Finals start at 2:30 p.m. ET. WATCH: Live free on Super League or on Triathlon Live with a subscription.
Oceania Triathlon Cup: Not something we’d normally care about, but Gwen Jorgensen will make her return to racing (and, yes, she knows it may be rough, but it’s a place to start).
Coming up:
The -ish
The rest of the news from our sports. Things we think you might care about or just think are interesting.
Super League, this week, acquired the Chicago and New York Triathlons from Lifetime (and will take over operating them next year). Super League already owns the celebrity-ridden Malibu. So we’ll see if they’re able to grow a short-course race series now back into something awesome. (Endurance.biz)
Because everything everywhere is moving to a qualification system, Norseman has created a new way to get into their popular race that gives Xtri participants points and reserves spots for them. (Triathlete)
USA Triathlon announced a number of new youth initiatives: A $25 lifetime membership that’s good up to the age of 18, a few new grassroots youth programs, and (what I promise is going to be a cool, because I’m involved in it) a youth magazine. (Endurance Sportswire/USA Triathlon)
This past weekend was the 45th anniversary of the original Iron Man Triathlon, and USAT will be inducting the originals into the Hall of Fame this summer. Yes, at Age-Group Nationals/the PTO U.S. Open/the Hall of Fame ceremony. Clearly, Milwaukee will be the place to be in early August. (Triathlonish/USA Triathlon)
Who else will be in Milwaukee? Jan Frodeno. Though watching him try to explain why and where Milwaukee is was my second favorite thing about his IG announcement video. (Instagram)
Jan also said pretty clearly that it’s his last season. Let’s hope the Norwegians make it to the European Open too then, so we can finally see that happen before he’s done.
XTERRA world champ Lesley Patterson won seven BAFTAs for her writing and producing All Quiet on the Western Front, and is now getting more mainstream coverage than just in our newsletter here. She even got to give the rest of her speech on the BBC morning show, after she was cut off during the ceremony. (The Herald/Triathlete/Twitter)
One mistake in last week’s newsletter: We included the wrong link for the PTO doc on Kat Matthews’ return and recovery. Here’s the right link. Her story was also covered in The Telegraph. (Youtube/Telegraph)
Heather Jackson took second at Black Canyon 100K and will be racing Western States. (Instagram)
The World Cross Country Championships were also this past weekend. And, even though they’re a super oddity of a world championship, the women’s finish looked brutal, the mixed relay looked funny, and I’m all for making XC more of a thing. (Youtube/Instagram)
In indoor track: U.S. Indoor Nationals happened and Nikki Hiltz became the first non-binary national champion. Good for them. And good post-race interview. (Georgetown Voice/Youtube)
This is the state of trail running. (TrailRunner)
Because I care about super insider endurance sports media things: Outside (which owns Triathlete) is launching a new paywall model and Strava added crowdsourced photos to their route planner. (Outside/DC Rainmaker)
The Tour de France signed a six-year TV deal with NBC Sports. (VeloNews)
Meet the photographer who gets in the water to shoot big wave surfing. (New York Times)
And I almost texted the editor because I hated this headline, but then I actually read three perspectives on Ironman’s new Open category and adopting World Triathlon’s transgender policy, and appreciated the thought that went into it. It added depth to my previous thoughts. Which is why you should always actually read the story before having an opinion about it. (Triathlete/Triathlonish)
One year later, the Coaches of Color initiative is working. (Triathlete)
A big story broke this weekend about a collegiate track and Olympic coach abusing prominent runners for years.
had good insight on her assistant coaching there and the emotional challenge of finding out what happened. (Boston Globe/Fast Women)Did you know research on concussions in sports was being done as early as the 1800s? Apparently, we’ve known something was wrong for so long; we just didn’t do anything about it. (New Yorker)
One last thing
But how?!
I don’t know, their still spending the same amount of money, just on fewer people. You can do the PR and build compelling stories without decreasing the number of people getting end of year bonuses. Also, the argument comparing the PTO races and the decreased number of athletes to tennis grand slam events or the golf majors is funny...in a way I see it but tennis and golf provide plenty of opportunity in these events outside the top tier athletes. the way PTO is doing it they are skipping all the opening rounds and going straight to the finals.
Once I heard that Warner Bros. Discovery came on as an investor, Argument A.) makes much more sense. I am rooting for the PTO to raise the level of how professionals are treated and perceived by the masses, but they certainly don’t seem to be in the business of pro development, and I understand that. However, there are plenty of smaller races for young/new pros to gain exposure and earn their way up the ranks, and then who knows? If the PTO makes athletes hungrier to work harder to reach a coveted slot at a PTO race, that is a compelling story that will engage audiences, and thereby help spread the word of how rad our nutty three-prong sport is.:)