#146: Will $50 million be enough?

Some simple math.

Jul 30, 2025

issue #146: July 30, 2025

All, I am off for the next few days, so sending this out and then closing the computer (more or less). Been spending lots and lots of my brain and time on sports lately. Women’s sports! Ball sports! All the sports! And if you want one of our ‘it’s not a moment, it’s a movement’ shirts, they’re 40% off right now in honor of the Femmes.

- Kelly

The PTO’s got (more?) money

Every now and then I think about this sentence in my original article about the PTO’s launch way back in 2019:

“The space is littered with carcasses of people who threw just a little bit of money at it,” Adamo said.
But this time is for real, he said. Because this time — and this is a big difference — they have a lot of money.

And that was roughly $100 million ago.

The PTO announced this week that they have closed another round of investment funding (a Series C, evidently), led by the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. We mentioned this was in the works a few weeks ago, but it sounds like it ultimately was even more money than originally rumored: Coming in around $50 million. That, as best I can tell, would put the total amount of money people have given them at ~$100-110 million.

What they say they’re going to spend this new money on: “continued international growth, innovation in race formats, and long-term athlete and fan engagement.”

What they’re going to have to first spend the new money on: paying existing debts — as of a week ago, athletes still had not been paid out 2024 year-end bonuses.

This is, fundamentally, one of the simple math problems with taking on more and more and more investment. It’s not that investment can’t help fuel massive growth. Afterall, most of us don’t have the money to just fund a new global business venture out of our own pockets. But, if you aren’t able to then generate enough cash flow through your own profitability and revenue, then you don’t have control over what the money is already committed to. Your obligations start to outpace your income. And then taking on more and more investor rounds to meet those obligations means you carry those liabilities over to your next round of funding and to the next, and then it becomes a kind of pyramid scheme (meant in the nicest way possible!) that you just have to keep getting new rounds of funding for in order to pay all the people you previously promised returns to.

Plus, I think Grand Slam Track is learning right now just how rough it can be when you’ve already spent the money before the check actually hits your bank account.

When I wrote before about what exactly “athlete-owned” meant for the PTO and the back-of-the-napkin math of their balance sheets, I deliberately lowball estimated their yearly expenses at $10-12 million/yr. At the time, someone texted me in response to say that the investor pitch decks the PTO was using actually listed their burn rate at closer to $17 million/yr. And, well, $50 million also disappears real fast if you’re spending $17 million every year.

I like the PTO. I like watching the races. I like what they’re doing to push the pro side of the sport forward. I think it’s an absolutely wild time to be a professional triathlete right now.

But that doesn’t mean the math adds up.

(For the record: I’m not just a hater on all race companies. I think the Supertri business model, while very similar and aiming for a similar valuation ultimately, has some fundamental key differences. And I think the Supertri bid to raise a first round of capital right now and grow to ~20 mass participation events in N. America makes a lot more sense within the confines of what they’re trying to do (ie. already making tri exciting to watch) and how they’re structured (ie. already tying the pro races to existing participation bases). Now are there 20 events worth buying in N. America? Even the Supertri CEO will tell you ‘no.’ So, what they do next and with that money will probably make or break their growth plans.)

Go ahead and argue that’s not adorable. Alex Yee sharing his medal with some kids in Toronto.

From the races

Supertri Toronto: Sure, sure, no one was surprised when Alex Yee won, but we did all have to learn who Jolien Vermeylen is, because she managed to beat some big names in the women’s field. A new race and new venue too, as part of the above discussed plan.
IM Leeds: Sam Laidlow didn’t just validate did he. Guess that means he’s really back in form.
Boise 70.3: Paula Findlay looked good, and everyone was happy for Jodie Stimpson. And also this is the second race in a row people are really noticing that having men mix in with the front of the women’s race is not awesome (though I do have to say that a lot of us noticed this a lot of times before, too).

Results: Supertri Toronto, IM Leeds, Boise 70.3

Not much racing coming up this weekend — a bit of a lull before it really heats up — but there is the historic Alpe d’Huez Triathlon and Krakow 70.3.

The -ish

The rest of the news you should know about from our sports this week.

I have a lot of thoughts about the dad who was arrested during IM Lake Placid for leaving his 9-year-old in VIP while he raced. Mostly, I don’t think he should have been arrested — like, OK, make him stop, sure, but arrests are a big deal and ‘child endangerment’ is a charge that follows you and has long-lasting repercussions. Secondly, I thought it just didn’t make sense that someone from New York didn’t have anybody there he knew and could say ‘hey, can you just check in on my kid during the day.’ And, turns out — while a lot of this interview with the dad sounds like every argument you’ve ever had with your partner where you keep saying ‘you did WHAT exactly??’ — there was definitely just some misunderstandings and volunteers not knowing what other volunteers were doing. (Adirondack Daily Enterprise/Youtube)
Speaking of: I’d love to see childcare at Ironmans. Yes, I know it requires contracting or partnering with a licensed childcare provider, but: Anything is possible.
Chelsea Sodaro is also putting on a re-imagined fundraising event for For All Mothers+ to do things like provide childcare and lactation support and grants. (Unlocking Yes)
There’s a new 70.3 in Omaha. To go with the new one in Dallas and Mexico, and Boise returning. (Endurance Sportswire)
On the Road HP, which I thought was just a content producer, appears to be signing sponsorship deals with some of the LA2028 up-and-coming hopefuls. (Instagram)
DT Swiss is issuing a recall for a number of their wheels. (Cycling Weekly)
Triathlete shared the data from a reader survey last month, which was kind of interesting because the people who read Triathlete are definitely not the same as all people who do a triathlon. (Triathlete)
This upcoming weekend is, in no particular order: Tour de France Femmes, U.S. Track & Field National Champs, Katie Ledecky v. Summer McIntosh in the 800m at the world championships, and also the CrossFit Games. (Escape Collective/Citius Mag/The Guardian/CrossFit)
You know I’m all about the BTS Crew Diaries at the Tour and the fits, of course. (Instagram)
And this past weekend was, evidently, the Lumberjack World Championships. Which sent me down a hole, which culminated in watching videos of how people train for log rolling. (NPR/Instagram)
There is a marathon being held in a zinc mine, 4,300 feet below the Earth’s surface. (Outside)
A 70-year-old woman ran a 6:33 mile for the age-group world record. And a 60-year-old ran a 5:18. And an 80-year-old man ran a 6:38, which was just a UK record not a world record, so pshaw. (Athletics Weekly/Twitter)
Should the L.A. Olympics be canceled? (San Francisco Chronicle)
And sigh, I’m not even going to get into it today, because I’ve written about it a lot before, but the US Olympic & Paralympic Committee banning trans athletes is not even how sports policy works — ie. it generally works at a sport level, not a country or President decides random shit level. And World Athletics re-instituting genetic sex testing for women also wasn’t a good idea when we did it from 1968-1999 and it isn’t a good idea now and there was a reason even the scientists who created the test they used before were like ‘whoa, no, this is not how genetics testing works.’ And, ugh, a dead rat fell from the sky into my backyard the other day and it’s hard not to see things as just very goddamn bleak. (Triathlonish/NBC/BBC/Scientific American)

One last thing

People say they want relatable content.