You have good points, but why not make it better? Is it stupid the PGA Tour pays millions of dollars in prize money to their members?

It seems all that model has done is draw more attention and sponsors to the sport and, more importantly, get kids playing golf because they can be a millionaire if they make top 125 per year. That's why golf boomed. Imagine what that could do for the growth of Ironman?

Food for thought only, maybe I'm wrong.(?)

As is typical in the ST forums, many of you have no clue what you are talking about, you haven't read any of our rationale, and you are completely missing the point.

Read my latest thoughts and update here.

This is a publicity stunt. It is meant to be absurd. Absurdity draws eyeballs and attention to the fact that Andrew Mistake and WTC are a bunch of greedy assholes.

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Golf and triathlon are not comparable.

PGA charges spectators to attend events.

PGA is broadcast, they even have a golf channel. Ironman is streamlined online for those that are aware.

Golf courses are everywhere, triathlon courses are up for 24 hours.

PGA is an association. WTC is a corporation. Big difference

Kids don't play golf to be rich, kids play gold because it is prevalent everywhere. Yes it isn't cheap but you don't have the limitations that triathlon has. Both golf and triathlon have been around since I was born (1984) but I played golf for a few years as a kid, never heard of triathlon for quite awhile.

Welcome to 2012 when Messick stepped in. You're a bit late...

Everyone knows about the greedy of WTC. This stunt and everything else you have done has shown no changes with WTC

Nice job on the trademark, wouldn't want anyone stealing your identity ;)

Move along. I don't want or need your support. Enjoy your continued irrelevance.

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Like all good charities, helping those unable to help themselves.

I disagree, both are professional sports. Triathlon is where golf was 60 years ago. You could almost argue that Age Groupers are paying the spectator entry fees but ag'ers get to compete with the pros.

No kid that starts playing a sport for money. Money is what sports psychologists call a secondary motivator. But, once desire and talent collide, kids start dreaming of making a living in a professional sport. Why don't we simply help feed it in triathlon?

I agree with your assessment of the PGA Tour being an association vs a corporation. And, I'm good with capitalism which is WTC. Andrew Messick seems to be a staunch, intelligent business man who is a master at growing a brand and revenue. All I'm saying is in the long run, there's more ways for him to make more money once the purses increase. Then and only then will Triathlon grow to its fullest potential.

Hell, what do I know anyways?

Everyone is getting caught up on PGA being an association versus WTC being a corporation. NASCAR is a corporation. Discuss.

People pay to watch nascar.
Nascar has huge tv network deals.
WTC is small potatoes compared to nascar.

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A false humanity is used to impose its opposite, by people whose cruelty is equalled only by their arrogance

It's also more conducive to being a spectator sport. I was just pointing out that being a for profit corporation is not necessarily the reason for low purses.

I like where you're head is here. IM should be done on a banked oval so we can watch all 8 hours and not miss any of the "action".

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"the trick is to keep losing weight until your friends and family ask you if you've been sick. then you know you're within 10 pounds. if they start whispering to each other, wondering if you've got cancer or aids, you're within 5. when they actually do an intervention, you're at race weight." - Slowman

Whether you agree with him or not, TRS is completely on the right track and it may very well shine some more light on what is a real problem for the professionals in our sport.

And, yeah, TRS has a bit of credibility now...

Sure...WTC is a business (so is NASCAR, PGA, NBA, NFL, MLB, The America's Cup, MLS, etc...). Everyone knows that. It is not about the bottom line for the business, it is about doing what is right for the men and women that make up the pointy end of our sport. WTC is one of the major stewards of our sport...if not the biggest. They are Ironman and make up the most visible and recognizable symbol in the sport of triathlon. They have an inherent obligation to those who provide the sport with its biggest stories. The professionals are their biggest and most visible ambassadors to the rest of us and are generally being ridden as cash cows. Don't think pros are/can be ambassadors? Go to a NASCAR race and see how visible and accessible they are. I seriously can't understand why some people can't separate business from what is morally right and say that the prize purses across all of the M-Dot races are a joke (including Kona) and that WTC needs to start paying more and deeper.


Who knows....maybe WTC and some of the Slowtwich Illuminati just don't care about the professionals and want to see them go away.

You'd need more crashes to truly appeal to the American consumer.

Finally a reason to embrace our "terrible" bike handling.

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"the trick is to keep losing weight until your friends and family ask you if you've been sick. then you know you're within 10 pounds. if they start whispering to each other, wondering if you've got cancer or aids, you're within 5. when they actually do an intervention, you're at race weight." - Slowman

I still think that Messick is one of the greatest soccer players EVER.

Later!

Brian

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Welcome to the Church of Briantriology!

Corporations are people too, my friend

You win the prize for most non-sequitur comment of the week.

I suppose I could have worked it in a little better. But it wasn't that bad, come on.

I think this is ridiculous, a bunch of internet clowns that do nothing but piss people off from behind an (originally) anonymous twitter account should be the last people to try to 'make a change'. If I was Messick I would laugh about this whole thing. So you collect some money for IMLP 7th place finisher and then what? Will you do the same for all the other IM races? Nobody cares about what you do but yourself (to fullfill your need of short term attention). In fact continuously trying to shame Messick and expecting the outcome to be that he listens to you is about as dumb as things get.

I would love to see the pros in our sport get paid more, but this is absolutely not the way to do it. You have zero credibility and trustworthiness.

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Don't forget to attack!

It sounds like you're attracted to Andrew Messick. We're over $2500 now.

Boom!

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But Nascar is shite

I'm in, boys! Where's race day HQ? You need a venue with beer on Mirror Lake Drive.

You might be correct. But, change has to start somewhere. There's nothing wrong with stirring the pot, this is still America.

Make my words, with Triathlon now becoming an approved NCAA women's sport and the men to soon follow, if change isn't made someday in favor of the pro's, Ironman will shrink. It happens in every sport IF long terms sustainability plans are not developed.

Andrew Messick needs to make $, that's his job. Unfortunately, right now, helping the pros make money isn't in his plan. But, he's a very intelligent man, once all of this pieces are in place he'll look to grow the sport in other ways. He's a smart guy and I'm sure he realizes for long term huge growth, the pro purses will need to grow. Who wouldn't want to watch a few select races where pros raced for $250K up top? That might even attract more media attention which might even get MORE people in the sport thus attaining long term growth, revenue and success.

Au contraire, NASCAR is Sunni.

Dark Mark is running point on locations for happy hours, race day shenanigans, and the 7th place awards ceremony. Follow us on twitter or watch my blog for details. I won't announce it too far in advance because my friends at Ironman have already sabotaged one of my events (in The Woodlands) by threatening the bar manager. Because they are willing to employ dirty tactics, we need to be a little more stealth.

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