You know my thoughts Eric, I think it's ridiculous after all of the cooperating you have done and how after each race they seem to come up with a new rule...toward you. You are not trying to make money on other's images or are you trying to monetize footage that nobody else has. It's very clear that you are trying to tell a story (post race mind you) of how YOUR dynamics played out and how you utilized your equipment to compete. I understand their position IF you were selling the videos online and you were trying to make money on OTHERS in the video...but you aren't. Keep doing what you are doing and with great sponsors like Pioneer Power meters, Equal Earth, Clif Bar, New York City Athletic Club, The Athletes lounge, Roka and Rolf and they will keep supporting you dude. It's like I tell my kids...If you don't have haters then you ain't doin' it right ;-)

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Kirk Noyes

Downtubes are for Dinosaurs

I don't really have any good responses to this - other than thanks for making great videos! I've enjoyed watching them all - gotta say it's amazing what speeds you guys race at!

As said I dont have any good suggestions on how to handle the issue you raise, but it seems like this sort of thing would be something that in the long run benefits everyone. I think the sport would just suffer if everyone sits on their own hill with their own legal rights to this and that, refusing to accept the use of such rights without any form of compensation. It seems that ITU is trying to see the bigger picture though.

(abit off-topic: but I'd love to know what kind of VI - AP/NP-ratio - this kind of race would produce from you and the other pro's? From your video I would guess an insanley high VI compared to the traditional long-distance races. The reason for my question is that I mostly race long distance / solo TT's, and really struggle in the few draft-legal competions I have taken part in. I guess this because producing 95 % of FTP for 2 hrs is a vastly different sport than riding the crit-like bike-leg you do in ITU-races)

I like the videos Eric but I'm really not surprised about them having demands placed on the video. For example, the ToF bikecam footage has become part of the Tour broadcast this year and it all gets distributed to the teams. The footage contains a Velon/GoPro ad in the beginning/end and whatever logos happen to be in the video. I think you just got ahead of the curve on this one and it's probably just a matter of time before bikecams become part of the ITU broadcast or extras.

If you look at other sports like MMA, the athletes often do video blogs with tons of behind the scenes footage. However, as soon as the octagon door is shut for the bout, the video broadcast becomes the property of the UFC. Their lawyers are diligent about sending DMCA takedown notices and they protect their video rights aggressively. Similar is true in other professional sports I'm afraid.

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

I can certainly sympathize with you and your frustrations over this issue. However, given the ITU contractual obligations, their position is reasonable. They signed an agreement with IEC which granted IEC exclusive rights to video footage of the races. That's that. Plain and simple. As a party to that contract they've got an obligation to honor those provisions. Despite what Kirk stated this is not something that's targeted towards you (except to the extent you may be the only person doing something like this). They would have easily come after anyone else doing something similar.

Not knowing the vintage of the ITU/IEC contract the issue of onboard athlete GoPro type footage could have been something they never even considered during the contract process. If and when the contract is up for renewal, it could be something that's carved out. There's a good chance it won't be though. If I'm the ITU I'd use it as a bargaining chip to garner a higher price from IEC. They can likely get IEC to chip in more money to continue the exclusivity whereas they're likely to see no money from the few athletes and their sponsors that might do something similar to what you're doing.

Btw, I've really enjoyed your videos and will be sad to see them go.

It seems like all facets of triathlon are trying very hard these days to not allow any sort of professional participation. Between low or non-existent payouts and these crazy signoffs on video it's a little nuts. Perhaps if ITU or WTC produced any sort of high-quality video production it would be understandable but considering you have to subscribe to some obscure Youtube channel to see any footage, you'd think they'd look the other way.

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Pete Githens
Reading, PA

The difference being the TdF has real and good coverage otherwise.

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Pete Githens
Reading, PA

This pretty well sums it up. The fact that you are not making money from it is immaterial, BTW.

When local news cover a NFL game with their own cameras, they still have to get legal authorization from the league to broadcast those images during their report. Your case is similar to that, except your "broadcast" is the video on the web rather than the news.

Honestly, I'm surprised they let you do it as long as they have. Sucks, but their position is reasonable.

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Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

Out of curiosity, which ITU broadcast did you watch? What would you do differently?

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Madison photographer Timothy Hughes | Instagram

Eric,

I love the insight that your videos offer and must say that they are my favorite type of race report I've seen to date.

The commentary combined with the power data is something that I find super interesting, and I hope that you are able to make them going forward. It is a unique twist on things and I applaud you for taking this approach, as opposed to just writing the customary race report blog.

Great race by the way too, nice to see you being the top American.

In an unrelated note, given your result, are you considering making a go at the RIO Olympics qualification? Outside of a top 8 finish in Rio or Chicago, I'm not sure how the US spots get allocated.

Your videos are awesome great coverage from a pro's perspective!!!

I think the IEC should buy them off you for footage win win for everyone.

what you can do is post the video on some sharing site that does pop up ads of your sponsors. I do like your non race vids also of behind the scenes when you prep and travel for a race

I agree, there must be a way around this somehow where you get some good exposure for your sponsors.

That video is awesome. I watched the race in triathlonlive, but seeing it from the racer's perspective is something completely different. amazing

On one hand I'm surprised they let you take video at all. On the other if they are taking copies of your video and then using it they should be paying you. :) Seems to me they have come to a reasonable middle ground that still lets you use your videos. Simply posting them on your site could be considered commercial use, even though your sponsors are not listed specifically in the video.

Maybe you can work with IEC further so they can also benefit from your video, in return they could give you something for the content you are providing. Many media outlets post internet content that is not broadcast such as interviews and extended content. Now you have a new sponsor, IEC.

..

lovegoat, thanks for the kind words, I'm glad you appreciate the insight! I'm not sure there's necessarily a solution out there and I certainly don't hold this agains the ITU or think that it's unfair. Like so many have said, this is just the way that professional sports work. It's just unfortunate in a sport where not many people in our country end up seeing the coverage that things like this are frowned upon.


I personally think that the broadcasts are great, especially compared to anything that WTC is putting out, but there just aren't that many people watching them. My hope is that, if people see one of my videos, they may get excited enough to buy a triathlon.org pass and become a fan. I feel like the sport is doing pretty well in Europe (just a feeling) and doesn't need the help of things like this, but here in the US, with entire pro series disappearing, I think it's innovate or die.




As for numbers, here's my file from the race:


There's a lot of extra data in there with the dual leg analysis, but I think you should be able to sort through and find out everything you're looking for :) But, just to answer your question, typically a pretty high VI. My legs are almost always more jello-y feeling after an ITU race than a well-paced non-draft.



https://cyclo-sphere.com/...98302dac7b087d56a7d0

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Eric Lagerstrom
Professional Triathlete
https://www.youtube.com/c/ericlagerstrom
http://www.ericlagerstrom.com
https://www.instagram.com/eric_lagerstrom/

This isn't as diabolical as it might seem. Seems totally shortsighted, but this is typical copyright/IP stuff, right? People pay money for exclusive rights to content, but if they were smart they would see you are only enhancing the value of what they purchased. Probably the lawyers driving the bus here, with zero consideration about how this would be beneficial to their client.

Hi Eric,

I have watched a handful of your videos--one of your training recaps, your Pan Am Games trip and this most recent one--and I've really enjoyed them. I love the integrated power meter data (my jaw drops!), the commentary about race strategy and how others ride (who's good to draft off of/who's not, etc.).

I'd love to see a similar set of videos from a female athlete--obviously Gwen would be amazing--as would Sara True, Katie Z. or any number of others (doesn't necessarily have to be an American, although that would be great).

Bottom line: what you're doing is very relevant to how people want to watch sports now--it's short, it's shareable and it's personal. And it seems to me there's an outside possibility that you could turn it into a win-win for you, the ITU, IEC and other ITU athletes, if IEC is open-minded/can be forward-thinking about it.

What about asking ITU if you could get on the phone with them and IEC to explore ways that you might be able to keep doing what you're doing--and to get IEC and ITU visibility from it at the same time?

A few ideas popped into my mind:

-- Most basic: credit IEC and ITU--everywhere--in your videos, on your site, on Vimeo, on Twitter/Facebook/Slowtwitch when posted, etc.
-- Next level: allow/encourage them to use your videos on their own site (they should be dying to), without restricting you from using it on yours, of course
-- Next level: engage you to train other athletes to produce their own videos that IEC and ITU can use. IEC could easily turn this into a social product that sponsors would back, so it creates revenue for them (potentially even for ITU, depending on their contract), and income for you. And it can be managed so that it's not a free-for-all--athletes get to rotate in and out of the program, while using the footage on their own sites. Ideally all of you are allowed to credit your sponsors. And it makes everyone look good/relevant.

If managed well (by IEC/ITU), this last idea is really the home run, obviously.

Meantime, I'd suggest promoting the heck out of all of your videos while you can--especially this most recent one (Facebook, Twitter, instagram (post a clip, link in your bio)--so that you have hard data showing how much people like, enjoy and share them.

I hope you can keep doing what you're doing--they'd be crazy to stop you. :)

Marian

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P.S. I see a number of people made very similar suggestions above, while I was writing my reply. Oops--didn't see them before posting.

I watch ITU on Universal Sports and while I think the broadcasts are decent, there are some issues.

1. There have been multiple announcers on Universal Sports this year, and it's obvious that there is a big difference between announcers. Barrie and Trevor, you're golden, but some of the 2nd tier people are not up to speed yet.

2. There is a lack of camera coverage. I understand it's hard to do, but it's really annoying when something happens and you don't see it because the cameras were only covering 3 athletes. So often it's like an athlete was abducted by aliens when they crash. I think on-bike footage would be awesome.

3. I think there need to be more spotters on the TV crew. There have been a number of times where the crew missed a major incident, one that was captured on camera, and it was never mentioned, except to say "I don't know what happened to so and so" when we all just watched them crash.

4. The directors need to have better commercial timing. Don't go to commercial when Gwen is about ready to catch the leaders on the run. Nothing worse than coming back from commercial to see Gwen has gone from 10 meters behind to 30 meters in front while I was watching yet another ad for the Diamond League.

5. Their "brought to you by {sponsor}" segment is a joke. The whole point of that is to bring you the race with fewer commercial interruptions and get the sponsor actual views(ie no fast forwarding), but when there is 30 seconds of a smaller picture with an awkward radio spot done in the first 10 seconds followed by 20 seconds of silence, followed by the regular commercial break, it's not working. I start my fast forwarding as soon as the picture shrinks. Even something like the Fram Cam from UFC Fight Night would be better. "This transition is brought to you by No Knuckle TriSuits. Don't let 'em see your Moose!"

6. That starting sound is terrible. Maybe it's better in person, but it sounds like they gave a 4 year old a sound effects machine and they just discovered the ascending siren sound.

I would do what dogmile recommended and connect with IEC. Leverage the people from ITU to help you make a positive foundation for the discussion. Facts are the videos are good, very interesting, and better when edited versus live footage in the race. Over the past couple of years, the addition of cameras to the TdF and other big races have been pretty cool to see and I think yours are the same. I would seize the opportunity and the initiative and see if you can all come to a good solution. Hope it works out for you.

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I miss you "Sports Night"

All points are valid, but #6, the "Oh my God! Here comes the Luftwaffe - earthquake warning- tidal wave alert" screaming sirens at the starting line is one of the worst things I've ever seen at a sporting event. Some 20 year old video gamer media techie came up with this and thought it was "totally cool". It's not exciting - it's just obnoxious.

ALL their sounds are terrible. Probably supplied by the ITU, but it sounds like a middle school video project soundtrack, at best. The 'heartbeat' pre swim start (cue: something's about to happen), the siren, the music upon each lap of the bike (cue: something exciting is going on), etc. Really annoying. I'd bet it's much worse in person, blaring out of the PA system. Perhaps they sell ITU/WTS branded ear plugs :)

I've only thing I've ever gotten to see is what World Triathlon publishes on Youtube. Typically just highlights. The races are not regularly broadcast on any of the channels that I get. I believe there is a subscription service you can purchase to watch on-line but why would I want to do that?

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Pete Githens
Reading, PA

Just to be clear... this is in ALL sports, not just little old triathlon. TV rights is a business... a big one... one that I work in.

And your eight hours is nothing compared to the insane amount of work some people go through to be completely shut down and have all their footage taken away. When I worked with David Feherty, he filmed 10 full episodes of behind the scenes stuff for Golf Channel. Little to nothing featured actual golf footage. It was all "fun" Feherty shit that would make people laugh at the pros while they actually played. Guess where that footage ended up.... with the PGA and CBS. And I know, Feherty wasn't the pro swinging a club. No but it would have been the exact same decision had Bubba Watson done something.

Note: If you don't understand how much it takes to create ten 30-minute episodes of television... just give up 6 months of your life to find out.

I will say that I understand where you are coming from because you have seen a lot more traction socially because you are making a product that is unique. That's great for you, good for your sponsors and just 'okay' for the sport of triathlon, if we're being honest. So, trying to peg this as a "how do we grow the sport" is unfair. You're really just complaining on an open forum that you are being denied. If you truly made a product that benefited everyone, which includes the IEC, they would gladly pay you to create your product.

So, my honest opinion, go to the IEC and openly talk to them about what can be done. Maybe you'll be shut down. Maybe they'll make you pay them a fee to do your videos. Maybe they'll even pay you for your time if you change up the formatting a little to benefit them!.

Pay for the ITU package (Triathlon T.V. I think) and you can watch live or on demand, commercial free. Way better than Universal Sports, and head and shoulders above anything WTC does, including Hawaii.

Eric, watched the last episode from Sweden, excellent job. I'd agree with the folks that have commented that what you are doing can only enhance the rights holder content. Trick is to convince them of it.

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"one eye doubles my eyesight, so things don't look half bad" John Hiatt