+1 on USAT stepping up to handle registration without having additional fees. That would be exactly the kind of value that people could see right away.

Love this idea! If USAT came up with a race registration vehicle to offer their RDs and subsequent athletes, that could be a real game changer!

Well, people do it for Kona (but triple the money) and 70.3 WC (but another 50% more money)...

So yea, it's a solid model.

If USAT can come in and provide services to race directors at lower prices, they can drive up participation, which would be to the benefit of their overall mission.

It seems to me that might be short-term pain for long-term gain for USAT. Right now it looks as if the sport is dying. Probably because people are sick of being bled dry to go racing. If USAT can come in and provide services to race directors at lower prices, they can drive up participation, which would be to the benefit of their overall mission--more high caliber olympic athletes. Sure they'll piss off active.com in the interim, but I personally don't believe the sport needs a rent-seeking parasite like active.

Ignoring the fact that triathlon is exploding in other parts of the world, don't you think that statement is hyperbole even for North America? Certainly there has been a retraction from its high point, but 'dying'?!! How many years do you think the patient has left before USAT pulls down the flag, triathlon is no longer an olympic sport, and there isn't a single triathlon left in the United States?

USAT's letter is incredibly defensive... that doesn't convince athletes that they are adding value. What would resonate with athletes is USAT stepping up and saying,

"Hey, we hear you and we hear Life Time and we're going to do better. Here are the changes we are going to make that we think could appease the discontent, and continue to appease Dave over on ST (thanks Dave for your endless support! even if every one of your post says the same thing; thanks!). We're going to make sure the price you see at the beginning of registration is the price you pay. We're going to do work closer with WTC to see if they have suggestions for change. And yes, we'll do away with age groups and begin merit-based categories like they have with cycling, and listen to a panel of cyclists to see if we can avoid the pitfalls with that category based system. We're listening, evolving and we want to provide you with value you can identify when asked, 'what value does USAT add?' (other than end-of-the-year rankings - we can do better than that if that's the only value you think we're adding. sorry Dave - but thanks, too!). Yours, USAT."

Yeah, it's probably hyperbole. But if I were in charge of USAT I'd certainly be worried about general trends. Shrinking participation numbers, consolidation of races (my perception is that participation has been changing from racing 6-10 times a year at smaller locally run races, to 1-3 branded destination races), big promoters looking elsewhere for sanctioning. All that would definitely concern me if I were USAT.

"the quickest way for USAT to lose support of every strategic partner they have is to get into the various businesses of the rest of the industry. USAT started down this path about 7 years ago and it got an earful (i was in the room) from every major stakeholder.

everybody - registration companies, race directors, media, and others - honors USAT's place as the once national governing body deserving of shelter from competition. but that's only as good as USAT's performance of its job, and its reciprocal decision not to compete with the industry that does not compete with it. one USAT decides its going to get into every bit of business it wants, then its open season on the revenue stream USAT enjoys."




This is the kind of thing that so many here are not thinking about or don't even have awareness to consider. There's a lot of bitching and moaning about fees this and extra charges that, didn't do anything here, did way too much penalizing there.

Everyone seems to have a bead on how USAT is screwing the pooch. Everyone seems to know how this SHOULD be done. And the part I love best is the implication that USAT doesn't give a rats ass about the athletes.

And yet, very few here, outside of Slowman, have much insight or situational awareness to make such assessments. That and a lot of you seem to think races and everything attached just magically happen without cost. Either that or you seem to think the various race orgs, registration entities, USAT, etc. are just plucking their various costs and fees out of thin air, with an eye to gouging the athletes just to make a buck. I sure as hell don't have the insight to make that determination, and as far as I've seen...none of you doing the bitching do either. The costs are going to be allotted somewhere, whether in discrete fees that we see at registration, or hidden in the overall race cost.

Any asshat can take pot shots at "they". How about being constructive? How about getting involved instead of just bitching and acting like you have some magic understanding of how it could all be perfect.

I get it. I'm competing again and the costs of this sport are crazy to me. I don't think USAT is perfect. But I also don't know that I think Lifetime's approach is good overall for the sport. I just refuse to sit out here like a petulant child and not at least try to be part of the solution. There are a lot of ways to do that.

Having sat in a USAT town hall meeting at Du Nats last month, its abundantly clear that USAT understands the issues and balances they have to wrestle with. They have a lot of competing priorities and not any of them will get their desired "perfect" answer. But it was clear to me that they are trying to make the athlete's experience better and do the necessary things to encourage the growth and overall health of multisport in the U.S.

Why does it have to be getting into other various business models. It's just the one: registration back end so there are no add-on fees above membership or the one-day fee. Who is even going to care about USAT giving such an option other than Active.

Having sat in a USAT town hall meeting at Du Nats last month, its abundantly clear that USAT understands the issues and balances they have to wrestle with. They have a lot of competing priorities and not any of them will get their desired "perfect" answer. But it was clear to me that they are trying to make the athlete's experience better and do the necessary things to encourage the growth and overall health of multisport in the U.S.

not surprisingly, that response isn't really saying anything. unfortunately, USAT just isn't a ''value add'' for some athletes and/or races.