Bump for a good question.

Then ST might as well go on covering grass roots races where the winner has a 10 hour time.

Noted. And I think that's why I was curious where ST would draw the line. But IM M-Dot events pull 2000+entrants and are a very big stage for triathlon and companies we associate with triathlon (Bike, shoe, wetsuit brands, etc... ).

For example, if you look at the T1 area v. the T1 area at M-dot events, there would likely be a 15Million dollar potential bike market difference.

So it may still be worthwhile for ST to cover these events to appease the sponsors (such as Felt) because the top AGers can still showcase some of the top-end bikes etc. But I don't know - I'm not a doctor. That's why I posed the question :)

Ahh but now essentially these non-pro races will be similar to collegiate/minor league games. Seems as if the pro ranks will thin until these top ag'ers/low level pros feel they are ready to compete for price money in the regional races. So with all that said I def will still have interest in who wins these races. We are not talking about HITS races where the winner might clock a 10:30.

Pretty sure there was HUGE interest when Kyle Buckingham went 16th OA, top AGer at Kona. So from my perspective I am still interested in top performances at non-pro races because......wait for it......they have to start somewhere under this new system so thats where the next top pros are going to come from.

ugh it is annoying to pick out HITS and bash them. Why wont people (especially pros) use HITS races as training races? If anything because its 20-50 in the full, there is not much slingshot effect on the bike. If in fact, I have seen some people use this race series a minor league race to test themselves and go pro, to compete in the IM brand series. So yea basically, non pro IM is similar to HITS minus the cost.

... and the participation
... and I'm not sure anywhere would do a Ironman-distance for training purposes, especially as a PRO

I would say perhaps to do aquabike or relay. It is advertising for them, and the fans of that athlete will come out. Some pro's volume levels are high enough as doing an ironman a day.