[/quote]This sums it up. If the pros didn't race Kona the media and triathlon industry coverage would disappear. No one gives a shit about watching a bunch of the non-best athletes in the sport race in Hawaii. If the pros weren't racing Kona, the void of a championship quality field would be filled very quickly by some other organization and the focus of the triathlon world would immediately shift there. The pros aren't what drives AG'ers to races it's the massive spectacle that they want to be apart of that drives them there and that spectacle is driven by the triathlon industry. The industry that is going to follow wherever the pros go. Kona would be nothing without the pro field and WTC would be begging them to come back if they all walked away and took their participation elsewhere.[/quote]
I think I agree. WTC needs the pros much more than they think they do. People don't do IM brand just because of a Kona broadcast on NBC that spends just as much time covering age groupers than the pros. I think very few people watch that broadcast and care about the pros. Those of us who care about the pro race watch it the day of, anyway.
I think if you drilled down to why someone picks IM over another, non-WTC choice, you'd get to the pros. Want the most hooplah? The pro sponsors create much of it. Want to race the best? People want to qualify for/race at Kona because it's the World Championships - if the pros did some other event and called THAT the World Championships, they'd take the sponsors and people would want to do that race/series. Want the "IM" stigma? It exists because of Kona, which only exists because the pros and their sponsors create that environment.
Chris Harris
I think I agree. WTC needs the pros much more than they think they do. People don't do IM brand just because of a Kona broadcast on NBC that spends just as much time covering age groupers than the pros. I think very few people watch that broadcast and care about the pros. Those of us who care about the pro race watch it the day of, anyway.
I think if you drilled down to why someone picks IM over another, non-WTC choice, you'd get to the pros. Want the most hooplah? The pro sponsors create much of it. Want to race the best? People want to qualify for/race at Kona because it's the World Championships - if the pros did some other event and called THAT the World Championships, they'd take the sponsors and people would want to do that race/series. Want the "IM" stigma? It exists because of Kona, which only exists because the pros and their sponsors create that environment.
Chris Harris