Inevitably that leads to an echo chamber of not being able to really crack that top 16 for the following year, unless you win IMWC and some gold tier events.
It’s where the PTO both being a race production company and a ranking/advocacy group don’t align on mission.
That said, looking forward to what they present for a product this year. The NASCAR team is contracted for the CLASH based broadcast, which is a good way to start the year.
Except Sam has mentioned models such as the relegation model in other sports. He is no dummy. He will find a way to get fresh blood into the system.
The PTN interview was really well done. The questions were sharp and the answers seemed sincere and no BS.
As for missions not aligning, when there is no infrastructure accessible to you, and you want to build, sometimes you need to create the infrastructure that’s missing. Good thing they have deep pockets.
Sam is really good at spending other folks money.
The relegation model of field sports isn’t applicable to this as triathlon isn’t deep enough to support multiple tour levels like Golf is. Nor is it popular enough to sustain a professional only event.
How many of those have existed? Island House, Colline Cup, and Couples Championship?
World tour cycling has 18 teams. Every cycle, bottom 2 teams get relegated, 2 teams come up. Top teams in the division below get invites to the big league.
Super simple.
They did simple math in that podcast
8 races x 20 spots = 160 spots
6 commited races x 20 = 120 committed starts
this leaves 40 spots for wildcards to gather precious points
Go to 10 races, more wildcards available
Add a few starters (say 25), more wildcards available
Use a simple relegation
Use discretionary picks
…
It’s ain’t brain surgery
As for Sam spending others money, I am sure a person with your financial industry saviness acknowledges that every CEO of a VC funded company is really good at spending other people’s money.