USAT Responds to Life Time Fitness Announcement about "divorce" from USAT Sanctioning

Triathlon Forum
41

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.

Yes, USAT should be worried. The sport can change in another direction, indeed it arguably has changed as you noted. Eventually it could even outgrow USAT. But even then I would expect that USAT would end up ‘leading from behind’ if for no other reason then to continue justifying their own non-profit paychecks.

42

"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.

43

"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.

great post, hope to see you in Penticton in a month

44

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.

45

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.

Events.com, Eventbrite, ChronoTrack, IMAthlete, RaceIt, BikeReg and a dozen other companies, who’d turn right around and tack insurance as an option to their services if USAT got into their revenue streams.

46

Big difference between back-end registration services and all the other stuff. Active is going to offer insurance? Nope. Active is going to start sanctioning it doing races? Nope. Active already has membership, and from I can tell they mostly trick people into becoming members.

47

Infamous.

48

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.

I agree. I was at the town hall and peppered Tim Yount with questions. He spent a lot of time answering everyone’s questions. I didn’t detect any stonewallingfrom him. I think they are trying to expand triathlon’s (and duathlon’s) reach. Are they doing the right “stuff”? Are they doing enough? I don’t know.

49

I’m not so sure it’s that easy to get into the insurance game. You know, laws and stuff.

50

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

Agreed. For some of us (h20fun, myself), USAT provided a lot. But, we’re participating in Nationals and Worlds and “enjoy” (for lack of a better word) the rankings. Nothing wrong there.

But for a majority of participants, especially the weekend warriors, they may not even know what USAT is or what it does. Two recent examples.

Two weekends ago, I did a small USAT sanctioned sprint triathlon in semi-rural Maine. 68 individuals and six relay teams participated. The LAST finisher was a 25 year old guy who rode a knobby wheeled mountain bike. I chatted with his mother while waiting for him to finish. This was his first triathlon and he was out to have fun. Given the size of the race, he actually placed first in his AG. When he received his award, he had the biggest smile on his face and received the loudest applause. I doubt he knew what USAT was even though he paid them $15 when he entered.

I raced the Draft Legal Duathlon in Bend. Coming up to the finish area, I passed a young guy who was definitely in pain. I met him hiding in the shade after the race and chatted. He was 19 years old and a Harvard undergrad. He specialized in track cycling and was not a runner but decided to race for the experience. This was his first duathlon and he said he had a blast. Again, other than being the host, I doubt he knew what USAT was.

51

Perhaps participation in the sport hasn’t dropped, but rather from races you pay for, which used to be half the cost. I am seeing many groups here in SD setting up their own races. Cost is free, just bring something for potluck BBQ after. People ‘white elephant’ prizes they got from other fitness events to award the winner. Timing is ghetto… Cellphone timer and a clipboard to write times down. Many of these people hate triathletes due to elitist nature, but do want to participate

52

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

Agreed. For some of us (h20fun, myself), USAT provided a lot. But, we’re participating in Nationals and Worlds and “enjoy” (for lack of a better word) the rankings. Nothing wrong there.

But for a majority of participants, especially the weekend warriors, they may not even know what USAT is or what it does. Two recent examples.

Two weekends ago, I did a small USAT sanctioned sprint triathlon in semi-rural Maine. 68 individuals and six relay teams participated. The LAST finisher was a 25 year old guy who rode a knobby wheeled mountain bike. I chatted with his mother while waiting for him to finish. This was his first triathlon and he was out to have fun. Given the size of the race, he actually placed first in his AG. When he received his award, he had the biggest smile on his face and received the loudest applause. I doubt he knew what USAT was even though he paid them $15 when he entered.

I raced the Draft Legal Duathlon in Bend. Coming up to the finish area, I passed a young guy who was definitely in pain. I met him hiding in the shade after the race and chatted. He was 19 years old and a Harvard undergrad. He specialized in track cycling and was not a runner but decided to race for the experience. This was his first duathlon and he said he had a blast. Again, other than being the host, I doubt he knew what USAT was.

Wow, there are two of us. Will I see you in Penticton?

53

Perhaps participation in the sport hasn’t dropped, but rather from races you pay for, which used to be half the cost. I am seeing many groups here in SD setting up their own races. Cost is free, just bring something for potluck BBQ after. People ‘white elephant’ prizes they got from other fitness events to award the winner. Timing is ghetto… Cellphone timer and a clipboard to write times down. Many of these people hate triathletes due to elitist nature, but do want to participate

If folks I saw at races were like the few vocals on ST, I would find another sport also. Luckily, I have yet, in all my years of racing, found any of the negative energy against USAT at a race.

It is great people have options. Do a color run. etc. There are reasons in the USAT rankings the majority do not race the minimum number to be ranked. Just not their interest.

Not in all areas is the sport down. The last two USAP races sold out. That as not happened for years.

54

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.

are you also okay with somebody else coming in and providing sanctioning/membership/insurance services to RDs at lower prices?

As a race director, my answer is YES! I also would favor paying a higher price to sanction if it resulted in a lower one day fee for participants. I would like to see the fee get down to $10 or less. Perhaps a little bit of belt tightening and staff reduction at the corporate level could help lower the one-day fees?

55

Dan (& others who may know)-
What are the differences between USAT and other sanctioning bodies?
What is TriCanada doing, offering and charging?

I gladly admit I am a mushroom on this one (in the dark and shit on…)

56

That people are going to fork over $300+ on the spot for a race 12 months away. It’s ridiculous.

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.

I just paid for WC 70.3 on the spot and was thrilled to be able to.

But you cannot replicate one part of the strategy and call it a solid model. Without me pointing them out, I’m sure you can identify all the ways in which the LT championship is different than IM championship and these differences are what makes it a solid model and make it so one enters an IM race with a goal of qualifying for the WC. LT has to get the hard parts of the model correct before they can do the easy part, which is charging people money on the spot for a championship race.

57

i would love to see USAT and races end their relationship with them and have USAT add their own registration process that is included in their membership or one day fee.

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!

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.

Slowman, of course others would object to USAT doing payment processing. i bet GM and Ford object toTesla making cars too. but market economies thrive off competition and market entrants who have a competitive advantage (be it a brand, channel relationships, economies of scale, etc) are smart to use their advantage to offer a service in a market where the competition is vulnerable.

Your argument seems superficial if you are relying on the reaction of profit driven companies who don’t want their revenues to go down. i do agree thst USAT would fail if they entered every possible service market related to triathlons. But payment processing is one i could see them doing better than active.com as they already do many of the “value add” services Active provides and therefore USAT’s variable cost for doing payment processing is less and in fact leverages their fixed cost across a greater base.

58

One thing to consider from the RD side. If they roll the fees into the registration their race is going to appear more expensive to enter.

If people have a choice between a race costing $245 but with hidden fees(but coming out to $275 after fees) and $275 inclusive they’ll probably consider the first race a less expensive option even though the cost is ultimately the same.

The perception of the cost of race 2 is higher.

Do RD’s want to take the risk of driving people away by wrapping the fees in? Or do they want to appear less expensive and make the bad guy the registration company?

IIRC FFBoots did this for one/some of his races. Someone more energetic than I can search the archives if they want to find out what happened to his registration #'s.

59

One thing to consider from the RD side. If they roll the fees into the registration their race is going to appear more expensive to enter.

If people have a choice between a race costing $245 but with hidden fees(but coming out to $275 after fees) and $275 inclusive they’ll probably consider the first race a less expensive option even though the cost is ultimately the same.

The perception of the cost of race 2 is higher.

Do RD’s want to take the risk of driving people away by wrapping the fees in? Or do they want to appear less expensive and make the bad guy the registration company?

IIRC FFBoots did this for one/some of his races. Someone more energetic than I can search the archives if they want to find out what happened to his registration #'s.

Most of the RD’s I race with give you the option still to send in a paper entry, so one can totally bypass fees like active or credit card. Pretty simple for the RD to do if they really care about their customers.

60

The entry fee to our SwimRun NC race is $350 for a team of 2. Basically $175 per athlete for a memorable race that last 4 to 6 hours depending how fast you are. There is no registration fee added on, we eat it (pay it from your registration), no additional insurance (again gets pulled from your entry fee), and we do not charge you for race photos either.

Herbert