Politically Active Triathletes: Tempe's Prop 400

I got an email from Red Rock Co. a few days ago, and in the midst of the usual "Sign up for this race now!" reminders, something caught my eye: A request that Tempe, AZ residents vote yes on Tempe's Prop. 400.

Proposition 400 proposes to raise Tempe's hospitality tax, charged on hotel rooms only, from 3% to 5%.

So what does that have to do with triathlon? I remembered talking to Xterra last year about their moving Xterra nationals from Incline Village, NV to Ogden, UT. One of the main reasons for the move? A lack of the usual support from Nevada's financially-sucking tourism board.

But what does that mean? Does a tourism board pay race production companies to put a race on in their town? Between the SOMA Half, IMAZ, and the gazillion other races put on in and around Tempe Town Lake, Tempe is reaping financial rewards from being triathlete friendly.

(Tempe Town Lake)

In an email, Red Rock Co.'s Event Director, Mike Melley, helped me understand the delicate relationship between event producers and city tourism boards. Or, in this specific case, between Tempe-based Red Rock Co. and the Tempe Convention and Visitor's Bureau. (CVB)

Erin: Does the city's tourism board help produce sporting events?

Melley: The tourism board does not help produce events. The City/CVB has a vested interest in events that bring in tourism, patrons, and out of state visitors as this increases revenue, sales and hotel stays. Take an event like PF Changs Rock n Roll Marathon (AZ) they bring in 35,000 athletes and impact the revenue of the surrounding communities positively. As an event promoter this may enable them to leverage lower costs to shut down roads, pay police and other expenses necessary to produce an event of that magnitude.

Erin: How much of an event's budget depends on money received from the city's tourism board?

Melley: This is dependent on the city, their budget and the impact of the event. I can only speak to those events for which we are fortunate enough to get some support from the City/CVB. No event should ever DEPEND on the city to succeed. We don’t depend on it, but it certainly allows us to help improve the quality of the event for the athlete while ensuring we keep the course safe and fun.

Erin: How would the passage (or not) of Prop 400 directly affect Red Rock Co.?

Melley: Prop 400 stands the chance of eliminating CVB/City sponsorship of the event (Soma in particular) and would force us to re-evaluate our costs across the board and the event as a whole. Prop 400 is not just about events, actually it is likely a very small part of the prop that is an effort by the city to help increase revenue (to be in line with the other surrounding cities) in a time of a severe budget crisis.

So if you're living in Tempe, go vote March 9th to help keep events like SOMA healthy and rockin'. I have a special place in my heart for it; it was my 2nd half ever.

Sorry, SOMA, Big Kahuna will always be my first.

Has IM Triathlon Lost Its Mind?

$1300! Seriously!?

Is Triathlon Leaving Young Triathletes in the Dust?

"Triathletes Leave Slowing Economy in the Dust." So states Don Norcross of SignonSanDiego.com in an article published on the 12th. It seems coaching companies, tri producers, bike shops et al. are not hurting at all this year.

Why is that? Because triathletes, Triathlete publisher John Duke believes, aren't "the people getting laid off. They're the people laying off.” To use the readers of Triathlete as representatives of the triathlon community as a whole, he points out that the average household income of Triathlete subscribers is $177,000.

The average reader of Triathlete is a 41 year-old male. The average Triathlete reader also owns an average of 2.6 bikes. Fair enough. A bike without its wheels on could be called 0.6 of a bike.

In all the industry's glee at getting bigger and making big bucks, even during the recession, it seems they're doing so at the cost of a very important audience: young triathletes. You know, the ones who will grow up to be the future of the sport. Even pros, most of whom don't make much money at all competing in the sport, seem to be getting the short end of the stick.

Many of these young triathletes and young pros work in jobs that do not require the full use of their cerebral talent so they may have enough time to train, and hopefully make enough money for the large amounts of food they need to keep training.

Unless they work in a booming tri shop, apparently, they are getting laid off.

Perhaps a more plausible reason for the ability of triathlon to weather the current economic climate: it's an addiction. Not a bad addiction, in all cases, but certainly one for which every addict--regardless of reported house hold income --will find a way to get the cash to compete.

And NAmerica Sports (who puts on US Ironman races), among other companies, is cashing in. It's $525 for an Ironman entry right now, up front, a year before the race. And if you want to get in, you practically have to go to the race site--a huge expense if you're not from the area. Why? Because sometimes, as in the case of IM USA this year, the race sells out on site and never goes online.

Triathlon, in an effort to keep itself very well in the black, is catering now more than ever to it's cherished demographic of the people who are doing the laying off-- 41-year old males with 2.6 bikes who make a great living.

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In a way, the sport can't be blamed for the desire to milk this demographic for everything they've got. They pay the bills. It's good business--for now. Why would anyone lower race costs when the demand is there?

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It is a shame that all this catering to wealth is at the expense of the sport's youth. Eager to compete--addicted--they try to press on, in spite of the incredible tri-hierarchy that has been created in recent years, where coaching services prey on the uninitiated, bike shops don't have affordable bikes, and the price to compete is going up exponentially.

Wasn't triathlon founded on the principle that anyone could do it? Anyone can swim, bike, and run, right? Sure. Just not competitively, anymore. Even movie theatres have student discounts. Not so at most big races.

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Perhaps, if the sport stays this course, triathlon will leave the slowing economy, young age-groupers and young pros in the dust together.

...Unless we rebel! :)