Boston Athletic Association looks scared, desperate and hurting for money

I know a couple of people who plan to sign up. There are no races so they want something to get motivated to train for.

They plan to go the cheaper route. There are two packages offered.

Start Line Package

Cost: $45.00 USD

Includes:

Entry to all three #finishSTRONG Challenge races (Virtual B.A.A. 5K, B.A.A. 10K, B.A.A. Half Marathon)

Access to the #finishSTRONG Challenge virtual platforms throughout the series, featuring a virtual tool kit including a digital bib number, break tape, and finisher certificate.

Access to participant newsletters and training material throughout the series

$10 of your entry fee will be donated to our official charity partners: Special Olympics of Massachusetts, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the Jimmy Fund.

We hope you can join us for this new virtual series! Three Distances. Three Months. One Goal: #finishSTRONG Challenge.

If you don't like it, don't sign up. Geezus, it's not a hard concept.

You act like:

1. They are the only ones doing this.

2. They aren't just meeting the demand for more shirts and medals.

Seriously, we live in a world where people want something to show off for their efforts. Just like the person above me said, for some people the motivation isn't there unless there is something to show off. For us dedicated folk, it's not necessary to have a medal/shirt because we love running and our motivation is of intrinsic nature...but for the vast majority of people out there, this stuff matters. They have extrinsic motivation.

lockness log wrote:

I know a couple of people who plan to sign up. There are no races so they want something to get motivated to train for.

There are things they can train for without paying $120.

dumb reasoning wrote:

lockness log wrote:

I know a couple of people who plan to sign up. There are no races so they want something to get motivated to train for.

There are things they can train for without paying $120.

Like the package they plan to register for through the B.A.A. for $45 that I posted?

Three different distance events and they feel good that some of the money is being donated to charity too.

"[Looks} scared, desperate and hurting for money" by catering an offering to a market of willing customers? No, you really just look like an imbecile.

They are not necessarily any of those things. They just recognize the age old marketing truism: there is a sucker born every minute.

Also, the B.A.A. refunded the ENTIRE Boston Marathon field. Round numbers, that’s about $6 million. They didn’t wind up having to pay for a bunch of stuff (race day expenses), but I’m pretty confident they didn’t come out ahead there. They clearly need money, whether or not they are in “trouble.”

As such, I’m OK with them coming up with some ways to recoup expenses. I’m not usually a “virtual race” person, but I kicked back in for the virtual Boston Marathon, and enjoyed getting a little bit of the race-week excitement. Their media team does a good job, and there were some cool clinics and online engagement things. It was fun.

I'm not doing it, but some people will pay it and enjoy the feeling of having a goal and shared virtual experience. Good for them.

There are many things I don't pay for that other people choose to buy. Among them, cable TV, Netflix, etc. No second car. Wife and I have one used car for out of town trips. We bike commute in town for shopping, etc. Saves on gas, insurance, etc. Healthier for us and environment.

People make different choices on how to spend their money. B.A.A. is offering a service. No one is forced to pay.

weird take, IMO.. negative nay-bobs are everywhere these days, i guess

i'd argue they are pursuing their precise mission... "promoting a healthy lifestyle through sports, especially running"

giving folks a reason to keep running. and some gear if they want to pay for it..

that really such a bad thing?

https://www.baa.org/about

You might not have heard that we are still in the midst of a pandemic and many businesses that require a large number of people to come together in close proximity are having a rough time.

BAA has few revenue streams available to it.

I work for a sports org and we are trying to keep players engaged because without competitions they are not going to buy memberships and we are sweating it especially if the spring season does not take place. Several Olympic sport NGBs and the USOPC have laid off a lot of staff. One can argue some were "bloat" but it still is not a good thing for those folks. Heck US Tennis Association alone laid off 100 employees (some were likely going to be released as they were also in the midst of a reorganization that started before COVID).

So let them try to sell something.

Virtual races are the newest scam.

Just ask Laz Cantrell.

He should be millionaire by now with this virtual races.

Unlikely they are in financial trouble (yet). The finish line package for $120 is limited to 8,000 participants. The $45 package, IMHO, isn't that great of a value, so I doubt many will select that option unless they just want to support the BAA and don't care about more shirts or medals, so figure about 10K participants. If this was a money making game for them, they would have more finish line packages.

Honestly, as virtual races go, this is a good value for the three races considering what you are getting in return. Take a look at Virtual Strides which does a great job marketing to the virtual crowd and is doing rather well as a business. To get just what you're getting for one BAA virtual race is roughly $50 when you add the shirt on. Three Virtual Strides races will thus set you back $150 if you also want shirts for each. Another example is the Laz (of the Barkley Marathons fame) Great Virtual Race Across Tennessee that was $65 for the 1,000K option and another $30ish for the return 1,000K. Only one shirt and medal, there, but was a lot of fun because of the community and was a great way to stay motivated to get those summer miles in.

It's good marketing on their part, and you gotta respect them for doing something to make the best out of this terrible year.

In my view, I registered because I can use local races I'm already running for these and also now have the opportunity to actually run all of the BAA races without having to travel to Boston. All for $170 (Boston Marathon plus this). Speaking of the virtual Boston, I wasn't expecting much from that, but I was pleasantly surprised both with running the marathon with some fellow Boston Marathoners with friends/family supporting and cheering and also celebrating with the various virtual race week activities the BAA and CBS Boston provided. I felt, at moments, like I was doing Boston. It wasn't the same as actually running this in Boston, but it was making the best of a terrible year. I'm looking forward to the medley in a similar vain.

Plus, it keeps the BAA in operation until big city races can return.

Did they need THIS ? Try selling an office building now.

https://www.telegram.com/article/20160204/NEWS/160209654/101478

Any news of layoffs over at BAA? NYRR chopped half and they have plenty of investment securities to cover expenses for years. If there weren't any layoffs then more power to BAA for raising some money to help retain their employees while offering a service.

DanM wrote:

Did they need THIS ? Try selling an office building now.

https://www.telegram.com/article/20160204/NEWS/160209654/101478

that was 4 years ago...

dumb reasoning wrote:

lockness log wrote:

I know a couple of people who plan to sign up. There are no races so they want something to get motivated to train for.

There are things they can train for without paying $120.

What a janky-axs world where people are motivate to pursue athletics by paying $120 for some piece of shxt sweatshop-produced medal and t-shirt.

Serves then right for cancelling everything.

But at least they’re not like Disney, who is offering their virtual crap for $242.

Virtual races are stupid and I’ll never understand why people do them.

I am all in for virtual races in this environment. But seriously you people take on the OP because he points out how incredibly poor value for (any) money they are.... if people are so dumb to pay that much for something they can do on their own more power to them... and to the organizers for getting away with it