I was looking forward to running this. I'd also like to get some more information on why it was cancelled in San Diego, would have thought that they had their ducks in a row and that it was associated with an established race. It's really hard to put on a mass event from scratch, unless maybe they had Runners World (bleh, but their reach is far and wide) or some such helping with the mass marketing. What were they thinking? And how much does WA need? $3 million from the sponsor alone sounds like a lot. And who signs up for a race 7 month in advance unless it is known to fill up quickly?
I stand by the 10,000 figure easily in a week if a call had gone out.
My no name Turkey Trot in Connecticut got 1500 (and most people sign up week of)
Weldon, I appreciate the site (well, some things about it), but this is an out of touch take. Thanksgiving is the biggest running day of the year--it isn't comparable to a random weekend in September--and the price point on your Turkey Trot is almost certainly substantially lower than the San Diego World Champs. Also, those Turkey Trotters (and even 95%+ of marathoners or other "serious" runners) are out there for personal reasons, not anything to do with the pros/championships (even though I do believe pro fields add to the profile of the event), which seems to be the reason you think people would support/register for this event.
Also, 10,000 people registering for a road race in a week is around or above what established, major but non-WMM marathons do across all distances in the week that they launch--races like Houston, Twin Cities, Grandma's, and CIM. The idea that a first-time race (that has already proven to be, to put it delicately, not strong at marketing) could match or exceed that in a week "if a call had gone out" is wishful thinking.
I am bummed this race isn't happening, but it wouldn't have been nearly as easy to "save it" as you think.
yes I understand a TT is different but if we put out a call to the US running community, "They World Road Running champs are in San Diego but only if you sign up now" I think we'd get 10,000 people.
Tracy Sundlun did Rock N Roll and they got way more than 10k in first year.
Can someone explain to me why the budget for this would be over $5 Million? With a $3 million sponsor I think they hit that easy. But apparently it's more but any group that can get a $3million sponsor for a running event in the US is way ahead of the curve.
Seems like they abandoned ship before even trying. You can argue this should have been promoted all over the place (probably starting on LetsRun) but I didn't even realize this thing was in jeopardy.
Hard to imagine that you could not pull off the world championship with a 3 million dollar sponsor. Looking at past results usually about 200 runners so let’s put it at 250. Add 100 coaches and dignitaries and you are up to 350 people event pays for. If you spend 4,000 each you are up to 1.4 million. If you have hundreds of room nights you are paying for you should get any conference rooms you need without being charged. Add 400k in prize money and 100k to cover timing, police (15k for spectator friendly 4-6 loop course), sound, giveaways, insurance, etc. Total cost of championship should be around 2 million unless I am missing something. They should be able to pay staff and hold this event without depending on entry fees from a mass participation race.
Exactly. Who at WA thinks they are going to pull more runners anywhere else in the USA besides Southern California, and San Diego in particular.
One point I haven’t seen mentioned is that there is a popular Half-Marathon in San Diego, going back many years, that is put on around the same date. Did some local associated with that event somehow stir-up-the-pot to get the Championship cancelled?
don't go down a conspiracy theory. The event was cancelled because WA pulled the plug. I can see why they got nervous but think they totally jumped the gun. Criticize the LOC for dropping the ball on marketing but they had tons of time to rectify this and had the hardest part- title sponsor.
I really wish they'd say "we're putting on an epic event that weekend anyway and go forward."
"American Running Championships."
San Diego or some place with good weather is perfect for anything up to a half
Fun fact, the Republican Party had planned to hold its 1972 convention in San Diego, but pulled out in May of that year (due to some corruption with corporate funding) and moved it to Miami. The week in August when the convention would have occurred the Mayor proclaimed it "America's Finest City Week", they had some kind of celebration, and the slogan has stuck ever since.
So it's not the first time SD has been screwed over.
They got fooled using normal meet models. With World Athletics you have the additional burden of hosting 3,000 World Athletics members from 200 countries not for 1 week but for 2 weeks. The 1st week you have to rent out a huge Convention Center for WA to host meetings. The 2nd week is the competition. Odd part is most of the WA members don't watch the competition. The just come for the FREE trip, sightsee the Golden Gate Bridge, etc.
Exactly. Who at WA thinks they are going to pull more runners anywhere else in the USA besides Southern California, and San Diego in particular.
One point I haven’t seen mentioned is that there is a popular Half-Marathon in San Diego, going back many years, that is put on around the same date. Did some local associated with that event somehow stir-up-the-pot to get the Championship cancelled?
don't go down a conspiracy theory. The event was cancelled because WA pulled the plug. I can see why they got nervous but think they totally jumped the gun. Criticize the LOC for dropping the ball on marketing but they had tons of time to rectify this and had the hardest part- title sponsor.
I really wish they'd say "we're putting on an epic event that weekend anyway and go forward."
"American Running Championships."
San Diego or some place with good weather is perfect for anything up to a half
We could use some investigative journalism, wejo. An email saying “I’m not allowed to discuss it,” is shockingly disrespectful to those that had already signed up.
WA is not winning any brownie points with this one. This opens the door more for GST to get a toehold in and diversify and split up this so-called “sport”, which is not actually a fair sport, but rather just tries to give that illusion; it is instead an entertainment business controlled by just a few key stakeholders.
Nike shills keep saying that without Nike putting money into it, this sport would blow away. We may now find out if that is actually true.
don't go down a conspiracy theory. The event was cancelled because WA pulled the plug. I can see why they got nervous but think they totally jumped the gun. Criticize the LOC for dropping the ball on marketing but they had tons of time to rectify this and had the hardest part- title sponsor.
I really wish they'd say "we're putting on an epic event that weekend anyway and go forward."
"American Running Championships."
San Diego or some place with good weather is perfect for anything up to a half
We could use some investigative journalism, wejo. An email saying “I’m not allowed to discuss it,” is shockingly disrespectful to those that had already signed up.
WA is not winning any brownie points with this one. This opens the door more for GST to get a toehold in and diversify and split up this so-called “sport”, which is not actually a fair sport, but rather just tries to give that illusion; it is instead an entertainment business controlled by just a few key stakeholders.
Nike shills keep saying that without Nike putting money into it, this sport would blow away. We may now find out if that is actually true.
WA has to get rid of bideer's paying for the 3,000 Mucky Mucks who don't even watch the show. Ohanian, Grand Slam, TTUSA are not applicable to this discussion given their failures with only 1K -3K fans.
There are about 25,000 races in the us and fewer than 100 have 10000 runners. 10000 runners paying a 100 entry fee grosses 1 million and likely a profit of 500,000 give or take. Also gone are the days when a Rock & Roll or other distinction race gets 10000 in their first year. Hard to imagine they expected 10000 runners in one time event. Don’t know all the costs associated with the world championship but hard to imagine a 10000 runner peoples race more important to event finances than 3 million in sponsorship.
We could use some investigative journalism, wejo. An email saying “I’m not allowed to discuss it,” is shockingly disrespectful to those that had already signed up.
WA is not winning any brownie points with this one. This opens the door more for GST to get a toehold in and diversify and split up this so-called “sport”, which is not actually a fair sport, but rather just tries to give that illusion; it is instead an entertainment business controlled by just a few key stakeholders.
Nike shills keep saying that without Nike putting money into it, this sport would blow away. We may now find out if that is actually true.
WA has to get rid of bideer's paying for the 3,000 Mucky Mucks who don't even watch the show. Ohanian, Grand Slam, TTUSA are not applicable to this discussion given their failures with only 1K -3K fans.
Regarding whether GST is applicable to this specific discussion, I was referring to a bigger picture view of the future of this so-called ‘sport’, going forward, after this turn of events.
half of the thread deals with talk about money or participation, but I don't think that's the issue here.
@rojo put up a good point, but he misses a point. It is not about Max Siegel's pay check, but how the most influencal member of WA: USATF can put up a WA-event like WorldRoadRunning. USATF should be ashamed.
A country with the size of NY-state put up Euro-indoors. The federation is invested, volunteers from all over the country (say state in US-size), sponsors are jumping in.
Euro road running champs are held in an even smaller country and they will pull it off. Even Lithuania could host World Road Running Champs.
San Diego was a excellent location, It can't be the money, it shouldn't be participation numbers, or volunteers... it's something King Max Siegel couldn't handle from his palace in Indianapolis. What a disgrace!