Can long-distance triathlon be embraced by the mainstream?
PTO is the Professional Triathletes Organisation trying to revolutionise long-distance triathlon by modelling its operation on the well-trodden path of other sports like that of the PGA/LGPA organisations in golf or the ATP/WTA organisations in tennis, where the professionals took on the responsibility to nurture and grow their sport, alongside other stakeholders.
PTO’s main mission is to take long-distance triathlon – anything longer than Olympic distance – into mainstream sport, by unleashing the value in the sport and taking it to the next level both economically and in popularity. This goal was boosted by a $12.5 million (£9.5m) injection from Crankstart Investments, a vehicle led by Welsh billionaire venture capitalist Sir Michael Moritz. Moritz would retain a 50 per cent stake and the other half would belong to the triathletes themselves, in the form of membership to the PTO.
There is real intent in this venture: PTO announced an audacious bid to acquire WSG’s Ironman series and wider mass participation business last February. This was swiftly rebuffed by WSG and the World Triathlon Corporation, the Wanda-owned company that organises the events, citing, “lack of clarity and specifics” before Advance Publications acquired the company in a $730m deal in July, this year. However, this setback has not stopped the PTO pushing forward as seen by the media attention to the PTO committing $1,000,000 of prize money for the 2020 PTO Middle Distance World Championship on December 6th, at CHALLENGE-DAYTONA.
However, PTO are still placing a lot of their future success on the development of the Collins Cup – the ‘Ryder Cup of Triathlon’. Modelled after golf’s Ryder Cup, the Collins Cup is a competition among USA, Europe and the Internationals where the greatest professional triathletes in the world in a team competition to do battle to see who dominates the sport.
$1,000,0000 – Challenge Daytona World Championship Prize Fund
The large prize funds offered by the PTO have helped it to sign some of the world’s leading triathletes, including Great Britain’s Brownlee brothers and Paula Findlay, who also sit on the PTO board. Over 100 professional triathletes have become members of the PTO, including all of the top 35 men and top 35 women in the PTO World Rankings and the PTO now seek all licenced professionals to become PTO Members. The interest created by the 2020 PTO Championships at the CHALLENGE-DAYTONA will help that cause. As will the inaugural Collins Cup that is set to take place May 22, 2021 at the x-bionic® sphere in Samorin, Slovakia, where there will be over $2,000,000 in prize money for the event.
PTO, working with financial advisors and certain selected partners, are attempting to operate in a manner that produces healthy investment returns, while at the same time developing the sport, based on a solid, growing sustainable model. To aid this process PTO have made some shrewd appointments of recent, such as former professional tennis player and ex-ATP chairman Chris Kermode as its vice-chairman and Sam Renouf as its Chief Executive Officer, a former elite triathlete who had been CEO of MOTIV Group and before that was part of the executive leadership team at ACTIVE Network, leading its global sports business. Both appointments have professional breadth and experience in the mass participation industry which makes them both ideally suited to lead the PTO and its commercial endeavours.
The demographics for the participants and fans in golf, tennis and triathlon are very similar in that they are world-wide sports and have huge appeal to a higher-end ABC1 demographic. This is very valuable to potential global sponsors. In the past decade or so, participation in sports like golf and tennis have seen declines and endurance sports have picked up the market share they have lost. A major part of the attraction of the PTO is unlike other sports, men and women compete for equal prize money and the athletes are co-owners of the business. This means that all participants will share, on an equal footing, in the PTO’s collective success. There appears more gender equality in triathlon events, when compared to the fragmentation between the women and men’s tours in tennis and golf. The gender equality of triathlon and the PTO is very valuable and unique in professional sport. Triathlon is very, very fortunate to have this equality and it is good to see the PTO dedicated to taking this forward.
Where the professional triathletes add value to the PTO expanding the business with proper investment is from a broadcast standpoint. If you do look at their revenue base, almost none of it comes from broadcast. The spread of the internet, the rise in the number of media outlets thirsty for top-notch sporting content, combined with the latest production techniques now make it possible to bring to international audiences the extraordinary accomplishments of today’s highest performing long-distance triathletes. It will take investment but there is an audience starving for content in this space. The PTO concept is by investing in top athletes and broadcast production this would allow triathlon and mass participation series events to generate significant broadcast rights fees and to maximise sponsorship revenues.
There is an opportunity here to bring the sport to a much wider mainstream audience than has watched it previously and make it a more interesting and entertaining spectacle for spectators. How successful it will prove is a big unknown. Its ambitions may prove too lofty, but it could also be the beginning of an evolution in the sport, primarily because the athletes are onboard.
At the moment it is a case of ‘Watch this space’!
