Wanda Buyout Idea

Tad_M

http://www.220triathlon.com/news/ironman/pto-announce-intent-to-buy-ironman/13050.html

bbculp

PTO hasn't been able to get the Collins Cup up and running after four years. But let's put them in charge of the largest series of mass participation events on Earth. What could possibly go wrong?

James Lange

Wanda bought WTC for $650 million 4 years ago (though I believe a lot of that was debt they were taking on). Hard to believe that the PTO could secure that kind of funding, and I certainly find it hard to believe that they are in a position to be "selective" about who to borrow money from (as Renouf implies). Ironman is a great brand, but it certainly doesn't seem like a slam dunk investment.

I'm also a little skeptical about the comparison of the PTO with the PGA and ATP. Renouf says that professional golfers and tennis players have "responsibility and control of the direction and economics of the sport, and continue to reinvest those economics so the sport has sustainable growth". This is not really true. They certainly drive their professional tours, but Nadal and Tiger are not making decisions about amateur golfers and tennis players. The US Open is not a big, open golf tournament with a bunch of bucket-listers just trying to finish 4 rounds before it gets dark. As much respect as I have to professional triathletes, I'm not convinced that a WTC run by professional triathletes would be good for age groupers.

Tad_M

I just think it's interesting to see someone slamming the business structure fundamentals of the Wanda deal and calling out alleged money harvesting as the bane of the pros existence. Might be true, but without the grass roots triathletes generating huge spending, which causes the product manufacturers to want to invest advertising and sponsorship dollars, you can double the current annual IM participation and the money still won't go to the pros or significantly help the pros change the sport value equation. More sustained grass roots participation is needed, and it doesn't happen with $750 a pop bucket list races.
My 2 cents (which I will donate in person to any pro triathlete on this forum who wishes to ever be near me and say hello)

Martin

James Lange said:

Ironman is a great brand, but it certainly doesn't seem like a slam dunk investment.

I'm sure if we all sat down and brainstormed we could think of something, anything that hasn't been given an M-dot tattoo to generate some licensing fees.

Right?

Right???

bbculp

I just had a long chat Sam Renouf from PTO. Article will be up tomorrow morning. I still don't see it happening, but the dude has some good ideas when it comes to freeing WTC from the shit-ton of debt it's taken on.

Maybe (probably) PTO aren't the right owners for Ironman. But I think we can all agree that a debt-ridden Chinese billionaire isn't the right owner.

Brew_Tri

If you read "wanda" as "wakanda" it makes this whole thing way more interesting.

Matt

Force WTC/Wanda to pay their on-course "volunteers" which will bankrupt them, so swoop in a buy in the cheap.

Tad_M

Matt said:

Force WTC/Wanda to pay their on-course "volunteers" which will bankrupt them, so swoop in a buy in the cheap.

Let's start a Go Free Me page......

bbculp

If you'd like to read our chat/get this new little website I took over more page views, click here: http://www.mychicagoathlete.com/pto-seeks-to-acquire-ironman-an-interview-with-the-new-ceo/

Jennifer Post

bbculp said:

If you'd like to read our chat/get this new little website I took over more page views, click here: http://www.mychicagoathlete.com/pto-seeks-to-acquire-ironman-an-interview-with-the-new-ceo/

Nice article. I am too much of a realist to believe this will happen. It was nice to see him admit long course triathlon is a participation sport. Don’t understand how he thinks they can change it into a sport that will draw a large audience to watch pros like the other sports they mention. Top pros only race each other once a year. Hard to build an audience. They can try with the smaller races but start list is never accurate so what’s the point of following races besides Kona and 70.3 worlds?

WTS, Superleague, and French Tri Grand Prix is where the opportunities exist to drive spectator growth in my opinion. You can watch the best athletes race against each other all the time. Not to mention the athletes are faster and races are shorter so less time commitment as a fan.

Tad_M

Very nice, and great last question @bbculp !!! (And a reasonable answer)
@Jennifer Post , you forgot the world favourite Sworry Trials in your list. To date, the only major event to give unlimited free beer!