Putting the Professional in Pro

In early September I attended the New Haven 20K (which serves as the USATF 20K National Championship) to cheer on two very fast ladies who run for Oiselle -- Caitlin Comfort and Melissa Gaceck.  Both ladies had outstanding days, Melissa placed 20th overall and Caitlin took third place overall with a time of 1:10:42. Walking back to the pro tent with Caitlin, she got really excited when she learned she podiumed and asked how much money she had won.  I responded letting her know she had won $2500 for being the third fastest woman in the United States.  She was ecstatic and blurted out, "I've been waiting for the cash to buy new jeans, now I can buy new jeans!"  At that point it really hit me that, at least financially, it is a lot easier to be a full time attorney and part time runner and triathlete than it is to be a "professional" endurance sports athlete. 

Female Pros at the start of Ironman Florida 2013. 

The difficulty in making it financially as a professional athlete was glaringly evident during today's NBC broadcast of the "2013 Go Pro Ironman Championship" (say that three times fast).  Triathlon (and running) doesn't get a whole lot of network television coverage.  In fact, in the United States both triathlon and running get very little coverage at all unless tragedy strikes, as was the case with the Boston Marathon.  The one notable exception is that every year NBC produces a ninety minute Kona broadcast (up from sixty minutes a few years ago).  Taking away commercial time, the broadcast totals approximately 60 minutes about half of which is spent on the pro race.  In creating the broadcast, NBC interviews a select group of pros and specific age groupers (including Hines Ward and Gordon Ramsey) to splice interviews with race coverage. NBC covers the pro race as a feature story, not a race.  Hyperbole abounds describing the difficulty of the course and the elements including repetitive use of epic and astonishing. 

Throughout the coverage there is zero reference to exactly how fast these pros are racing.  There is no reporting on speeds, no split times, no paces,  no nothing.  There's no reporting on the races within races, the late race passes and sacrifices athletes make even if its not for the win.  Caitlin Snow had a fantastic pass of Meredith Kessler at the 26 mile mark of the marathon -- if you haven't seen it watch it here -- to take the honors as top American and there was exactly no coverage of Cait on the broadcast, not even a single finish line shot. 

There's also no development of who these pros actually are or the sacrifices they made to get to the big island.  For example let's talk about Jennie Hansen.  Jennie raced Lake Placid and Mont Tremblant, races only three weeks apart to qualify for Kona.  Her tearful win at Lake Placid that was a tribute to her friend Heather Boyum, who lost her life to a drunk driver only a year before.  Jennie got exactly zero seconds of coverage in the NBC Kona broadcast. 

As inspirational as stories about celebrities and age groupers are, pros have fantastic, inspirational stories too.   Many pros have full time jobs, full time families and full time commitments to supporting charitable organizations, none of which get any air time.  NBC (and WTC) treats the pros neither as true professionals racing a World Championship nor as the inspirational stories they are.  Instead they are treated as set pieces that move along a beautiful background in Hawaii.  This formula for coverage hasn't changed in decades.  

Kona 4th Place Finisher Winning Florida

So how does NBC's coverage of Kona tie into making it financially as pro triathlete? First the micro view.  The prize money available to pro triathletes is paltry at best, while first place at Kona is worth $120,000, 10th place is worth $10,000, which barely covers the expense of the trip to Hawaii and the majority of professionals leave the island in the hole financially having walked away without any prize money.  Yes, a few select athletes can make livable wages off of race winnings; there is significantly more money to made from sponsors and sponsors want recognition.  The more pro athletes are featured on national broadcasts such as the one on NBC, the greater value they bring to their sponsors.  Its all about return on investment. At one point during the broadcast the voice over stated "Pete Jacobs is headed in the opposite direction, its not a good day."  What the casual viewer doesn't understand that its not only physically a bad day but its also a lost opportunity to make a livable wage. 

Second, the macro view, for triathlon to grow from a niche sport to a semi-mainstream sport warranting the same coverage and popularity of, lets say, the Tour de France, the professional race needs to gain acceptance as an actual competition rather than a very pretty commercial for "anything is possible."  One way to do this is give the professionals the coverage they deserve.  A good example is cycling in Great Britain.  The massive success (and exposure) of British track cyclists during the 2008 and 2012 games and Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins on the road has led to huge growth of both amateur and professional cycling in the British Isles.  We have fantastic pro triathletes who are both ridiculously talented and have great stories.  NBC and WTC, please give them the exposure they deserve and trust that the exposure will be a win for everyone. 

Kona 2013 Champion Mirinda Carfrae and Top American Tim O'Donnell