Nestled in the notes of the Financial Statements of World Triathlon for 2020 and 2021, is an interesting reference.
As per the 2021 Statement, the “pending situation with the Stockholm WTS agreement has been resolved and the amount allocated in Short Term Provisions (STP) ($272,645 USD) exceeded the final amount payable ($162,533 USD) by World Triathlon.”
On the one hand, this meant that World Triathlon could declare over 100,000 USD as Extraordinary Income which helped it end the year in profit. The more interesting point, though, is the amount payable itself.
To put the above a little more simply, World Triathlon had to pay 162,533 USD to WTS Stockholm. Although no further details are provided in the notes, the implication is that a dispute between World Triathlon and WTS Stockholm had to be settled, with World Triathlon having to pay some kind of compensation.
Two questions therefore emerge around the apparent settlement.
The first is what happened to the Stockholm event? Having run between 2012 and 2017, WTS Stockholm was a regular fixture on the Series calendar. The question here therefore focuses on the rationale behind its discontinuation.
One potential answer could be an inability to meet World Triathlon’s financial requirements. For this reason. WTCS Leeds will not be returning in 2024.
However, the fact that World Triathlon had to pay WTS Stockholm indicates there may have been something else at play.
This brings us to the second question. Why did World Triathlon have to pay? On the surface, a speculative conclusion would be that World Triathlon had to pay compensation for some kind of breach of contract. Without further information, though, at best we can only postulate the exact nature of the “situation” mentioned in the Financial Statements.
The Bigger Picture
In 2016, the World Triathlon Corporation (the WTC), which owns the Ironman brand, acquired Lagardère Sports’ endurance division. As part of the deal, Ironman (the WTC) would own/operate five WTCS (World Triathlon Championship Series) events.
Among those five races were Hamburg, Leeds, Abu Dhabi, Cape Town and, most pertinently, Stockholm.
Ironman (the WTC) also already owned WTCS Gold Coast following a separate acquisition. As of 2016, then, Ironman owned six of the nine WTCS stops.
As of 2023, only two of those races remain on the circuit: Hamburg and Abu Dhabi.
The 2020 and 2021 Financial Statements, however, reveal a very significant piece of information. As per the notes:
“In 2020 the ongoing agreement with World Triathlon Corporation came to an end. The World Triathlon Corporation acquired the
agreement from Lagardere Unlimited in April 2016. According to the agreement a minimum of seven events should comprise the ITU
Triathlon World Series (WTS), under the governance of the Organization. Under the terms of the agreement, World Triathlon Corporation
had the right and the obligation to organise a maximum of five WTS events as well as to manage the marketing of certain WTS international
contractual TV rights.”
“The Organization” and the ITU in the above section refer to World Triathlon.
Until 2020, then, Ironman was responsible for a significant chunk of the WTCS.
The disappearance of Stockholm therefore mixes with a multitude of different strands of sporting politics. On the first layer, there is the shifting composition of the WTCS itself as new locations arrive and fade. The fact that the discontinuation of WTS Stockholm invited a kind of legal proceeding (or “situation”) adds a new layer of intrigue.
Then when the fact that the WTC owned the race is factored in, the story deepens. Although mostly cordial, World Triathlon’s relationship with the WTC has not always been the smoothest.
In 2006, the two parties reached a settlement agreement for a lawsuit before the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
The fate of WTCS Stockholm, then, may remain a mystery for some time. Given the myriad of factors at play in the event, it’s disappearance is instructive of how the world of triathlon is far more complex and cross-pollinated that it may otherwise appear.
