Yesterday, British Triathlon announced that they would not be hosting a stop in the 2024 World Triathlon Championship Series.
Originally, the plan had been to return the event to Leeds after taking the race to Sunderland this year. However, British Triathlon have confirmed that this will no longer be possible.
The primary obstacle to the continued presence of a British WTCS race is financial. As per British Triathlon’s statement, “the costs of hosting WTCS races has been escalating for several years. Following a detailed feasibility process and in consultation with all event staging partners, the challenging economic climate has meant that it would not be financially viable for the event to take place in 2024, despite the considerable financial and value in kind commitment from Leeds City Council and UK Sport.”
This comes despite World Triathlon adjusting its requirements for hosting bids. The sanction fee of USD 150,000 remains in place, although if a city was prepared to give up three of its sponsorship slots to World Triathlon the fee would be reduced by two-thirds.
The host city would also be expected to cover USD 250,000 for the live TV production for the WTCS races. Next season, host cities will have an alternative of covering the TV production as a “value in kind” service rather than paying World Triathlon. It could do this, for example, by securing local TV rights and arranging the production domestically.
Either way, hosting costs will likely exceed USD 500,000 per event.
Given the ongoing cost of living crisis in the UK, this proved a bridge too far for British Triathlon.
The organisation noted that they would look “to explore different ways to enable a return of a WTCS event in future years”. However, for now, Britain will be stepping away from its place on the circuit.
What does this mean?
2012 was the only season in which Britain did not host a stop in the WTCS. In its place, it held the Olympic Games. As such, the country has been a focal point of the Series for over a decade. In that time, it has produced an array of talent and competed for world titles on a regular basis.
More than most, then, Britain has been a major player in the sport.
The ramifications of Britain stepping away from the WTCS, even temporarily, should not be taken lightly. To lose Britain is practically on par with losing Hamburg and Yokohama. It has been a heartland of the sport for years.
The announcement is perhaps the most public and unambiguous instance of World Triathlon’s hosting requirements coming under criticism. Geopolitical shocks, such as the war in Ukraine, a bout of inflation and the after-effects of the Truss-Kwarteng economic joy-ride have all contributed to the worsening economic situation in Britain. However, the reality is that many countries are in similar boats.
There is a reason that the announcement of the 2024 WTCS Final took place in May and not in November as originally scheduled. Similarly there has been no hint of a host for the 2025 Final even though it was supposed to be announced in November alongside the 2024 event.
Hosting costs are proving beyond the faculties of many potential applicants. As a result, World Triathlon are struggling to find new cities for the sport.
With the exception of Abu Dhabi last year, no WTCS Final host has returned to the Series since 2014. Chicago (2015), Cozumel (2016), Rotterdam (2017), Gold Coast (2018), Lausanne (2019) and Edmonton (2021) have all vanished without a trace from the circuit.
Edmonton might be the most concerning of those. It hosted the WTCS Final in 2014 and was a regular on the circuit until 2021. Since then, it has dropped away, although Canada still has a leg through the Montreal event.
The trend points to several cities trying hosting only to decide it is either not worth the cost or that there is something wrong with the product for which they are paying.
World Triathlon cannot burn through every city on the planet and hope there will always be a new one to follow. The lesson of Leeds now shows that even the locations they could have previously treated as “bankers” are vulnerable too.
Therefore, something will likely have to change. With so many cities dropping away, World Triathlon will need to identify the issue and rectify it. Whether that means charging a smaller sanction fee, dropping the requirement to pay for the World Triathlon executive officials or adjusting the general construction of the hosting package, they need to find a way to bolster the product before further hosts step away.
When a country like Britain steps away from triathlon, alarm bells should be ringing.
I think this a disgrace
Triathlon is defo going in the wrong direction in this country
Also the fact hardly any GB athletes competing in the Sunderland race 😩😩😩