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Editorial: Ironman’s cost is justified by its prestige, economics

Tue., Dec. 2, 2014

Don’t let the Coeur d’Alene Ironman run its last race in 2016.

Concerns that the nearly $100,000 fee that brings in the event are straining the Coeur d’Alene Chamber of Commerce budget has its directors considering whether the relationship is worth continuing. If the burden has become too much for the chamber, it should not be too much for the community.

The event’s economic benefits to the area have been estimated as high as $8 million. For businesses like bicycling shops, the race is Christmas in June. For others, the race assures a full house, full tables and the sale of all things Coeur d’Alene.

Yes, some of that business would be done anyway. By the last weekend in June, schools are out and families are on the move. But people who can put up a $625 entry fee, spend thousands on bikes and travel as far as many do are not your typical tourists.

And what they take home, presumably, are accounts of a beautiful, hospitable lakeside city they hope to return to – after they heal.

The association with the World Triathlon Corp. also puts Coeur d’Alene in the company of places from Sweden to South Africa to New Zealand and, most importantly, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii, home to the world’s most prestigious triathlon event.

But that association does not come cheap, as the fee charged Coeur d’Alene shows.

World Triathlon holds the rights to “Ironman,” the brand without which other events have suffered. Penticton, British Columbia, holds the oldest triathlon event in North America, but saw its entrees drop from 3,000 to 1,000 when it decided to end its relationship with World Triathlon.

According to Fortune magazine, Florida-based World Triathlon holds more than 100 events that attract more than 85,000 entrants. Revenues round to $150 million. The company has swum, pedaled and run on the crest of the fitness wave.

And it has taken probably hundreds of Inland Northwest residents with it. Spectators and volunteers get sucked up by the enthusiasm and energy, and take to the area’s pools and highways to condition themselves for a race, much as Bloomsday has fostered a running culture in Spokane.

Just bringing out 3,000 volunteers to help with every facet of the race builds pride in the community. Now, Coeur d’Alene citizens must decide whether the intangibles, plus the real dollars Ironman generates, are worth the ante World Triathlon requires.

The chamber has given the community plenty of notice. Keeping the event may well require formation of a separate organization with its own budget that can assume responsibility for funding and coordinating with World Triathlon, if the city wants to continue a triathlon event at all.

Ironman is truly a world-class event. The attention and prestige that go with the brand are irreplaceable. Come 2016 or 2017, when the contract with World Triathlon expires, the race should go on.