12// The Known Unknowns That Hold us Back
We need to know more about the inner workings of our sport
Hey pals,
With the professionalisation of sport comes the development of its ‘product’. Which in basic terms means more is done by those in the industry to make the sport entertaining enough to acquire and retain fans. More fans = More money.
A few events this week made me think that there’s a lot we could do to enhance the stories that surround trail running to add further tension and excitement to our sport.
Hope you enjoy,
Matt
Every year my friends and I watch a few Ice Hockey games at our local rink. We’ve been doing this for a while now and go purely for the fun of it. The atmosphere of the stadium, the chants of the crowds, the Zamboni; all of it makes for a great event.
Yet none of us know the rules. After multiple years we still don’t know why a penalty occurs in one place, but they drop the puck in another. Why players play for 2 minutes and then do a switcheroo with other players on the bench. To be honest, we don’t even follow where our local team, Cardiff Devils, sits in the league.
We don’t need to. We’re quite content, buying tickets when we’re free, rocking up and watching men hit a black disk across ice. We’re the kind of fan that no marketer is trying to reach, we’re not even a ‘casual fan’. We’re just nomads who are happy to watch something entertaining on a Saturday night.
Ice hockey is easy to enjoy because of the quick pace of the game and the entertaining stadium experience. Trail running on the other hand is a slow burn that slowly unfolds over miles of terrain in a 3 to 24 hour period. Pretty much the opposite of ice hockey.
As such, it’s harder to be a casual fan in trail running. You have to be invested in the storylines to want to watch hours of livestream or travel to a spot on a hillside to catch a tiny glimpse of the action.
You’d think then brands, race organisation and media publishers would be heavily invested in doing everything possible to develop the narrative around trail running athletes, competitions and companies. However two events this week made me think we have some way to go.
On Tuesday Freetrail launched their Trail Runner of the Year award (with the pleasing acronym, TROY). TROY was created to celebrate trail running athletes and offer another way for fans to engage with the sport. The award is to be chosen by the public but Freetrail gave explicit guidance on how to vote, making it clear that voters should not select their favourite athlete but rather focus on that athlete's sporting accomplishments. Inevitably, the opposite occurred, and for some, it turned into a popularity contest.
Simultaneously we’re entering contract season, when athletes announce whether or not they’ll renew their contract with a brand. Salomon are at the centre of few notable announcements, including the termination of Sara Alonso’s contract with the brand, and the renewal Mathieu Blanchard’s contract. We know that because both athletes and brand posted on their instagram about it. Outside of Salomon, there seems to be silence- few brands are talking about their 2023 teams or athletes. Without their admission, fans of the sport are blind to what happens behind closed doors.
Would greater coverage of the trials and tribulations of trail running athletes mean TROY would be less of a popularity contest? Probably not, the majority of fans will always be people who skim the surface of the sport, following the updates through the headlines they see in their Twitter feed. What more insider content does do is create more captivating narratives for casual fans to follow whilst adding a new level of excitement for dedicated supporters who are already invested.
In most parts of life, contracts are banal documents that nobody in their right mind is actively talking about down the pub. Yet in sport, they’re an insight into the actions and motivations of the teams, athletes, brands and managers that make up a professional sport. Finn Melanson of Singletrack provided an apt reminder that in most professional sports, contract negotiations are ‘not a distraction from the game. They are part of the entertainment product’.
Knowing the rationale behind decisions gives depth to the sport, adding new layers that fans can engage with. It heightens the drama around a race, enabling fans to better understand the strategies and tactics used by athletes, giving them a deeper appreciation for the skill that goes into racing. Consequently this can make following a race, whether through a livestream or simply on Twitter, more exciting and engaging.
Additionally, knowing more about the reasons behind certain decisions can help to enhance the narrative of the sport, making it more interesting and compelling to follow. For example, knowing that a runner is nearing the end of their contract adds an extra layer of drama and intrigue to a race and enlivens debate in the offseason.
If we had more sport marketers on this mailing list the comment section would be alive with ‘What trail running needs is a ‘Drive to Survive’ style docu-series’. Well, we’ve already had that exact series.
Golden Trail Series made a compelling docu-series this year on the 2021 season and it was incredible. It had tension between teams, water bottle drama and some of the most binge-worthy story-arcs that running has ever seen. The results speak for themselves with GTS’ subscribers growing by over 4,000 over the month the series was published, with one week bringing in 1,900 new subs.
GTS know the value of becoming their own publisher and have made developing the profile of their racers and teams part of their business strategy. Through crafting compelling narratives around the athletes and their races, GTS reap the rewards of their in-depth content through enhanced viewership of their livestreams and highlight content. Undoubtably that played a part in this years high viewing figures.
With Skyrunning announcing an update to their Skyrunning World Series circuit this week, the new management are likely to be looking over at the likes of GTS and UTMB and thinking how they can capture that same level of fandom through the content they create.
Not every fan wants to know the tensions and debates in every sport they follow; I certainly have no desire to start reading up on the back story to every player on the Cardiff Devils. And by no means would greater transparency around the inner workings of our sport make it instantly more entertaining. But it’s a step. In sport greater coverage creates more compelling narratives. It is these captivating stories that draw more people in, converting casual fans into an avid followers, and avid followers into lifelong fans. That is certainly something trail running needs more of.
Interestingly cycling is all about the rider's contracts, transfer rumours, etc. It adds depth but also is what fills the off-season news.
Perhaps the issue in trail running is still there there are not many team structures other Salomon, Terrex , North Face, and the reason for changing sponsors is still very much based on who will offer a better contract. In cycling, the reasons for changing are much more dramatic such as a rider going to another team to have a shot as a leader, or a team offering a better support team, better coaches etc.
As the sport of trail running continues to grow and structured teams become more prevalent I think it will be a natural evolution that we will talk of runners going to rival "teams" vs another "brand". Also, the day that the teams begin to become sponsored by non-running brands will be a big step in the growth of the sport on a global scale but that is a whole other story on how you will build a cohesive storyline of a season of running that a causal fan can follow and understand more easily, Sky Running, Mountain Running, GTS, UTMB Series, where do you even begin..
Another thought provoking post, Matt. My take on all this is that brands and organisations have an opportunity - through storytelling - to turn casual viewers into fans. I’d argue that you and your friends, who you say are “ just nomads who are happy to watch something entertaining on a Saturday night” could become fans of the stories around ice hockey were told better. If you were more invested in what was happening on the ice, in the league and in the teams, then you’d be more likely to buy a season ticket, some merch and pay attention to the brands involved in the sport. So I’d argue that you are the perfect target for whomever is marketing the sport. Running has the chance to do the same thing - turn casual observers into fans. But the answer has to be stories.