The Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series, until recently doing stadium tour business with 22 U.S. races, has hit a low note with just 8 races in 2022. And those offerings are struggling mightily with 2022 marathon and half-marathon finisher numbers plummeting 44% since 2016 and 21% since 2019. Two-thirds of the overall decline was pre-pandemic.
Rock ’n’ Roll Marathons was added to a “Growing Ironman Empire” in June 2017. Andrew Messick, Ironman’s chief executive was quoted as saying,
“This is an important step in the growth Ironman has seen over the last decade. As a globally recognized endurance brand, the acquisition of the world’s largest running platform puts us in an exciting position for the future growth of running worldwide.”
Other than the data showing a depleted inventory of races and the precipitous drop in participation, we have no special insight to share in why this phenomenon has happened at Rock ‘n’ Roll. By including only the 2022 races and comparing them to 2016 (the year before Ironman acquired Rock ’n’ Roll) and 2019 (the year before the pandemic) we are excluding the races that were discontinued due to low participant numbers during the 2016-2022. The decline would be much more severe if finisher data from those races had been included.
When the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon Series, now 25 years old, used to come to town it was a big deal. The formula for success was to invest heavily in each local community with respect to advertising, media coverage, entertainment, the expo and SWAG with a goal of breaking even after three years. The “jolly jogger” who was encouraged to bring the whole crew was willing to pay a premium because of the experience.
In December, the following Rock ‘n’ Roll advertisement popped up on social media. If you didn’t know any better, it could be for Southwest airlines. It is devoid of any of the features that made the series unique.
The secret to amassing a small fortune is to start with a large one. What was once stew, became soup and now appears to be just broth.