Endurance Sport Events Partnerships to Reach Sports Fans
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Long-Distance Running, Cycling and Swimming Events Can Create Meaningful and Lasting Connections Between Brands, Participants and Fans
When evaluating the sports landscape, much attention is paid to team sports and professional sports leagues such as football, baseball, basketball and hockey. Additionally, the same can be said for the high-profile individual sports – namely golf and tennis – along with well-known individual athletes.
Most of these professional sports garner a lot of attention, eyeballs on television and fan attendance in person. The sports themselves also make up a significant portion of the sports played at the grassroots level.
However, there is a unique type of sport that sits in between the headline-making professional sports and the weekend warriors who play these sports. A sport that features competitors that are all around us and that are held in the cities and communities in which we live: Endurance Sporting Events.
Carmine Tiso
Published on February 1st, 2023
In this Insight:
What are Endurance Sports?
Endurance sports include marathons, cross-country running, long-distance cycling, triathlons and endurance swimming. Throughout the year, there are a significant number of endurance sports events locally.
There are hundreds of thousands of people that are utilizing endurance sports as a way to stay fit and healthy. Many join weekly training community events to keep themselves accountable and work towards a goal such as a 10K, half marathon, marathon or even a century ride.
Why Endurance Sports Matter
Endurance Sports take place in the communities we live. These events are on city streets we have been on and that makes our connection stronger.
The one thing that most of these events have in common is the nature of the athletes. The majority of participants are regular people, not famous professional athletes. They are often people we know as friends.
Most Known Endurance Sporting Events
The most well-known endurance sporting events are running, cycling and triathlon events. Well-known events such as the Marathon Events of the World Marathon Majors with iconic marathons such as the Boston Marathon or the Berlin Marathon, are highly professional organized events and guarantee a once in a lifetime experience for the participants and spectators alike. Similar to the World Marathon Majors, the IRONMAN Championships events around the world draw thousands of participants to their challenging competitions where amateur athletes compete together with pro athletes on the same day.
These amateur athletes are still taking part in the same race and on the same track as hundreds or even thousands of other people.
Who are Endurance Sporting Participants
Endurance Sports Events participants are people like you and me. Your neighbor, your friend, your partner of even your parents. A considerable number of people are taking part in these sports every year. In 2020, participation rates for running and cycling for example in the US ticked up, topping 63 million and 52 million people, respectively, according to the Outdoor Foundation. Following the pandemic, the number of people maintaining a healthy lifestyle remains high.
Also, according to research from GWI, the American sports fan skews upscale and educated. But the endurance sport fan is even more upscale, more educated and younger than regular sports fans.
Endurance Sports and Sponsorships
As brands are on an ongoing quest to find strategies to raise awareness and build trust, sports can be a valuable mechanic to enhance the existing marketing mix. Endurance sports are a fantastic way to connect with fans and athletes around highly recognizable events in the community. Some of these events have been established more than 100 years ago such as the Boston Marathon that was founded in 1896.
The participation base is a desirable audience for sponsors and advertisers. Endurance events is an effective platform for B2B networking. Decision makers can no longer be met exclusively on the Golf course or at VIP lounges at famous sporting events. The c-suite can be found on the streets within the communities competing at Running, Cycling or Triathlon events.
It is no surprise that more and more brands aim to partner with such events to influence some of the sport’s highest-earning fans or even participants. Endurance sport events can be a holistic way to associate your brand with a sport and a community across the year.
Fans and consumers are becoming increasingly more resistant against traditional advertising and endurance sports events can offer a unique and impactful way thousands of participants and millions of viewers. These can be lasting relationships that participants and fans will remember for a long time after the last person crosses the finish line.
