Ironman acquires Competitor Group
Iconic run brand Rock 'n' Roll along with it's associated brands and properties have been purchased 100 percent by Ironman. This completes an acquisition thatmade perfect sense when we wrote about it 6 months ago and finally the company thatshould own Rock 'n' Roll branddoes own it.
Ironman's CEO, Andrew Messick, was quoted thusly in the press release announcing this acquisition: "Our distinct expertise in event operations will allow us to ensure that athletes across the entire endurance life cycle are able to achieve their goals at any stage in their endurance journey—from 5K to Ironman."
This deal roughly doubles the number of discrete athlete interactions that Ironman sells per year, to a number approaching 1.5 million.
While there are other things that could be said, and that Messick did say, about the acquisition, his quote above is the meat of it. Ironman, as a company, as a money earner, as an equity and a property, is notprimarily a triathlon brand. It is a mass-producer of large and complex athletic events (especially when those events require a lot of real estate to transact). Say negatively what you will about a full Ironman event—that it sucks up too much of a competitor's time, energy and treasure; that it's a black hole creating an endurance sport desert within a 45- or 60-day radius of an event it produces—there is simply no company that produces the race experience that Ironman does, and is able to clone and scale that experience globally.
The acquisition made so much sense that 6 months ago we put it this way, in the headline: "Will Ironman Haul In Rock ’n’ Roll?" And we answered it this way: "When the fight’s all done it’ll go to the score cards, and it’ll be Ironman in a majority decision. When will this prize fight take place? Sometime in 2017."
What about Competitor Group's publishing titles? When Andrew Messick became CEO of Ironman he quickly found out that magazine publishing was not part of his brand's mission. He sold Lava Magazine to a consortium of new owners. He now, like Michael Corleone, has been dragged back in.
With acknowledgement given to Messick's deep competitive road cycling roots (he ran Amgen Tour of California, and Ironman does now own some cycling events), the safest prediction is that Felix Magowan takes back Velonews. It would be a minor surprise if Velonews and Velo Press don't revert to their original owner.
Competitor Magazine? It would be nice to think that it might return to its original owners: Bob Babbitt and Lois Schwartz. Babbitt needs to take it back and return it to its all-things-endurance roots or I suspect it may not be long for the world (I can't see that it ever made sense as a pure running publication).
Babbitt in particular has to be happy with this acquisition. Competitor Group under Falconhead Capital and more so under Calera Capital never understood Bob. They never got the value he brings. He is like the town greeter: He's the heart and soul and spirit of the place, its mascot, its evangelist, but there's no traditional job slot for that. Bob was off-piste, ungrokable, and was therefore treated shabbily. One hopes (I'm not privy to the deal) that Bob both has a measure of both psychic and financial redemption now that this deal is done.
Below is the timeline of events as covered by Slowtwitch starting with the original roll-up of properties to form Competitor Group in 2007.
12/19/07:Falconhead Capital Aggregates Competitor Group
12/19/07:Analyzing the acquisition
1/19/08:Falconhead's David Moross interviewed.
2/11/08:Velonews sold to Competitor Group.
11/29/12:Competitor Group sold to Calera Capital.
12/3/12:Calera Capital's David Lorsch interviewed.
12/3/12:Competitor Group's Scott Dickey interviewed.
1/30/14:Competitor Group shuts down Inside Triathlon.
12/21/16:Ironman will likely buy Competitor Group.
