He said: “As a governing body we invest in that event, we invest cash and we invest a huge amount of staff time and we’re not immune from the cost of living crisis. So it was that double-edged sword, as I say, of bringing in the income we need whilst costs are rising.”Īdvertisements The ‘responsible decision’Īll of which led to a difficult decision, but one which Salmon clearly feels was the right one in the circumstances. “We have a fantastic title sponsor in AJ Bell, but we’re finding it harder and harder to find category sponsors to sit alongside AJ Bell. We still haven’t recovered fully from the pandemic, but securing commercial income is getting harder and harder. “The revenue comes from mass participation entries and mass participation entries right across the sector are down compared to 2019. But the double whammy is it’s getting harder and harder to secure the revenue. “And inflation has really, really hurt us too – I’d say our delivery inflation rate is probably much closer to 20%. And though it’s recovered a little bit recently, the exchange rate with the dollar in the early part of this year was horrible. “The event is about giving a home soil opportunity to our elite athletes but it’s more than that and, in recent years, we’ve tried to make it much more about introducing the sport to a wider audience – and a new audience.”Īnd further pressures – outside of British Triathlon’s control – have only added to the balancing act: “So, on the cost side, we pay all our World Triathlon costs in US dollars. It doesn’t, it’s just not what it’s about. I think perhaps there is a bit of a myth that the event creates this sort of big profit. The event for us is never about creating a surplus. That’s one side of the equation, and of the other he added: “So clearly we’ve got to generate one and a half million pounds of income to balance the budget. That was the expenditure budget we were working with.” Andy Salmon – regret at decision but says it was the right one There’s prize money, there’s sanctioned fees and so on but the budget in round numbers is £1.5million. “So the cost first of all – our budget – and I don’t know if people realise just what’s involved in staging one of these events but there are clearly costs that we pay to World Triathlon for the right to host the event. He explained: “Like any budget, it’s about income and expenditure, and the event budget was squeezed from both sides. But in the current economic climate, Salmon revealed it’s way, way more than that. In some quarters, estimates of £500,000 had been cited as the costs involved. We’ll take full responsibility for the decision.” “But it’s our responsibility and we’ll take it on the chin, so to speak. The decision sits with BTF, but we didn’t take it in isolation, we took it talking to our partners. So clearly we talked with Leeds a great deal about the decision and we also talked with UK Sport, who are also our other key funding partner. “The plan was to go back to Leeds next year. So we’re in Sunderland this coming weekend. Setting out the process, he told me: “The way it works is we, as a National Federation, bid to World Triathlon for the right to host an event, and then it’s for us to then partner with a city partner. US Open 2023 results: Full finishing order and times after Frodeno masterclass and West sprint
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