CHAPTER 313: CHAPTER 313: SNAGGING A MARATHON OPPORTUNITY

Today’s briefing, the marathon race without a taker: The marathon race soon to be held in Lin’an City has no organizer due to unexpected reasons, and it is now available for someone to take over.

Contact information for relevant personnel is attached on the second page.

No one is organizing the marathon race?

Chen Yiyang was a bit surprised when he saw today’s briefing about the available opportunity.

Because in his impression, marathons in the country are incredibly popular.

During the peak times, over two thousand races could be held in a single year.

There was even an incredible instance of forty-six marathon races being held on the same day in different cities.

This directly led to the rapid development of industries related to marathons, with top marathon runners in the country easily earning over a million a year.

So how could it be that a marathon race held in a first-tier city like Lin’an still ended up without an organizer?

Isn’t this just giving money away for free?

Chen Yiyang initially wanted to directly call the phone number given in the briefing to inquire about the situation.

But after thinking it over, he felt that asking directly from interested parties might not yield the truth.

There’s definitely another reason why such a money-giving project could be left for others to pick up.

So he checked online and found that there was indeed news coverage about the Lin’an marathon race.

The originally scheduled time for the event was next month, which means there was a previous organizer, and the routes and permits had been coordinated with the government departments.

The sudden need for a new organizer must mean there’s a big problem.

So Chen Yiyang directly called Yang Chengru and asked if he had anything planned for tonight.

Then he drove to Yang Chengru’s apartment.

"How come you have time to visit me today?" Yang Chengru and Chen Yiyang’s conversations were always relaxed.

"There’s something I want to ask you." As Chen Yiyang casually tasted a sweet osmanthus cake from Yang Chengru’s table, he said, "Do you know about the marathon race happening in Lin’an next month?"

"Yes, I’ve been troubled by this for a few days." Yang Chengru sighed.

"Tell me about it?"

"The Lin’an City Government was initially very focused on this race, and the related routes and road closure plans had been decided in advance.

But unexpectedly, as the race was about to start, the organizer encountered a problem."

"What problem?"

"The company went bankrupt, and the person in charge fled with the money." Yang Chengru put down the teapot, looking troubled, "Now the organizer is gone, and the money too, including the registration fees for thirty thousand participants and over five million in sponsorship from local Lin’an businesses. Moreover, the previous organizer still owed payments to suppliers."

The financial calculations for marathon races are very complicated.

If you legitimately calculate the costs, marathon races are a loss-making venture.

Because hosting a marathon for a day, just the cost of road closure and sanitation isn’t something that can be recovered with just registration fees.

Yet, cities still willingly help organizers host marathon races at a loss.

Some even provide subsidies to organizers hosting marathon races.

The main reason is that local governments hope to use the marathon to promote the city, increase its influence, and boost tourism revenue.

But Lin’an is already a well-known tourist city, so in terms of hosting a marathon, it usually only provides assistance in road closures and sanitation, and doesn’t offer subsidies to organizers.

Now that the organizer’s chief has fled with the money, the government is in a passive position.

After all, participants don’t know who the organizer is; they only know which city is hosting the race.

Regardless of whether the organizer fled, since the money has been collected, the hope is that the race can continue.

Many have already booked hotels and flights, train tickets in advance.

If Lin’an decides to cancel the race, its reputation will definitely be affected.

"And if someone were to take over hosting the marathon now, how much more investment is needed?" Chen Yiyang inquired.

"Let me give you a brief calculation." Seeing that Chen Yiyang was really interested, Yang Chengru found the materials from a previous meeting discussing this and started calculating the costs for Chen Yiyang.

"The first major expense is the setup on-site. This is a full marathon, requiring the setup of a starting point and three finishing lines: full, half, and mini-marathon.

The ground fees plus track setup expenses are estimated at around one and a half million.

This marathon will have about thirty thousand participants, and each participant needs to be provided with a race kit.

Even the simplest race kit requires at least a storage bag, a race bib, a pair of timing chips, and a race jersey. Based on the cheapest standards, the storage bag is five yuan, the race bib two yuan, the timing chip fifteen yuan, the race jersey forty yuan.

For thirty thousand participants, that totals one million eight hundred sixty thousand.

Besides this, there needs to be race supplies provided during the race. A total of fifteen supply points, each person a two-yuan bottle of water and some solid food, which amounts to about ten yuan per person.

That’s over three hundred thousand.

After runners finish, you have to give out commemorative medals, tote bags, towels, and other small gifts.

At least thirty yuan per person, which totals ninety thousand for thirty thousand participants.

Finally, there’s the race prize money, staff salaries, and these small expenses add up to at least five hundred thousand.

Of course, these are actually small amounts.

The two larger expenses are media promotion costs.

This promotion had already been run once before, and about a hundred and twenty thousand in promotion fees are still owed.

The rest is the broadcast cost.

For a marathon broadcast, you have to pay the TV station, and if you want it on CCTV, the broadcast costs about six million.

But if it’s only broadcasted on a local Lin’an TV station, it’s about two million."

Chen Yiyang listened to Yang Chengru’s cost breakdown and added it up himself.

If he wanted to take over the organization of this marathon project, the expenses would be around ten million.

After all, this is a large-scale marathon with thirty thousand people, so the costs are not excessive.

After all, each of these thirty thousand people paid their registration fees with real money.

Each person’s registration fee is one hundred and fifty yuan.

The registration fees alone account for four hundred and fifty thousand in income.

Plus, scattered business sponsorships of over five hundred thousand.

In fact, the income from this marathon can cover the costs.

Of course, it doesn’t mean the organizer is doing charity.

Because business sponsorships are not advertisement fees, they are freely given to the organizer.

Yet, those sponsored businesses will still advertise a bit.

But the organizer can still independently seek collaborations and advertising from local restaurants, hotels, and tourist attractions.

The advertising revenue from these could easily reach a few million.

In other words, organizing a marathon race, once the government covers the largest expense item: road closure costs.

Participant registration fees and local business sponsorships can cover the marathon’s costs.

How much profit remains depends on how much advertising sponsorship the organizer can secure.