Running USA has released the results of its 2021 event management study that documents the challenging environment for event operators working to bring races and festivals back to pre-pandemic participation levels.
The professional non-profit organization for the sport of road running conducted a survey of race directors in September and October 2021.
“This study offers insight into the minds of race directors as they work to recover the industry from the pandemic,” said Dawna Stone, CEO of Running USA. “Topics such as virtual events, DCI response, and industry insights were added to this year’s study to gain a broader perspective on the current event climate.”
Some of the main challenges for the industry, as documented by survey respondents, include increasing the number of races, increasing event production costs and attracting new participants.
Event-related spending has been shown to have increased dramatically since the last event management study two years ago, average spending on police, marketing, traffic control, installation and teardown events, porta-pots, insurance and signage more than doubled. However, while nearly 29% of event operators reported reduced participation levels due to the pandemic, the majority of respondents had a positive outlook for the industry in 2022.
Photo courtesy of Duke City Marathon
