Originally Posted by waterbug_wpb
The Race 2 Alaska did a really good job with trackers, updates, etc but the best was the "stories" put up about each team before the start. A blend of who's who and smack talk all rolled into a paragraph or two.

Everglades Challenge was another well documented event.

Wonder who paid for all that?

Distance races can't use drones (except for checkpoints), but plenty of background can be developed prior to the event itself (history, course, obstacles, tech, boats, etc) and be plopped in the real-time "narrative" of start/finish positions, live coverage, etc.

Where the sponsors can see ROI is product/name placement in these "fill" pieces which can be produced/edited by the media team (and even used to pitch sponsorships) at their leisure.

Couple of suggestions:
- now that some of the blisters have healed, get all the stories you can from each competitor and add to the "history" section of next year's event.

- Special focus on what made this year's event challenging (the weather) and how each team reacted and/or dealt with it. Nothing wrong with some sit-down interview type video clips from the sailors.

- any onboard video needs to be collected for a "montage" type clip or two. Combine with voiceovers of teams on how they prepare for this event, secrets of success with this type of distance race, teamwork, etc. (stuff to attract non-adventure sailors and make it less scary to try...)

- teams can build/submit their own stock footage during this year (with their own sponsor focus) to be included in next year's event. I'd say 60 second clips should work well... Sailing, boat handling, etc.

- of course, any gaffs or bloopers always make it fun

- for PR ROI, someone get 'stock' footage of the host hotels at each venue and a brief interview with the hotel official on their property and impression of the race.


I don't think you can compare the budgets of the everglades challenge or the R2AK to the FL300.

From some quick numbers online

Evergaldes Challenge $395 a person, 119 entries = $47,500
R2AK $620 team + $20 a person, 40 teams = > $24,800
FL 300 $395 a team, 15 teams =$5,295

I also ready plenty of feedback online that the fee shouls be lower still....