Are Marathon Fees Getting Out of Hand??? (Page 2)

Yes marathon fees are getting out of hand.  However, I did pay the $255 to run NYCM this year and it will be my only time running this race.  When I ran my first marathon six years ago I paid $75 for the Denver Marathon, this year I paid $125 for the Colorado Marathon (which was $70 three years ago) and $255 for NYCM.  

Like any other product marathon pricing is based upon supply and demand, the Colorado Marathon which is run on May 5th is Sold Out and NYCM gets over 250,000 people in the lottery to run their race.  Last year I read about people complaining about the $1000 entry fee for IMNY but was not surprised that it sold out within a few days.

I think that price for NYC makes perfect sense.   How expensive must it be to close the streets in a MAJOR urban city for 6, 7 or more hours.  The police presence must be insane, the logistics with busses, etc, it's a huge ordeal.   And by the way, this year they estimate the ratio for the lottery a 1:10.  The demand is still on the rise.

I have a harder time swallowing $100+ for a smaller race, but I suppose with less entrants the costs are shared accordingly.

There's a company in the Twin Cities that puts on huge running races and the "world's largest duathlon."  They are very expensive, but they also give incredible stuff like very nice fleece embroidered jackets, bike jerseys, bento boxes, beer tickets for after the race, race parties, and super fancy medals.  These races sell out. 

Yep, supply and demand.

Yes they are. It is ridiculous to charge that much money.

The cost it what's keeping me away from doing an IM.

I signed up for my first HIM for $225 and I think that is absurd.

How about this for the Antarctic Ice Marathon:

The price for 2012 is EUR €9,900

(it includes return flights from Punta Arenas to Antarctica; accommodation and meals in Antarctica; entry to the marathon and / or ultramarathon; t-shirts, medals, and photos of each competitor in action.)

Is it right for Apple to charge a premium for its products?  For Tiffany to charge one for theirs?  For Coke to charge one?  Why not WTC?  Or the NYRR? Or...

The question, in my mind, is really are the prices getting to a point that they begin to 'damage' the product/brand?  That's the one that both the buyer and seller care about (pricing is a two-sided process).  And it's a tougher one to answer.  But just from a smattering of the replies on this thread (and many others), my guess is not yet.

dp

Honolulu Marathon is one of the top 5 marathons in the world as far as participants.  I signed up for this years race for $26.20.  It was a special promotion open to Hawaii residents to celebrate their 40th anniversary.  It was a limited time offer...but most of their money is made from Japanese tourists...who pay almost $200 for entry.

I'm not sure that it's simply a matter of setting a price that the market will bear, adding whatever hefty markup people will tolerate.

It's more that races are adding more and more costly elements to their races - largely covered by entry fees - because they have found that for a marathon the customers choose more based on the perceived 'quality' of the experience than on the price of entering. Very few people do more than one or two marathons a year, and most do much less than that, so people want something memorable. They seem willing to pay for the costly trappings that go with that. It's exactly the opposite of airline pricing. In addition to swag, fancy shirts, pre/post-race events, etc. etc., some events want to stand out for their competitive fields and fast winning times (if a Kenyan runs a 2:04 on the course, you'll likely judge it as a good choice for your BQ race). Appearance fees for elites suck up a lot of money. And so it goes on. NYC's big fee increase this year was mostly due to policing, but in general the creep of prices is due to the more and more elaborate experiences that folks look out for.

This is similar to the ongoing escalation in college costs. Colleges aren't reaping big profits, and there's certainly not big inflation in faculty salaries or student aid. But there has been an arms war in terms of what services colleges are expected to offer (tutoring, pastoral and career support, gleaming sports facilities, smaller classes, etc.). People only go to college once, and similar to marathon RDs the market has learned that for most of their customers they have to compete on services/features/prestige rather on price.

Many, many in "academics" now earn more than their counterparts in private industry, inc upper level college administrators and mid-upper level professors.  Unjustified hyperinflation of college costs is one of the very few areas where I happen to agree with Obama.  (And I my college-paying days are long behind me).

That said, after seeing these other entry fees I am even more happy paying $65 for my local marathons (2-5k entrants, decent on course aid, tech T-shirts, & decent medal). 

You have got to be kidding me.  A few years ago, I earned in one summer as a software engineer 3 times what I was earning as a full professor.  I went back to being a professor because it's what I love.  My Dad just retired from being a professor of pharmacy and in the past 10 months has earned, as a consultant, 5 times what he earned in his last year at his university as distinguished professor and department chair.  This might sound like N=2 but in fact every single professor I know who switched to private industry is earning much much more than what he or she earned as an academic.  And switching to private industry is becoming more and more common -- it's understandably difficult to stay in education when you see your industrial and corporate colleagues earning 2 or 3 times your salary for the same amount of work.

And if you think that there has been a recent inflation in college professor salaries, you are very much out of touch with reality.

I'm sorry, but as much as I would agree that there is a sad and pathetic cadre of slackers in higher education (I am the unwilling 'boss' of some of them), they are not profiting much from it.

I think that you forgot the sarc font.  That is like saying that you wouldn't play at the Masters because there are plenty of other, quality, well run tournaments at half the price.  It is Kona.  Hallowed ground.

That's your personal 'value'.  What he said is his personal 'value' (I assume).

Assuming I could get on at all, if someone said I could play Augusta for "50%-off", I would decline.  Not worth it to me.  I don't care if other golfers find it "hallowed ground" and would call me crazy for passing up the opportunity.  OTOH, I would pay to race at Kona.  Though I will never enter the lottery to do it--not worth it to me.