Power 8 Sprints - What went wrong

In early 2018 British rowing announced that the power 8 sprints would be coming to a city near you. It was an attempt to promote rowing to wider audiences by setting up 350m sprints blasting through major cities. It seemed to tick all the boxes that spectator sports seem to thrive off; by creating characters and personalities within teams people could form closer relationships with the teams making it seem more inviting, by developing teams for each city with bright distinct colours the fans could easily follow along and support their teams, and finally, by shortening the course distance to just 350 meters each race could be completed in little over a minute, this meant close and stimulating racing. What’s more, it was broadcast on BT sport, an industry leader in sports filming for television including a top-class commentary team combining Olympic rowers, experienced pundits and other high-performing athletes from other sports. Finally, it formed the headline act for the Bristol harbour festival meaning its first event had a strong supporter attraction and there were side-line events to keep the audience engaged.

So, it seems everything that we talked about in the previous article (shameless plug) was covered so why didn’t it continue the following year as planned? The main reason was a failure to pick up a major sponsor. Running huge sports events is expensive, with marketing, equipment, paying staff, and stadium/course/sports ground costs. Despite this major sports events make millions if not billions through sponsorships, broadcasting costs, and merchandise. The issue with power 8 sprints is that the revenue generated was simply not enough to make the event worth continuing regardless of the entertainment value. The Chairman of British rowing at the time said this:

“Proof of concept and excellent execution were not, however, sufficient to persuade the Board to put the event on for a second year in view of our broader financial commitments and in the absence of major sponsorship.”

Going forward how could an event like this gain a major sponsor? The boat race sponsor is a huge part of the event every year with the brand name printed on the on-water and off-water kit, boats, and all over the broadcast, and it’s a similar story with Henley royal regatta. Power 8 sprints, on the other hand, had none of this, it was sponsored by British rowing an organisation that is always struggling with low budgets. Therefore, the acquisition of a sponsor or sponsors should be an absolute priority going forward to fund future events like this to help them reach their true potential. This could be a mutually beneficial partnership because it would not only allow a company to secure their spot as the first sponsor of a potentially huge event allowing them to link its brand with the idea of the event like the Barclays premier league in football.

Overall, whilst the power 8 sprints seemed to hit all the tick boxes that we have previously mentioned by attempting to make the event accessible, exciting and engaging the lack of funding from a major sponsor meant that it was not feasible to continue the following year. I hope to see new attempts at an event like this from either British rowing or a private organisation which could jumpstart the concept of rowing as a spectator event.