Ticket sales are up 40 percent over this time four years ago for USA Gymnastics’ lucrative Kellogg’s Tour of Gymnastics Champions despite a shortened itinerary.
The surge reflects the organizers’ decision to start selling months ahead of the Rio Games, hoping to book revenue impervious to the unpredictability of competition results. But the U.S. team lived up to its extraordinary expectations, winning 12 medals overall and four golds, and officials expect continued strong sales once the tour kicks off Thursday in Spokane, Wash.
“A lot of that is a matter of timing, but a lot of it has to do with the great success of the team,” said Chuck Steedman, chief operating officer of AEG Facilities, which helps organize the tour via a joint venture with USA Gymnastics. “If there are four P’s of marketing, the first is product and it’s a wonderful product.”
The 2012 tour attracted 256,508 spectators across 40 arenas, and brought in more than $15 million in revenue. This year’s tour will include 38 shows in 36 venues, and will be 12 days shorter. Sales started with local gymnastics clubs and are now focusing on the general consumer fresh off the Olympics.
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USA Gymnastics lived up to expectations with 12 medals.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES
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The tour, which includes a cast of about 50 gymnasts of both genders across artistic, rhythmic and trampoline disciplines, blends sports demonstrations with theatrical features. Tickets range from $29 to $299. This year, organizers are offering VIP experiences that include small-group chats with five-time Olympic medalist Nastia Liukin and Q&As with the 2016 team.
Underperforming markets such as West Valley City, Utah (2012’s lowest-attended event), have been cut. Rather than hosting four separate shows across Southern California, the tour will do a doubleheader at the Staples Center on Sept. 24. Boston’s TD Garden, which led all venues in attendance in 2012, also will host two shows, on Nov. 13, the tour’s last day.
The savings will be put back into the production itself, including a large, portable video board integrated into the show.
“We hope this time around this tour is as much as or significantly more profitable, but we also invested a lot more in it this time around, so everything’s relative,” Steedman said.
Athletes can enjoy some of the upside, too. Their contracts with the joint venture include incentives for medals and other targets, and USA Gymnastics also distributes additional bonuses from its net proceeds. Athletes also can earn a portion of tickets sold directly through their own social media accounts, USA Gymnastics President Steve Penny said.
“Look at the reach some of our athletes have through Twitter or Facebook,” he said. “They have the ability to reach just as many people as a 30-second commercial.”
The tour’s appeal extends beyond moneymaking, Penny said. The competitors have been isolated in training, and later in Rio, for months, and haven’t gotten to appreciate their fans yet.
“It’s America’s biggest hug,” Penny said.
Along with Kellogg’s returning as title sponsor, supporting sponsors include Chobani, Procter & Gamble, Hershey, Hilton and International Gymnastics Camp. Terms were not disclosed, but the sponsorships generate between $1.5 million and $2 million.
American Athletic Inc. and GK Elite are official suppliers. Sponsors will activate on-site and help promote the stops in local retail settings.
AEG Facilities and USA Gymnastics are in talks to extend their joint venture, due to expire after this year.
