Outside to broadcast 12 Ironman 70.3 races next year

There’s been no shortage of frustration from Ironman fans around the world that many events they’d like to watch haven’t been featured on the company’s Facebook Watch coverage. The exciting race between Lionel Sanders and Vincent Luis from last weekend’s Ironman 70.3 Indian Wells – La Quinta wasn’t covered, and neither was Kristian Blummenfelt’s record-setting day at Ironman Cozumel.

That might improve in the future, though, now that Ironman has signed a five-year deal with Outside Interactive to provide live and video on demand coverage of Ironman 70.3 events around the world. The deal will include “at least 12 events for each of the next five years, including the Ironman 70.3 World Championship,” according to a release from Ironman today. The first event to be televised will be Ironman 70.3 Oceanside on April 3, 2022.

The video on demand portion of the deal appears to be only available to members of Outside+, the company’s premium subscription bundle.

Photography deals announced

Ironman has also announced deals with two different photography companies – FinisherPix, which is owned by Outside, “will continue as the exclusive provider of participant photography and video for all Ironman Group events in the Americas, including the Ironman World Championship and the Ironman 70.3 World Championship.” FinisherPix has been working with Ironman for 12 years.

Ironman has announced a new photography and video partner for its events in Africa, Asia, Europe, Middle East and Oceania – Sportograf. The company will shoot 140 Ironman events in all of those regions. Sportograf had previously shot events from the UTMB World Series and Epic mountain bike series and will now add Ironman’s triathlon events to its roster.