Super League Triathlon rebrands the day after it cancels the New York City Triathlon

Not sure on the timing of this one, but the morning after it was announced that it would be cancelling the New York City Triathlon, Super League Triathlon announced it’s rebrand – “supertri is the new name and vision for Super League Triathlon and commits to ‘Inspire the Competitor in Everyone,'” according to a release sent out today.

Today’s announcement stated that “A separate brand identity will set the tone for mass participation.” We assume, since information on the company’s Chicago, New York and Long Beach events is available on a website called triathlonmajors.com, that the new “brand identity” will be Triathlon Majors, but there’s nothing to confirm that in today’s release. (We’ve reached out to supertri and will update this story as soon as we get a response.)

See you in 2025

We’ll start with the news on the New York City Triathlon. Super League, oops  – supertri, or should that be Triathlon Majors? – bought the event last year, along with the Chicago Triathlon, from Life Time, which had purchased the New York race in 2013.

In a message posted on the triathlonmajors.com website, the organization said that the New York event would have to be cancelled because there were “no available dates for the event in Fall of 2024.”

“The event has historically been scheduled in the summer, but weather has impacted, modified, or fully canceled the event 8 times since 2014,” wrote organizers. “In 2023, we were able to move the date into the Fall, but unfortunately there are no available dates for the event in Fall of 2024. Our commitment to delivering an unparalleled athlete experience remains unwavering, and rather than compromise on the quality of the event and the safety of our athletes, we have decided to forgo the 2024 New York City Triathlon due to the availability of viable event dates. The New York City Triathlon has always been about more than just a race – it’s about a shared passion for the sport and a commitment to excellence. We remain committed to work with the city to find a solution for 2025 and beyond.”

Extreme heat had impacted the event for years, which is why organizers looked to move the race to October. Last year’s race saw the swim portion cancelled because of “water quality concerns in the Hudson River” after  storms on the Friday before the race.

Last year’s race had 1,800 registrants. That’s a huge drop from the glory years of the race. According to a story in the New York Times, “In 2010, the event was booming enough to institute a lottery system for entrants, similar to the New York City Marathon.” That year there were just under 4,000 competitors in the race.

Malibu triathlon and US Expansion

What was then Super League Triathlon purchased the Malibu Triathlon in 2020. The organization lost that event officially in January, when Malibu Triathlon founder Michael Epstein won the permits for the event, ending supertri’s involvement. (We wrote extensively about that situation – you can catch up on all the stories here.)

Late last year, as we learned that Super League was seemingly on track to lose the Malibu race, it was announced that the organization would be taking over the  Long Beach Legacy Triathlon from USA Triathlon.

In the midst of the Malibu madness, Super League takes over Long Beach Legacy Triathlon

The cancellation of this year’s New York City Triathlon means that out of a potential four events in major centres in the US, the organization will be down to two races – the Chicago Triathlon and the Long Beach event.

supertri

OK, back to the rebrand.

“All professional racing falls under the supertri banner with a focus on the fastest, most tactical, technical, entertaining and innovative triathlon formats on the planet, which have brought new audiences to the sport,” according to today’s release. “supertri is the new name for the Championship Series, the innovative and entertaining professional closed league formats that changed the sport, delivering high-octane racing featuring the world’s best athletes competing in teams on stadium-like courses.”

“supertri E” will be the new name for the Arena Games.

The new supertri.com website doesn’t list any events at this point, other than the Chicago and Long Beach races – there are links to those at the bottom of the page.

Viewership numbers

In today’s release supertri stated that it “has the most engaged audience in triathlon and continues to grow rapidly year-on-year with more than 55 million broadcast views and 250 million digital video views in 2023.”

“supertri is the number one content provider among triathlon rights holders on YouTube measured by overall viewership, has the largest triathlon TikTok channel with 50m views and 5x growth in Instagram followers and 543% rise in video views since 2020,” the release continued.

We haven’t independently confirmed any of those numbers, but it is interesting to see the company rebrand just a few weeks after the launch of the Professional Triathlete’s Organisation T100 series, and lay claim to those audience numbers. Triathlon Magazine broke the story on the PTO backing of Malibu’s new race director.

PTO backs Michael Epstein’s Zuma Foundation bid for Malibu Triathlon

2024 is setting up to be a big year for triathlon. We’ll look forward to seeing what supertri has in store for us.