New York City Marathon: By The Numbers

Kurt Badenhausen ,

FORBES STAFF 

The 45^th New York City Marathon is Sunday, November 1. The race has come a long way since it started in 1970 when 127 runners ran laps around Central Park. Less than half of those runners completed the race. This year’s event will feature more than 50,000 runners from around the world.

The race has traditionally been shown only locally on WABC, but in 2012 ESPNsigned a five-year pact to broadcast the race live. ESPN2 will broadcast this year’s race from 9:00 to 12:30. WABC will continue coverage until 2 p.m.

It is the second year with Tata Consultancy Services as the title sponsor of the race after a decade with Dutch financial firm ING in the title spot. TCS signed an eight-year agreement in 2013 that is a year-round partnership with the New York Road Runners, which puts on the event each year. Other major race partners include United Airlines, Asics and Airbnb.

Here are the numbers you need to know for the marathon.

4:34:45: Average finish time in hours, minutes, seconds for 2014 runners.

95: Age of oldest entry in this year’s race. Check out the USA Today profile on Jonathan Mendes.

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130: Countries represented in last year’s marathon.

$255: Entry fee for U.S. runners.

$347: Entry fee for foreign runners.

$2,500: Amount runners can raise with selected charities to guarantee a spot in the race.

50,530: Finishers in last year’s marathon.

80,000: Number of people who paid $11 to enter a lottery for a spot in the race. More than 80% are rejected and do not get their money back.

1,200+: Number of marathons in the U.S. last year.

$100,000: Prize money for both the men’s and women’s winner of the race.

258,100: Number of guests that visited the city last year during marathon week.

$600,000: Most recently reported annual salary of former New York Road Runners CEO Mary Wittenberg.

$705,000: Guaranteed total prize money of the 2015 race with potential time bonuses as well.

2 million: Number of spectators at the race.

$4 million: What the city charges New York Road Runners for police services.

$22.2 million: Sales and occupancy tax generated by marathon , according to a study done for New York Road Runners by AECOM.

$34.5 million: Amount raised last year for charities by roughly 8,500 runners.

$35 million: Cost to stage the 2013 marathon.

$73 million: Annual revenue for the New York Road Runners.

$415 million: Economic impact produced by the race last year.

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New York City marathon: Q & A with NYRR CEO and race director

by  

Phil Wahba

New York Road Runners’ top two executives discuss the state of the running industry and the growth of the New York City marathon.

Next Sunday, more than 50,000 people will gather on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in Staten Island, New York to begin the biggest annual event in the world of road racing: the New York City marathon.

Accounting for nearly 10% of all the U.S. marathon finishers in any given year, the race is put on by the not-for-profit New York Road Runners. But make no mistake: it’s big business. The event will be watched by tens of millions of people on television, and NYRR has big-name sponsors like Indian tech giant TCS, United Airlines, and Airbnb. Plus, as tens of thousands of runners descend on the city, the marathon also pumps hundreds of millions of dollars into the New York economy.

With $74.2 million in revenue last year, nearly triple what it was ten years ago thanks to a big jump in sponsorship and registration fees, the NYRR is the country’s pre-eminent racing organization. It puts on more than 50 races a year, including the largest U.S. 13.1 mile race—the 25,000-finisher Brooklyn Half Marathon—which typically sells out the same day registration opens. Earlier this year, its long time NYRR CEO Mary Wittenberg left to head a Richard Branson startup, Virgin Sport, that will put on mass participation events.

NYRR’s new chief is Michael Capiraso, previously NYRR’s operations chief. Capiraso as well as Peter Ciaccia, president of events and the marathon’s race director, sat down with Fortune in NYRR’s midtown Manhattan offices recently to talk about the state of the road racing industry and NYRR’s growth plans.

Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and brevity.

Fortune: The TCS New York City Marathon is the biggest 26.2 mile race in the world and attracts big-name sponsors. But even smaller events are drawing more attention from national sponsors who more typically gravitate toward spectator sports. Why?

Capiraso: There’s a great engagement with people who do it, whether you’re a casual runner or serious and competitive. Runners tend to be loyal and committed, and sponsors like that. People are more engaged than fans sitting in the stands at a sports event are.

The marathon gets so much attention. But this year, you added 5-km (3.1 miles) races to your Bronx 10-mile and Staten Island Half Marathon. What’s the rationale?

Ciaccia: They (runners) can be with us across the whole year in everything that we’re doing. We want to make it less intimating to newcomers, more attractive. So we are building more 5-k’s into the runs we put on, like in the Bronx. That way we leverage investment already made to put on an event. And we get people on board for other races.

Earlier this year, the largest for-profit player in the road racing space, Competitor Group, held its first ever New York City event with a half-marathon in Brooklyn. Is this city big enough for the both of you?

Capiraso: Whatever brings people to run, so much the better. When they are swooping out (after their race) we’re still going to be here to put on races. We are based here, we are here 365 days a year. There is room for everyone.

The number marathon participants has grown 50% since 2005. Can the TCS Marathon get any bigger?

Ciaccia: If you ask me logistically, the marathon can get bigger. But do we want to? We’d have to weigh that.

Some runners have complained about race fees being high. How is NYRR addressing that?

Ciaccia: The year we launched new program called “Free Races.” It’s a pilot. We are seeing it start to catch a little fire so we’ll explore and see how far out we can extend it- and if it works we’ll extend it right out to include the marathon.
(The program offers 50 free entries to each of 20 NYRR races.)

What is your advice to any organizer planning to put on a brand new marathon?

Capiraso: Making it a really unique experience is crucial. That’s why the New York City half marathons goes through Times Square. Wherever you are, you have something to make your race unique.