Boston Marathon "Unicorn Club" -- BAA is a ripoff artist!

As someone who ran Boston just once many years ago, on a crappy weather day, the indoor staging alone might be worth the money.

Haha, I used to work with someone on the BAA board. He said they had 5 million in the bank (this was over 10 years ago)they didn't know what to do with. This is ridiculous, all about the money.

I'm sure there's a market and demand or this wouldn't exist.

getting greedy in bean town wrote:

Haha, I used to work with someone on the BAA board. He said they had 5 million in the bank (this was over 10 years ago)they didn't know what to do with. This is ridiculous, all about the money.

Wait wait? So they wouldn't have problem paying runners if a 2018 situation occurred again. Instead, they ruin the race for everyone. And good thing they skimp on on-course toilets.

Shamrock Marathon (and Half/8k) did something similar to this a few years back, creating something called a "legacy runner". It was, however, free and all you got was some sort of special bib or something. Maybe they've changed it and now charge $ for it..who knows.

Basically rules were you had to have participated in just one of their races that weekend for the last 5 years or 4 plus register for current year. Then you'd be called a "Legacy Runner"

I sent them a message and said something along the lines of "what about runners who have done at least 5 full Shamrock Marathons, but haven't done one in a few years? Do you not care about those people...the people that helped make this race what it is today?" I never heard back from them.

In my opinion, races should offer discounts to people who have proven to be loyal to the race. Something like if you've done the race 10 (or more) times, you get a 30% off code...5 to 9, you get 20%.

Hey Old Man Runner, what exactly have you done for the Shamrock Marathon lately?

Stop trying to get a pat on the back for running a race years ago.

Maybe go invest in some gold or take out a reverse mortgage, old timer.

This is something that reeks of the packaging and selling of "unique experiences" for the benefit of snatching Mom and Dad's money from the pockets of snowflake millennials. If you're a little older, the offer stinks of greed and preciousness. If you were a little younger, you'd already be thinking about the SELFIES you could take on your exclusive journey that day.

I ran Boston many years ago and still hope for the bullshiiittery surrounding it to fade.

MillennialsAreRetarded wrote:

This is something that reeks of the packaging and selling of "unique experiences" for the benefit of snatching Mom and Dad's money from the pockets of snowflake millennials. If you're a little older, the offer stinks of greed and preciousness. If you were a little younger, you'd already be thinking about the SELFIES you could take on your exclusive journey that day.

I ran Boston many years ago and still hope for the bullshiiittery surrounding it to fade.

It would be hard to be a millennial and have 10+ Bostons in the tank. This is about soaking up more cash from older upper middle class folks that do Boston every year.

The BAA does an incredible insurmountable job every single year and puts on the best most well run marathon in the world and you need to b*tch about something so trivial. The BAA is a non-profit and they staff about 15 full time employees and give millions of their dollars away to charity and have done so much for the community of Boston and surrounding suburbs. Why not offer a little exclusivity for those veteran marathoners , who can take advantage of some more "elite" offerings. Shame on you for trying to bash the BAA!

This reminds me of the VIP packages offered for festivals. You pay many multiples of the basic ticket price for some marginal upgrades in amenities, plus the idea that you are "special." It is ridiculous and I can't for the life of me figure out why people fall for it, but as long as there are people willing to buy it organizers will continue to offer it.

nbskis wrote:

I'm sure there's a market and demand or this wouldn't exist.

You're right. My brother-in-law always runs Boston and jumped on this as soon as it was offered. My sister (ie, his wife) and every one of his Facebook friends thought it was a great idea. The bump in the cost to their annual 4-5 day trip is pretty modest, so who am I to say.

Or, more likely, there is no market for this and it will cease to exist. Sort of like Crystal Pepsi.

boston marathon streaker wrote:

These not-mind-blowing "benefits" are things that the BAA should GIVE AWAY to their most loyal runners

I'm always fascinated when someone thinks they deserve something -- not need, but deserve.

You're a loyal runner, so they should give you something special? Why?

Because they charged an entry fee, and you agreed to pay it? The same entry fee for the same race services as everyone else?

So you should get special treatment because you have pockets deep enough to pay that entry year after year?

So you deserve special treatment for having a lot of money?

I have never paid for a race VIP package before but this might have been worth it before last year’s Boston marathon. Since I have only run one Boston (2018) I would not have qualified for this club anyways.

According to their 2016 Form 990, the BAA has over $17 million in net assets. Regardless of what you think of the idea, they're not in desperate need of this revenue stream from a small percentage of entrants.

Of course people are willing to pay-- logistics make this a costly race to enter, so the average Boston streaker clearly can afford to pay this. In my opinion, it would be better to offer the option for a nominal fee (cost recovery) so it is more a reward and less an incentive that you can buy.

Not sure what the OP is whining about. For $250, I would buy this just to avoid the nightmare of a cold and wet Athletes Village for 3 hours alone. Other perks are a bonus.

A Ted by any other name wrote:

As someone who ran Boston just once many years ago, on a crappy weather day, the indoor staging alone might be worth the money.

The point is not that the benefits are of no value....but that the BAA is applying SUCH a premium cost to is. Like one poster said, make it available for cost if you want to offer up a "special, exclusive" offering OR offer it at the ridiculous $250 to all runners. Why portray this as a special offering to the streakers

And of course, we all would have done anything to stay dry before Boston 2018, but that has nothing to do with what BAA is doing or whether the offering is worth the $$

Cash grab to keep instagram runners interested in Boston. Everyone BQs now and Unicorn Club will be the next IG runner status symbol. Selling the illusion of exclusivity is big business.

KingKing wrote:

Cash grab to keep instagram runners interested in Boston. Everyone BQs now and Unicorn Club will be the next IG runner status symbol. Selling the illusion of exclusivity is big business.

Finally someone gets it!