5 Ways to Increase Race Revenue (Without Raising Prices)

Prices are rising. In the endurance industry, we had 5 straight years of noticeably rising prices, with 10K’s seeing the most significant increase (21% over those years) – and the midyear trends for 2026 suggest that trend isn’t slowing down.

As race directors, the reasons for price increases are good: costs are rising. But with consumers facing tough decisions about where to cut back in the face of inflation, races need to make sure they aren’t the one on the chopping block. How else an you increase race revenue?

In this blog, we look at ways you can make more money from your race (to meet or exceed cost increases), beyond simply raising your prices.

1. Add More Price Changes

Instead of wholesale raising your prices, evaluate if you have time in your schedule for one additional price increase. This allows you to keep – and advertise – your low opening rate to attract price-conscious runners, while shifting the increase to procrastinators (who are often less sensitive to prices).

How it works: You can add a new registration period from your Race Wizard or by navigating to Race >> Registration >> Dates, Pricing, & Options.

Note: adding a price increase will likely also shift your registration patterns a bit. We’ve already seen a mild shift to earlier registrations in the last two years, and an additional late price increase is likely to move even more runners earlier. Make sure you account for that shift when estimating your likely income boost from the price change.

2. Fees for Participant Management

Self-serve participant management options, including bib transfers, event transfers, and deferrals all come with the option to add a fee. Most runners are happy to pay a small fee for the flexibility to not lose the full investment.

How it works: participant management options can be found on your dashboard under Participants >> Participant Management. Simply add a fee for participant management options. Consider the cost of your race when setting participant management fees: a race that is $200 can reasonably set a $30 fee for a deferral, whereas a $35 race would need to set a much lower fee.

There’s a bonus for this one: in addition to revenue generation, flexible participant management options encourage runners to register by reducing the financial risk of doing so.

3. Re-Think Giveaways

We know: everyone expects a t-shirt at your race, because every race for 50 years has given them one. But not everyone actually needs (or wants) a t-shirt. By offering a discount to runners who decline a t-shirt, you can boost your per-person revenue and advertise a lower price point.

How it works: When setting up your Giveaway (Race >> Giveaways/Add-Ons >> Giveaway), add a “No Shirt” option with a negative price in the “Extra Price (Optional) column. Note: make the discount amount less than your actual cost for the shirt!

As an alternative, you can also offer no giveaway, and instead, keep your race price low and offer shirts only as add-on items (for a fee that covers your shirt costs and more). This option won’t work for all races – shirts and swag are very important for your event – but if you find that a large percentage of runners are declining the shirt, you may not need to offer one for “free”.

In both cases, there is some additional cash revenue (but not a lot). The real value is in offering a low price option to appeal to runners who may be priced out of other local races. Grow your race with a low-priced option, without sacrificing profit.

4. Provide Premium Experiences

There are two ends of managing price and revenue: finding a way to keep your race affordable for price sensitive runners, and finding a way to make more revenue from your luxury-focused runners. Look for premium add-on or upgrade options that appeal to runners who prioritize comfort and convenience over cost.

How it works: Set up premium options either as their own VIP-style Event (in the Race Wizard) or offer your upgrades a la carte as add-ons (Race >> Giveaways & Add-Ons >> Registration Add-Ons). Make sure you’ve priced out the actual cost to you of the luxury upgrades (like tent rentals, staffing, and shipping) and price your upgrades over actual cost.

Note: while some premium options (like merch) can be available in unlimited quantities for anyone willing to pay for them, some (like parking or private shuttles) need to be limited in quantity to ensure the experience matches the cost.

5. Marginal Gains

Make sure you aren’t leaving small dollars on the table. Look at areas that may provide a small amount of revenue that can add-up over time.

1. Participant Insurance: participant insurance gives participants the option to insure their registration if they can’t participate for specific reasons. Races earn a revenue share of 20% of the insurance premium, with 10-20% of participants typically opting in.
2. Extra Fees to Cover Costs: if you have specific costs with extra fees, you can add line items like a State Park fee or Venue fee as an additional fee (at Financial >> Pricing >> Extra Fees). This keeps your base cost low, while ensuring you don’t have to eat add-on per-person costs.
3. Enable Automated Incomplete Registration Emails: automate an email send to every person who abandons their cart before completing registration. Races that enable the option see 1-2% of registrations from people who return after getting their reminder.

Bonus: Cut Costs

Increasing the money coming in is important. But there’s another way to boost your gross revenue: cut your costs. RunSignup offers a range of free tools that you can implement to stop paying 3rd party services. Free email marketing, free event websites, and free AI tools for customer support mean more revenue towards your bottom line (and less spent on technology).