Event Information
WHEN
ON DEMAND
Join this on-demand webinar to take a look at options to grow your revenue beyond just “get more runners”. Re-evaluate your pricing models and fine ways to increase your margins with premium experiences, add-on charges, and more.
This webinar covers:
- Pricing Strategies
- Participant Management Revenue
- Premium Experiences
- On-Site Extras
- Sponsor Engagement
- Marginal Gains
Revenue Calculator
If you want to play with adjustments to your pricing, you can use the calculator below. Simply make a copy (File -> Copy), and add your current pricing to the first sheet. Then, you can update the shaded cells on the additional sheets to see how the changes would impact your revenue.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13PBHigBbhwbOkyeo93XiD4awB8g81Nbn7hDxLNvAAxs/edit?gid=0#gid=0
How To Grow Race Revenue Webinar Summary
Presenter: Bryan Jenkins
Bryan Jenkins presented a version of a talk he gave at RunSignUp University, covering ways event organizers can grow revenue beyond simple price increases. The session was organized around six areas: pricing, participant management, premium experiences, on-site extras, sponsor engagement, and “marginal gains” (smaller, incremental opportunities).
Pricing
Rather than a blanket price hike, Bryan recommended smaller structural tweaks: adding an extra pricing tier between early and day-of pricing, shifting when tiers kick in (e.g., a “registration blitz” with the best price only in the first 48 hours), or targeting increases at specific distances with higher costs. RunSignUp data shows steady multi-year price growth across distances, with marathons seeing the largest increases due to demand.
He walked through a practical exercise: pull the Registration Periods report from the RunSignUp dashboard, export it to Excel, and feed it to an AI tool with a specific prompt (goals, constraints like sponsor pricing caps, and a request to show the math). In the example, the AI produced four pricing scenarios ranging from a flat $5 increase (+$3,000, 7.8%) to a balanced increase weighted toward regular/late registrants (+$5,820, the top performer), while adding a new “race week” price tier performed surprisingly poorly (+$1,350, 3.5%). Options can be mixed and matched. RunSignUp also offers a free pricing calculator for organizers to model scenarios themselves.
Tiered (quantity-based) pricing — where price increases after a set number of registrants rather than on a date — was presented as underused but valuable for events with predictable sellouts, since it allows precise revenue forecasting. Its main drawback is the lack of a clear “buy by this date” message, since price changes aren’t tied to a fixed time and registrations aren’t locked in during checkout.
Participant Management
Fees for bib transfers, deferrals, and tiered refunds were shown to generate meaningful incremental revenue (e.g., $2,142 from bib transfer fees and $1,200 from deferral fees in sample events), while also giving participants flexibility. Bryan cautioned that not all of these features should be enabled together, since some work against each other, and noted that deferrals push recognized revenue into the following year from an accounting standpoint.
Premium Experiences & On-Site Extras
VIP packages (shuttle, parking, tented areas, catered food), experiential upgrades (yoga, massage), and high-end merchandise (jackets, tech shirts) can add substantial revenue but require enrollment caps and careful inventory management. À la carte registration (low base price, participants build their own cart) broadens appeal but adds variability to the check-in process. Other on-site revenue options covered: mailing race packets ($15–$40+, increasingly popular since COVID), charging for race-day packet pickup, and selling parking and spectator tickets through RunSignUp’s ticketing platform.
Sponsor Engagement
Photo watermarking and RaceJoy runner-tracking sponsorships (progress alerts, banner ads, audio call-outs) were highlighted as high-visibility sponsor opportunities, since results/photos pages and spectator tracking get heavy traffic. Bryan cautioned against overloading the experience with too many sponsor touches. RunSignUp’s lightweight invoicing tool was also flagged as a quick way to bill groups (e.g., corporate team entries) with online or offline payment options.
Marginal Gains
Smaller opportunities included discounted participant insurance (organizers share 20% of the premium; roughly 10–20% of participants opt in), tighter giveaway inventory management to reduce wasted shirt spend, “extra fees” line items to pass through third-party costs like park fees, and domain-mapped RunSignUp websites, which organizers reported saving $3,000–$10,000/year versus other options. The new AI chatbot on RunSignUp’s Website v2 platform has reportedly cut customer service inquiries by 50–80%.
Q&A Highlights
- Balancing simple vs. advanced registration options: Bryan suggested a packaged approach (a low-cost base package with nothing included, and a bundled package with everything) rather than full à la carte, so casual participants aren’t overwhelmed while experienced participants can still get add-ons.
- Age-based pricing for kids: No aggregate data available, but Bryan noted organizers are moving away from it generally, except when a sponsor specifically wants to encourage family participation. Key considerations: where to set the age cutoff, and whether to still include a t-shirt (kids reliably want one).
- Messaging for voluntary donations to offset costs: Recommended being transparent and specific — state the dollar amount costs increased by and the fundraising goal, rather than using percentages, which read as less tangible.
- Charity events — donations vs. registration discounts: Bryan recommended focusing on growing donations rather than refunding registration fees based on donation amount, since donations carry no cost basis and are generally easier to grow than registration margin. RunSignUp’s donation levels and “donations at checkout” features can help, and their team (Chris Newcomer) can assist with fundraising best practices.