Fucking too late. Too late. Like really late. Probably like midnight. I went to it at midnight. Bam. We’re live. Barely made it in time for the call. Man. Bun ponytail, man. Bun ponytail, man. Bun ponytail, Kenneth. Good morning, soccer mom. Good morning, J Hark. Good morning, Mike. Arton Ya, Armenian. Good morning. God, two Armenians disproportionate here. Uh, Logan. Good morning, Bruce. Wayne, always good to see you. And of course, John Young, Mr. Spin, uh, Caleb Suza. And, uh, a gentleman that I see is titled just, uh, cb Damn. My camera’s off. I’m falling off the screen. Oh, I forgot to hit the record button. Son of a bitch. I’m, I’m new to this game. Did you see that? Su Hey, Susan and Caleb, when you guys come on before me, you can always go to the settings and then go to recordings and then turn on that high quality, uh, audio and video recording for each guest. It’s in the thanks. Oh, we made it to the last day. We did it. Holy cow.
John Young (01:10):
Just two more weeks.
Sevan Matossian (01:13):
Uh, guys, it looks like there is going to be a press conference this morning at the, uh, semi-finals CrossFit semi-finals in the Northeast. Uh, we all got, uh, emails, those of us who applied for media credentials, uh, last night. I’m not sure the reason for, uh, the press conference. Do you have any thoughts on that? Uh, Mr. Spin, the reason for the press conference,
Brian Spin (01:40):
Uh, the on, I mean, if it’s only Boz and Justin, I have to imagine it’s talking about the, the two athletes, uh, Alex and, uh, I can’t remember the last guy’s name. Um,
Sevan Matossian (01:51):
The Fox guy. He had something, the word fox in his last name.
Brian Spin (01:54):
Yeah. Something similar to that. Um, both being removed from the competition.
Sevan Matossian (01:58):
Hey, let me ask you this. Someone sent me a, uh, um, uh, a text this morning and they said it’s a shame that they’re targeting, um, uhoh. Something’s going on with Caleb. Uh, is he being escorted out? No. Okay. Uh, that they’re being targeted for, um, uh, because they’re mayhem athletes. I, my brain would’ve never in a million years gone there. That’s completely ridiculous, right? But they’re like, Hey, uh, Corona was having problems. He’s a mayhem athlete. This foxtail guy is having problems. He’s a mayhem athlete. Uh, the rich had problems. Um, uh, Luke Parker had problems. And then, and then there was someone else. Samuel Corn White. There was, there’s this whole list of mayhem athletes that have had problems with their judges and that they’re somehow targeted. Please tell me that you think that that’s absurd.
Brian Spin (02:42):
Uh, <laugh>, I, I, that was, I would never have thought that. Um, okay.
Sevan Matossian (02:46):
Good young John, would you ever think that?
John Young (02:48):
No, I think that’s absurd.
Sevan Matossian (02:50):
Okay. When I worked at hq, I never saw anything like that. Just so you know. Never, ever, ever, the only thing that I never saw HQ ever think and consider protecting anybody, um, except for one guy, like in 2009, he was in the military and, uh, he popped for Roy’s and they just didn’t, uh, go public with it. They kicked him out of the games, but um, they didn’t wanna go public with it cuz they didn’t want the guy to get kicked outta the military. And that was it. That’s the only thing I ever, ever saw. Um, uh, those guys are sticklers. I didn’t see any, any bending of rules. You would think
John Young (03:25):
Headquarters love would love mayhem,
Sevan Matossian (03:28):
You would, but I also did see, but, uh, that being said, I did see outside of the game space, I did see HQ spit venom at mayhem, uh, for fucking God knows. Uh, what reasons, um, have you guys ever heard that story? Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. We had a c e o there. Let’s see if I can tell it real quick. We had a CEO e o there and, um, the pl the place where we, the CrossFit HQ was selling more level ones than anywhere in the world was Cookville, Tennessee. So imagine that. Not Baltimore, not Paris, not San Francisco, not London, not Johannesburg, not Rome, fucking Cookville, Tennessee. And the c e o at the time said, Hey, that means that people are going and taking the L one for the wrong reason. We were in a big executive meeting, I don’t think we should do it there anymore.
(04:17):
I, I rose my hand and I said, uh, wait a second. You’re telling me that if someone wanted to time an L one in Paris to also get their Level one certification and see the Eiffel Tower, that we should move it from Paris. Cuz that means they’re taking the L one for the wrong reason. And no one would answer me. And they kept moving forward, taking shots at Cookeville. I fucking stood up and started screaming in the meeting, just started yelling. And, uh, uh, later on, uh, uh, Greg pulled me aside and said, told me I was being belligerent. And I said, I don’t give a fuck if I’m being belligerent. Um, I was respectful to Greg always. I said, this is fucking insane that the standing CEO at the time is suggesting that we shouldn’t do level ones in the most popular place, that level ones are being done in the country, just because people might wanna pick up some mayhem shirts and fucking, uh, rub elbows with fucking rich.
(05:08):
And that was pretty fucking, uh, but, and, and that was it. And yeah. But, um, there, there I did see some stupid shit like that. Uh, se uh, Jessica, uh, Valenzuela, Savon being belligerent. Nah. Yeah, I know. It’s weird. Uh, there were many times that now in hindsight, many more times that I wish I would’ve stood up, but also, uh, many times that I was the only one who stood up. So it’s in my pedigree. Okay. So I’m very curious, uh, about this, um, uh, press conference, uh, similar to the press conferences that the UFC does. I, I love watching the press conferences where Danny gets up. Do you guys watch any press conferences on the regular, uh, Mr. Spin? Any sports or No? No, not really. Uh, do you, Mr. Young?
John Young (05:53):
Um, occasionally, but it just, like, it has to, it’s a big sporting event. It’s not like on a regular basis or
Sevan Matossian (05:59):
Anything. Okay. So the way the UFC does it is they have a press conference, uh, every sat, uh, every Friday. And then after the event, they always have a press conference and it’s, it’s great assault bike, uh, watching time, you know what I mean? Like right after the fight or mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um, Dana will come out and be like, okay, we made this much money and I think these refs suck, and the next fight to make next week is this. And it’s, it’s cool. I I, I really appreciate them. Um, you think that this is going to be any chance that this will be to just, um, answer questions and not for them to do any particular house cleaning address? Anything in particular?
Brian Spin (06:33):
I, I think they’ll, they’ll touch on it briefly like they always do. I mean, these press conferences are usually pretty light on actually, uh, giving information. And then they’ll, they’ll ask questions and you’ll get the, the softball questions, and then hopefully one or two people will ask something that actually gets them to, to answer something we all care about.
Sevan Matossian (06:54):
Right. Uh, gi gimme an example of something that you would like to, um, uh, hear answered a, a question.
Brian Spin (07:01):
I think it’s Why would you target these two guys? It’s, uh, Corby Fox All and Alex Kron. Why would you target those and not target the women who couldn’t do the work? Do the, the, uh, the muscle ups? Um, what’s, what’s the difference between the two?
Sevan Matossian (07:16):
Right. Uh, any any, any good? Good question. And, and for anyone who doesn’t know of, uh, foxtail Fox, all like, can I call ’em Foxtail
Brian Spin (07:24):
Corby Fox?
Sevan Matossian (07:24):
All, all right. Corby Corgi. How about Corgi? What’s something fun? Corby
Brian Spin (07:29):
Foxtail. Uh,
John Young (07:30):
I have a Corgi. One fact. I know you did two
Sevan Matossian (07:32):
Of them. Hey, my wife asked me yesterday if you were, I was telling her about the Goonies thing, and she was asking if that hurts your feelings. Did that hurt your feelings?
John Young (07:39):
No, it’s all good.
Sevan Matossian (07:40):
I told her, everyone gets torn up. I said, fuck.
John Young (07:44):
I do feel like I get torn up a little bit more than, oh, most people, but five
Sevan Matossian (07:48):
To one. Five to one.
John Young (07:49):
It’s, uh, it’s all good.
Sevan Matossian (07:51):
Five to one. I, I mean, uh, the, i I, that one was pretty good, but I also, the, uh, it was, it was, it was a brave call to call Mr. Spin, an AI version of Ed Norton that was fucking gold <laugh>, but fucking right on target, right? Uh, just paint him yellow, like one of those yellow, you know, emojis, ethnically neutral emojis. <laugh>, um, God, did I just coin that term, Susan? Is that new eth Ethnically neutral is that we got Pop seal now ethnic ethnically neutral. I fucking match Castro one, one, uh, as Mr. Young, any questions that you, you partic Oh, let me go back. So, so the thing with Corgi and Umone is, was pulled out, wanted to compete, and they pulled him out. And the reason why they pulled him out is they said in the previous workout, he didn’t try hard enough when we also, his story is, is that he didn’t try hard enough because his peck was torn and he couldn’t do one particular movement, but he could do other movements. And, and I can totally relate to that. I have a bicep, I cannot do one fucking pull up without it making me want to tear. But I can bench press and do pushups and do rope pools, sled pools all day without flaming up the biceps. So it’s just angles. Right. It it makes sense. It doesn’t, he, he, I don’t think he’s lying. Do you guys?
Brian Spin (09:06):
No, no. I mean, I, if he was, I mean, he’s serious. He wants to get back to the games. He’s not gonna just not do muscle ups and take last place for a competitive advantage. I mean, that’s crazy.
Sevan Matossian (09:21):
And, and, and so that’s the question. Uh, Mr. Spin was referencing, why, why was this guy pulled out of the game and then there were some girls who were just standing around and what was the movement for the bench press?
Brian Spin (09:30):
No, for the same, the same. The
John Young (09:31):
Ring muscle up complex. They couldn’t do the ring muscle up with the rock on.
Sevan Matossian (09:34):
Okay. And they got to move on. Uh, Mr. Young, do you have any questions for them that you would ask?
John Young (09:39):
No, I mean, Brian asked the main one, um, if a berg is there, I’d try to hit him hard on the streaming thing and see if you can’t get a concrete answer outta that, but, uh,
Sevan Matossian (09:49):
Oh, you mean follow up with like, how, how does not streaming it, um, help the affiliates like
John Young (09:54):
That question <laugh>. Yeah. Yeah. It’s not just, you know, and then like, if he like BSed around it, like the very next question from a different person, just ask the same question and like, just, just keep hammering him or, or you, if somebody goes just, just one person, Justin, that doesn’t make any sense. <laugh> <laugh>. See what he, what he says. You know what I mean? Um, but other than that,
Brian Spin (10:20):
I mean, I do wanna know why they can’t get the Africa semi-final, uh, leaderboard Correct. On their website.
Sevan Matossian (10:26):
Oh, okay. Um, another good question. You know, mine would be obviously around media. Why don’t they let someone do the behind the scenes? Uh, you know, we did it every year. I think it was a huge hit when I was there and people
John Young (10:37):
Love it. Mm-hmm.
Sevan Matossian (10:38):
<affirmative>, when I was there running the media, it was the most, it was the mo not the most views, but the most minutes watched of any content we ever put out in the history of CrossFit. And so meaning that people who had great retention, they’d be these seven part series, they’d be great. And around these bubbles, there would be tremend by bubbles. I mean, uh, the cut lines, there would be tremendous tension and these would make for fantastic stories and someone should be doing it for the games. Uh, also, um, uh, Barry mcc Conner was asking me with my arm if I’m, uh, still able, oh, here we go. Uh, Savon, are you still, uh, able to yank it? That is completely, uh, inappropriate. Please, um, put yourself on timeout. Of course I’m able to yank it. Ca Caleb, uh, can you talk to us or would other people hear? Um, in the, uh, in the room?
Caleb Beaver (11:22):
Everybody can hear me
Sevan Matossian (11:25):
<laugh>. Okay. Uh, how many people are there, Caleb?
Caleb Beaver (11:30):
Mm, probably about 30, 40.
Sevan Matossian (11:33):
Okay. And, uh, does it look like it’s about to start soon?
Caleb Beaver (11:37):
Um, people are starting to filter in. Um, but yeah, I think so. Okay.
Sevan Matossian (11:42):
And, and, and is you’re talking on your phone right now?
Caleb Beaver (11:46):
Um, I’m on my laptop and then I have my phone set up, um, okay. Just in case.
Sevan Matossian (11:51):
Okay. And where is the, um, the, the dude who’s actually gonna stream it for us with like, look and hi, point your eyes in his direction. <laugh>, and where Will ju <laugh> and, and where will, where will Justin and Boz sit? Point your eyes in that direction. Okay. And and are those the two guys? Um, Justin and Boz, those, have they been live?
Caleb Beaver (12:12):
Yeah. When they sent out the notification? That was, those were the only two on the list.
Sevan Matossian (12:18):
Okay. Uh, uh Okay. Fantastic. Okay. Thank you. That’s great. Uh,
John Young (12:22):
Look, look at his direction. <laugh>,
Brian Spin (12:23):
Uh,
Sevan Matossian (12:24):
Tyler, thank, thank you, uh, for joining us. Very, uh, kind of you to make your presence. Phil.
Brian Spin (12:29):
Morning. Sorry. Good morning. Internet issues,
Sevan Matossian (12:32):
Just fucking with you. You’re
John Young (12:33):
Okay. You’re on the east coast, right? Tyler?
Brian Spin (12:35):
Yeah.
John Young (12:36):
I mean, you get to stay the latest out of all of us. <laugh>,
Sevan Matossian (12:41):
Where you spin
Brian Spin (12:43):
Nashville in Central. Okay,
Sevan Matossian (12:45):
So it’s seven 30 for you? Yeah. Okay. Oh, we had another camera just pop up. Oh, okay. Uh, that’s interesting. That guy. Oh, that’s your guy? Who’s the, you have two guys?
Brian Spin (12:56):
I don’t know.
Sevan Matossian (12:57):
Yeah, you have two guys. We got a, a cb, we got a, a CB and a DOMA center. CB’s.
Brian Spin (13:02):
Yours?
Caleb Beaver (13:02):
CB is me.
Sevan Matossian (13:03):
Oh. Oh, shit. Oh, so Caleb’s double fisted. Okay. Oh, shit. Okay, so we got, um, I’ll, I’ll mute this. So we got this one. Okay, that’s nice.
Brian Spin (13:16):
And then get spy
Sevan Matossian (13:16):
Cams and then we got this one. No, no press conference. You’re allowed to film press conferences.
Brian Spin (13:20):
Oh, okay. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Sevan Matossian (13:22):
Press
Brian Spin (13:23):
Conference sounds better if you say spy cam.
Sevan Matossian (13:25):
Uh, I are, are these legitimate? Um, how we doing? I wonder if these are legitimate media people who are in this place or if they Oh, there’s Boz. Okay, here we go. Let’s see if we’re gonna be able to get audio. Uh, good audio on this. This is in, uh, Orlando. We’re 30 minutes away from individual event one. So there, there’s events going on right now?
Brian Spin (13:53):
No, no, no. Oh,
Sevan Matossian (13:54):
Okay. So individual events. Okay. So individual event, um, individual’s, event six starts in 30 minutes. Okay.
Speaker 5 (14:05):
<laugh> naturally, I have to make sure that
Brian Spin (14:10):
These are all the people at this conference,
Sevan Matossian (14:14):
At the press conference. I think there’s like 30 people in the room is what, uh, Caleb was suggesting.
Brian Spin (14:19):
Wow. Attendance by 630 people. So if that helps you out there.
Sevan Matossian (14:26):
Uh, say that again. Uh, Suza,
Brian Spin (14:28):
I said we just boosted attendance by 630 people, right?
Sevan Matossian (14:32):
Oh, for the press conference? Yeah, that’s right.
Brian Spin (14:34):
Yeah. Yeah, we filled it up. You’re welcome.
Sevan Matossian (14:39):
All right.
Brian Spin (14:40):
Uh,
Sevan Matossian (14:42):
Sev, uh, Chevon’s dog. I’m hiding under the table where Boz is sitting ready for the command. Uh, understood. Right? Okay. If he does act off B ankle bites only he dog gets one bite. My mom was an attorney. She told me that.
Brian Spin (14:54):
That looks like, uh, Chris Madigan the, uh, PR guy right there at the table right now.
Sevan Matossian (14:59):
Oh, up in the front with the thick head of hair. Yeah. All right. What’s up Chris? I’ve never met Chris. Is is he a CrossFitter?
Brian Spin (15:08):
Uh, I think so. I,
Sevan Matossian (15:10):
He called me. That was, that was supposed to be an insult. That was just, he he
Brian Spin (15:12):
Did,
Sevan Matossian (15:13):
That was supposed to be an insult.
Brian Spin (15:14):
He did call me from the gym one time. I can’t remember what, what story it was. Um, but he called me outta breath trying to tell me,
Sevan Matossian (15:21):
Oh, that’s all. I like it. That’s killer. All right. I respect that. Hey, isn’t that cool about all of us? We’ve all any of us who talk on the phone regularly have probably talked to the other person out of breath. Like for sure. I’ve heard Sue out of breath. He’s heard me outta breath. I mean, that’s just like part of the CrossFit thing, right? Yeah. I talked to JR yesterday out of breath, <laugh>. Yeah, it’s the way, it’s the way we do it. It’s funny. And there’s no one, well, I guess I don’t really talk to too many people who aren’t CrossFitters, but it’s so common. I’m, I’m working out. Is it important? Yeah. No. Okay. I’ll talk to you later. Okay. Bye. Uh, Christina Young HQ is just going to say their decision stands in its case by case, depending on the athlete.
Brian Spin (16:01):
All right, here we go.
Sevan Matossian (16:03):
Uh, well it’s, I, I’m, I’m pretty impressed that they’re doing this, actually. This is pretty cool.
Brian Spin (16:08):
Domo,
John Young (16:21):
Is there a way to enhance this sound?
Sevan Matossian (16:23):
Hold on one sec. And,
Speaker 6 (16:25):
Uh, you guys have cover that. Tell stories of our athletes for me. Thank you. I hope, um, some of the changes we’ve made throughout the week been beneficial to you. Um, but other than that, uh, we’re just gonna open up. We have 20 minutes and make of your time. Well, so, um, uh, if has questions who raise hand, um, I’ll point. Um, and then if you can just say who, what your name is and what the, is that you with, uh, that will help us, um, go really quickly to open up what your immediate thoughts have been this week. Very top line. Um, and then, uh, cool. Um, I think overall really happy with the way the first week went. Cause a lot of you guys know that have covered this sport for a long time. We stopped owning and operating semi-finals in 2018. And so now in 2023, that five year gap and trying to make that seem like it was nothing has been really important to our team.
(17:29):
Um, our first priority is making a great experience for the athletes and then also trying to do a really good job for our community. Make this a welcome place for our affiliates and coaches and members of our community and members of our gyms to come and feel extraordinary so they can go back and continue their training with a lot more passion and enthusiasm. Um, and I think in a lot of those regards, we’ve, we’ve checked that box. Um, I’m happy that some things have moved forward. Um, so I’m really thrilled that you guys are here. So I think in the past we haven’t had this level of coverage, so I appreciate you guys traveling, coming here, telling stories, telling a lot more and a lot richer and deeper stories than we could ever possibly tell on our own. Um, also some of the things that we really like are the really large fields of athletes has been really, really favorable.
(18:11):
Um, so we have more athletes competing at this stage than we have ever had at this particular event. Um, so I think the fields are deep. We’re here on Sunday, we’re gonna crown champions, announce qualifiers, and I think that’s what we’re kind of here to do. So, um, we know we’ve got a lot of things that we need to do to be better for, uh, week two. Um, and so our team also has representatives from the event in Pasadena and the event in Berlin. We’re also trying to do an excellent job supporting our licensed event partners. So in Africa this week, as well as some of the other regions where we’re not running the competition, but we are still supporting their coaches, uh, sorry, their judges, uh, they’re judges, um, they’re field staff trying to provide good coverage of those events as well. So I know you guys are focused here, that’s why you’re here.
(18:50):
Hopefully you guys are also covering those events as well. If we do a good job at the semifinal stage, that’s a really great foundation for us to have for the remainder of the year. Uh, so we got a lot of work to do. We want to continue to make progress in a lot of different areas. Um, but we’re actually just really happy with, uh, getting off the ground for week one and then getting to work on making it much better for week two and next year. So I’ll start there. Do you guys have any questions, Patrick? Be friendly. Fitness, um, you mentioned, uh, supporting the other semi-finals, particularly Africa. Um, um, it’s kind of hard to cover it when the leaderboard on CrossFit isn’t. I know, uh, they, I found out they have a leaderboard that’s pretty up to date, but it seems like the CrossFit games, um, leaderboard hasn’t been updating timely and I’m, I mean I know that’s probably a technical thing, but it just figure I’d bring that to your attention that Thanks get ’em Badger.
(19:39):
Yeah, <laugh>. So, but yeah, it’s just been hard to cover when you know, old day one unless someone else found, yeah, we had to actually go to the Rebel Renegade site pit. They had to updated leaderboard, but it doesn’t provide the amount of detail that the cross would be for. Yeah, for sure. So, uh, with our license events, what we do is they score the event locally. They transcode or transcribe the scores back to us so that we can present it in our format at our central website. Um, there’s also a time delay, so it’s difficult to follow as a fan. It’s also difficult, I understand to cover with media as well. There’s a timeline cuz we’re in very different time zones. Um, and then also that team locally has to take their scores, put it into a system where we can display it more broadly.
(20:17):
So, uh, we know we’ve got some things that we could do to make that a little bit faster. Also, there’s been a couple scoring issues locally that, uh, were identified took place in the middle of their night, so it’s taken longer for some of those things to resolve. So, um, but overall we’re happy with what there’s doing down there. Um, and I know that there’s gonna be some really good updates from there. They’ll be representative. Yeah, it looks like it’s coming down to the climate event. Does that happen? Like right now? Awesome. Pretty soon. Okay, cool. Update 15 minutes from now. <laugh>, I got man on ground white, sir. Um, to piggyback on what you said JD, about, uh, this being your first time back in five years to own and operate this level of the the season, what is one thing you and boss have learned this weekend that you are going to take forward with you, uh, to change either this season or next? I can, I can change. Go ahead, <laugh>.
(21:13):
I think anybody who is a part of these events on any level, uh, understands that there’s a lot of moving pieces that have to sync up and you always learn something from week to week, year to year, et cetera. Uh, big couple of takeaways from us. Uh, number one is if we can consolidate a field of play, that’s a good idea. You know, so having two is tricky. So we’re working towards, you know, the possibility of that in the future for future comps. Um, I’d also say that, uh, just thinking back to 2018 and thinking that this is gonna be the carbon copy of those events is not fair to anybody because we have twice as many athletes, the schedule has to reflect that. The staffing has to reflect that the coverage has to reflect that. And we’ve never run a stage at this size and scale before that qualifies for the game.
(22:01):
So it might feel like the regional’s a bay old, but that matters. It’s too bad. And, uh, that comes with a ton of challenges. Yeah. Joe, hi guys. Joe from Morning Chop up. Uh, great event so far and uh, thank you for taking the time this morning. Um, so there have been some questions about Noble’s lack of presence, uh, this weekend. Are you planning on them being at, uh, north America, west Europe, the games, uh, later? This, this? Yeah, I can talk to that. I’m not sure exactly the question. Um, noble is here. So they’ve got representatives, uh, that’s talking specifically about fact the spaces in Denver Village that they’re not retailing this week. Yeah. Okay. Well I guess I’ll, I’ll still, it’s the same answer. Noble has been a super important partner of this stage, uh, when we announced we were gonna own and operate this stage.
(22:48):
Um, this is a very expensive thing to do as an intermediate step. Uh, noble has been a super important patron for, they picked up title sponsorship for this entire stage, which allowed us to go out and actually start activating some of these. Um, we’ve also worked with them really recently on prize money. So, uh, the doubling the prize money for this event that they’re part of their patronage. Um, they also do a lot of things behind the scenes that I don’t think most people realize. All of our judges and volunteers receive a true letter, each other kit. Um, it comes from Noble and they have staff here helping us make sure we care for those volunteers really well. Um, so they don’t have a retail presence. Um, I don’t think that the plan is for them to have a retail presence in Pasadena either. Um, so that’s the, um, we’re really happy with where they are and we’re continuing to lean heavily on those guys. Um, they’re obviously investing in growth and CrossFit. They’re super patron for sport. Okay, thank you. Questions. Hi, uh, Caleb from the
Speaker 7 (23:45):
Phone podcast. Um, just a quick question, just kind of unrelated to the games at all, but, um, is, is Dave Castro overseeing all programming at CrossFit or has he had a hand in the games programming? Or what is his kind of, um, role as a, as a programmer overseeing programming in, in the CrossFit space?
Speaker 6 (24:05):
Remember you take that one. Yep. Great. Do I stand <laugh>? Um, yeah, Dave is, uh, the short answer is yes, he is going to head of programming for CrossFit. What that means is there’s gonna be a lot of collaboration between the games and Dave. And really what we’re trying to do is get on the same page, so main site, our other outlets, the games, let’s make sure that everybody’s talking and agreeing on certain things and moving forward together. I think in the past, you know, CrossFit as a company has gone through periods of time where we’ve done that really well and then there’s periods of time that we’ve been really siloed for lack of a better term, and people aren’t talking to each other as well as they should be. So having Dave in that role is what’s going to allow us to make sure that everybody’s communicating and collaborating together. So that’s the real benefit.
Speaker 7 (24:50):
Thank you. Yeah.
Speaker 6 (24:55):
Um, guess I’ll word this, but basically has Don reached out and said, Hey, this is what I’m looking for this season for the games at any point, or do you just kind of just let you guys just run with it and just do your magic? Has there been any direction for Don when it comes to games at all? Whether it comes from programming, media, anything? Yeah. Uh, yeah. Don’s super involved in where I think Don Holistically is looking at, Hey, how do we get CrossFit really on mission to reach way more people than we do today? So Don said it and we’re echoing this in any avenue that we can, you know, there’s a vision for CrossFit where we’re reaching tens of millions more people than we do today. And if we can do that really effectively, that means that there’s gonna be a lot more people who are seeking active coaching than want to do this in a communal environment that supports our coaching, that supports our gyms, that also supports a lot more people getting more fit than they ever have been.
(25:43):
Most people in this room can attest to that. Um, in order to do that, we have to do certain things together as a company, and that means the way that we share our resources, the way we put together our company marketing way as the way we invest in media has to be done from a holistic point of view, all in service of reaching new audiences and introducing them to cross in a favorable way. Uh, so Don has been really central about making sure that all teams are in the exact same fair way and then going as fast as we can with can shared resources. Um, the way that that trickle seven game specifically is we need to be really good about investing in things that are gonna reach not just our existing audience, but how do we also reach new audiences that have maybe not heard about CrossFit or have heard about CrossFit but thought it wasn’t for them.
(26:24):
And so that includes with our media investment. So we want to invest in the livestream, we also want to invest in highlights and other platforms that are gonna help us reach new audiences, younger people, people that don’t tune into our existing platforms in a way to bring them back into this community and welcome them into our gyms. So, um, I think that’s been kind of the central point of view, uh, from Don. And then obviously he’s a super operator, um, really focused on making sure that we are addressing the things that are gonna help us move forward and taking out roadblocks that could limit us being really effective. So he’s been super involved with it, Don and I being regularly. And, uh, this sport is not just like sport to Don mm-hmm. <affirmative>, this is part of our entire company’s executive mission. This is part of where we belong as a company.
(27:03):
Um, and I think that’s been the real refreshing part for me. Traditionally, there has been silos and we’ve been hanging mostly in the same direction, but not at the exact same central target. Don’s really good at, we’re all focused on the same thing. Thanks J Joe. Um, yeah, pause. Uh, have there been any, uh, surprises so far in terms of the programming and performance side of things? Like things you didn’t anticipate or, um, in testing or performances that really surprised you given what you saw during testing and and or things like that, uh, you know, are ahead of scoring? Dave Banks said to me like, you know, we always have the athletes surprise us on the field. Things are always a little faster here in competition when there’s something on the line and athletes are super motivated. So I wouldn’t say that’s necessarily a surprise, but it is awesome to see just how good this field is. And I think that’s the fun of it, is you put something out, it exists in your mind for so long, and when you actually get the rubber to the road and you see how impressive these athletes are, that’s what it’s all about. So not surprised that they’re really good. <laugh>. Thank you. Yeah, you’re welcome Katie.
Speaker 8 (28:10):
Yeah, Katie, come in morning, talk up. Um, so follow up on the, the reaching new audiences. Um, CrossFit typically, like the grassroots vision I feel like has been very focused on endemic brands and like getting brands like foreign primitive or, you know, even noble brands that typically are surrounding CrossFit. They’re their time. Um, when you talk about reaching new audiences, how does that compete with or how do you manage like giving endemic brands their time of Shine can also reaching new audiences with things with Monster, with things like whatever else is on the table. Does that make sense?
Speaker 6 (28:50):
Yeah, it does. I think so. And you can follow up on answer the right question. Um, I think it’s a balancing act and so I think where we’ve been as a company is we’ve had some terrific non edemic brands that have really amplified CrossFit. Um, so our former former title sponsor of the CrossFit games brought CrossFit all over Europe, introduced it to a lot of new audiences. And I think CrossFit, our gyms are the beneficiaries of that. Um, we have to be really judicious about that too. Sometimes the brands that are not, they’re very large. Um, we have to make sure that we’re really wise about are they aligned with our core values as a company, are they aligned with the value of our stakeholders or athletes? Are they aligned with our affiliates? Are they align with our methodology? Which is kind of the central part for us.
(29:33):
Um, this year I think we’ve taken a really, really kind of reflective approach to making sure that we’re not just chasing big for the sake of big, but we’re actually trying to create a really good brand fit. Um, so we’re happy with some of the newer deals that we’ve signed. The US Army has been awesome. We’re not just in a partnership with, which is just transactional. We’re educating soldiers, we’re helping them with their a ACF T scores. We’re trying to help improve their lethality and their operational readiness. At the same time, we’re trying to educate more soldiers.
The above transcript is generated using AI technology and therefore may contain errors.
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