The Financial Burden to Compete: Why Most Will Lose Money Competing at Wodapalooza

Leading up to a major CrossFit competition, the prize purse is often one of the major topics. From $310,000 to the CrossFit Games champion to $215,000 at the Rogue Invitational or $75,000 to the top individual finisher at this year’s Wodapalooza, the top prize gets the attention of athletes and fans alike.

The prize purse, however, is only one part of the equation for athletes who are competing at the elite level.

But what is often not discussed is the cost athletes incur to compete at these major off-season events. Hidden behind the big prize purse for the winner and a payout for the top finishers, those near the bottom of the leaderboard (and occasionally near the top) generally walk away with less than they came with.

While there are those lucky and/or talented enough to have sponsors help cover the costs to compete, there are way more Games-level athletes and those looking to break into the elite tier that have to foot the bill to travel around the country (or world) to compete at these off-season competitions. The one exception is the Rogue Invitational where athletes receive hotel accommodations and a travel stipend to attend the in-person competition in Austin, Texas.

With the first round of invites going out to the Wodapalooza Online Qualifiers yesterday, we decided to take a look at the costs the athletes are facing to compete in Miami this January.

For those who didn’t earn an automatic invitation, you must qualify through the WZAOC. It costs $20 plus a service fee to register.

After two weeks of the online qualifier and finishing six grueling scored workouts, you end up finishing in the top 20. You’re going to Miami!

But when the email comes through to register to compete at Wodapalooza, you realize there is a $390 registration fee plus fees. In total, it will cost $447.13 to register to compete in the individual elite division. Oh, and the registration is non-refundable.

And while this expense should not be a complete surprise since the registration cost was stated on page 13, Section E.i.i.ii, of the 2022-2023 Wodapalooza Rulebook, it did surprise and anger Phillip Muscarella who took to Instagram last night.

At this point, you have spent roughly $470 and you have not even booked your flight to Miami and hotel…

For the flight, the costs will obviously vary depending on where you live. Since I’d be flying out of Nashville, I looked up Southwest flights from BNA to MIA. I selected a departure on January 10, two days before the start of the competition and a January 14 departure, the day after the elite competition wraps up.

Luckily, Southwest has a Wanna Get Away option that keeps the flight costs relatively low. I chose the non-stop flights (because layovers are terrible) and the price tag was $281.97. But for those traveling internationally, the cost is significantly higher.

We are now up to $752, but don’t have a place to stay.

Fortunately, Wodapalooza shares a list of hotels nearby. In looking through the list, several were already booked. However, The Guild Downtown was still available and offered the “Wodapalooza Rate”. 

The Studio Suite sleeps 3 (rock, paper, scissors for who has to sleep on the pull-out sofa). The Wodapalooza Rate comes in at $318.60 per night plus all the taxes and fees. All-in, a four night stay will set you back $1,567.54.

That brings the total to $2,318!

Now add in transportation costs, whether it’s a car rental or Uber, food costs and additional airfare for those traveling with you and the all-in cost is going to be at least $3,000.

So if it’s going to cost roughly $3,000 to compete, how many athletes are going to actually make a profit at Wodapalooza?

A look at the prize purse shows that 8th place will receive $3,000. After expenses, it’s a wash at best. The elite field will likely be around 40 athletes in each division. That means that only 14 athletes (7 men and 7 women), or 18% of the field, will actually come out ahead by competing. The other 66+ athletes (33 men and 33 women) will most likely end up spending more than earn…just to compete at the highest level of CrossFit.

This isn’t just happening at Wodapalooza. The costs to compete at the Dubai CrossFit Championship will be higher in most cases due to international travel with 7th through 20th place paying only $500. There is a financial risk for athletes at all of the competitions as less than half the field will receive prize money that exceeds the cost to compete.

And that’s if the event organizers even pay out the promised prize purse.

The six and sometimes seven figure prize purses at the major competitions often draw the most attention, but for athletes it’s not all profit. And unfortunately, the financial cost to compete often outweighs the monetary award awaiting the athletes at the finish line.