Sanctional Cancelation Tally Hits Nine, CanWest CrossFit Championship Sheds Light on Financial Landscape for Hosts

The CanWest CrossFit Championship alerted registered athletes on Friday via email, that its Sanctioned event was officially canceled for the 2019-2020 season. It was originally scheduled to take place in Vancouver, British Columbia on June 5-7, but had already been postponed without announcing a new date. Nine Sanctionals have now been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

One big thing: As with earlier cancelations, this puts the CanWest CrossFit Championship in a dire financial position. The email that CanWest organizers sent to competitors used some of the most direct language related to their financial position that we’ve seen from an event yet. It read “If 3 out of 10 people request an immediate refund, CanWest will go bankrupt and there will not be a 2021, or any future events.”

The financial picture: The email to competitors stated that while refunds will be offered, there are also several different options that can help them to stave off bankruptcy, including delaying the refund, bumping registration to 2021 and avoid re-qualifying, or finding a replacement athlete. CanWest has created a webpage with all of those details (they are also outlined below).

•  From the email, “Our goal has always been to keep you as informed as possible. In keeping with that sentiment, we would like to fill you in on the reality of our current situation. The primary reason that we cannot offer refunds to every single Athlete is very simple: the event is almost entirely paid for and ready to go.”
• “Most of these fees are completely non-refundable to us and are only transferable to the future event. This includes: the venue, which costs almost a third of Athlete registration, Volunteer and Athlete swag, travel and accommodation for the Volunteer event team, catering for volunteers, security, the CanWest App, equipment, signage, the CrossFit Sanctioning fee, and much more,” it continued.  
• “Unfortunately, at this time, we do not have the Sponsorship funds to be able to help us pay for the steep event costs. We rely heavily on Athlete registration to be able to host CanWest.”

What are the options for registered athletes?

• Keep the registration fee with CanWest and it will automatically transfer to 2021, no qualification necessary. Athletes will also have first access to spots in a different division in 2021.
• Withdraw, but leave the registration fee with CanWest. Any funds left with CanWest go directly back into the competition.
• Find an athlete replacement (the deadline for this is March 1, 2021).
• Request a delayed refund. Delaying refunds until early-2021 will help to ensure CanWest’s financial solvency.
• Request an immediate refund (the deadline for this May 19, 2020).