Coronavirus Wave Spreads Through CrossFit Sanctionals Season

Editor’s Note: Morning Chalk Up staff are working hard to provide timely, accurate and relevant information about the coronavirus and its effects on the community. As events are unfolding quickly, stories may, at times, be out of date based on new information. We will work hard to update stories accordingly.

In the past 48 hours, six sanctioned events have been forced to close as a result of government bans on large gatherings. This brings the total to seven postponed events to date, with others closely monitoring the situation and communicating with local health authorities.

The bottom line: There will not be a CrossFit Sanctional for at least a month when the Mid-Atlantic’s April 17-19 event is scheduled to take place. Right now, events in DC over 1,000 people are canceled until March 31. After that, the next scheduled event is the Rogue Invitational from May 13-15. It’s within the realm of possibility that we don’t have a sanctioned event for upwards of two months.

• Mid-Atlantic’s Update: “At this time, we continue to remain in close contact with DC officials and there are no changes to the outlook of the Main Event. In the event that anything changes, we will post an announcement on our social media channels as early as possible.”
• Rogue’s update: “The Invitational team is actively monitoring the situation as it changes daily, and will continue to seek the guidance of those in government and the medical community going forward. We are planning our next decision milestone date for April 15th.”

One big thing: With all the news about canceled competitions, the grand effect this is having on the affiliate small business community is being understated. The truth is that individual affiliates are going to face difficult times financially especially in countries or areas where citizens have been ordered to stay home like in Italy.

• CrossFit HQ is trying to ease the financial burden on affected affiliates “in areas where nationwide government suspension of training activities” is going into effect.
• HQ is halting “affiliate payments in those areas” where individuals “are barred from gathering in the box.”

The big picture: This is a rapidly changing environment that is going to have far-reaching effects on the sport. Here are a few observations based on conversations across the industry.

• The financial ramifications of this are going to be significant on event organizers, sponsors and athletes. Between flights and hotel costs, event production, shipping and staffing costs that go into these Sanctionals, the loss of revenue is going to be felt in the industry.
• Finding replacement dates will be a serious hurdle. It’s not like organizers can pick a date on the calendar. There’s a trickle-down effect happening at each one of these host sites as other events also cancel.
• There’s only so much CrossFit HQ can do. HQ staff is communicating closely with the organizers of upcoming events in an effort to offer support and coordination in picking future dates.
• The CrossFit Games is still planning to go forward. It’s a bit too early to predict what will happen in the next four and a half months. Aside from the team competition, about 95% of the individual athlete field has already been selected.
• A lot of these decisions are outside of the organizers’ control. National, state and local officials are calling a lot of the shots about what events or gatherings are allowed and when.

Status of current scheduled Sanctionals now through the end of May.

• March 13-15: CrossFit Atlas Games — Postponed, Date TBD.
• March 20-22: West Coast Classic — Postponed, Date TBD.
• March 28-29: CrossFit German Throwdown — Postponed, Date TBD.
• April 3-5: Reykjavik CrossFit Championship — Postponed to June 5-7.
• April 8-11: ELFIT CrossFit Championship — Postponed to June.
• April 17-19: Mid-Atlantic CrossFit Challenge — Planned as scheduled.
• April 24-26: CrossFit Italian Showdown — Postponed, Date TBD
• May 8-10: Asia CrossFit Championship — Postponed to July 3-5
• May 15-17: Rogue Invitational — Planned as scheduled. Next decision date 4/15.
• May 22-24: Down Under CrossFit Championship — Planned as scheduled.
• May 22-24: Madrid CrossFit Championship — Planned as scheduled.
• May 29-31: The CrossFit Lowlands Throwdown — Planned as scheduled.