Competitor Group, Inc.
| Privately held company | |
| Industry | Sports marketing and Event management |
| Founded | 2007 |
| Headquarters | Mira Mesa, San Diego, California |
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Key people
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Josh Furlow CEO |
| Products | Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series, Competitor magazine, Triathlete magazine, VeloNews, Women's Running |
| Owner | Calera Capital |
| Website | www.competitorgroup.com |
Competitor Group, Inc. (CGI) is a privately held, for-profit, sports marketing and management company based in Mira Mesa, San Diego, California. The company owns and operates over 40 large scale running, cycling, and triathlon events; of which includes the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series. Additionally, the company produces four publications, Competitor magazine; Triathlete magazine; VeloNews; and Women's Running that have a collective circulation of over 700,000. They also own VeloPress, the company's book publishing division. The company is owned by a private equity firm, Calera Capital.
Competitor Group was formed by Falconhead Capital at the end of 2007 when the firm acquired Elite Racing, an operator of running events in the United States, as well as La Jolla Holding Group, LLC (Triathlete magazine) and Competitor Publishing. In 2008, Falconhead Capital acquired Inside Communications, Inc., owners of VeloNews, Inside Triathlon, adding them to the CGI business portfolio. In November 2012, CGI was sold to the private equity firm Calera Capital.
With the acquisition of Elite Racing, CGI rapidly expanded its event production with the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series. In addition to the races already produced under Elite Racing, CGI has purchased under-performing marathon and half-marathon races as well as starting new races around the United States, sometimes receiving large tax breaks in the process.
In January 2014, Competitor Group announced that it would cease publication of Inside Triathlon. Originally called Triathlon Today, the magazine was purchased by Inside Communication in 1993 and was a competitor to La Jolla Holding Group's Triathlete magazine. With both magazine now under one ownership the emphasis of CGI was placed on Triathlete. Later, in July 2014, CGI announced their desire to focus on the running portion of their product portfolio. As a result, they plan to explore opportunities to sell their Velo, VeloPress and TriRock brands, but plan to retain Triathlete magazine.
In September 2014, Competitor Group was sued in federal court for violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act, claiming that it should pay a minimum wage to those it classified as volunteers in a for-profit race.
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