CrossFit Games Returns to Aromas, Could Go Digital

CrossFit dropped a pretty wild bomb last night about the 2020 CrossFit Games. We’ll spend most of the show on that, plus a long list of honorable mentions.

Friday, April 17th, 2020

CrossFit dropped a pretty wild bomb last night about the 2020 CrossFit Games, so we’ll spend most of the show on that, plus a long list of honorable mentions.

Good morning and welcome to the WODDITY podcast for news about CrossFit. We are a daily podcast, Monday through Friday, doing CrossFit news in five minutes or less.

My name is Ben Garves and today is Friday, the 17th of April, 2020. 

CrossFit Games Updates

Okay, so here are some of the breaking news headlines we’ve seen pop up over the past 12 hours:

“CrossFit Games no longer in Madison; plans to have virtual competition or live event without fans” -Channel3000“CrossFit Games canceled in Madison due to coronavirus pandemic” -WMTV15“CrossFit Games Focused On Holding Event At The Ranch, Virtual Options” -Morning Chalk Up“Coronavirus forces CrossFit Games 2020 behind closed doors to avoid cancellation; competition moves to California” -South China Morning Post“CrossFit Games Moved, Fan Experience Cancelled” -WODDITY

And, most importantly, “2020 Reebok CrossFit Games: Aromas, California” by CrossFit, Inc.

There’s not a lot to expand on right now, so I’ll give you the full text from CrossFit’s press release. CrossFit writes:

“We remain fully committed to planning a live competition with live media coverage. At this point, we are concentrating on a competition in Aromas, the original home of the CrossFit Games. We are also evaluating options for virtual competition. We will continue to monitor events globally and will have more details for athletes and fans in the coming months.

The Games will not be a public event. Due to sweeping decisions to ban large festivals and sporting events for the foreseeable future, we are suspending the on-site spectator experience for this year. For fans who have purchased tickets, camping, or hospitality packages, Ticketmaster, who holds these payments until after any physical event, will be issuing full refunds. CrossFit will be issuing full refunds to exhibitors.”

I’ll be doing a deep, deep, DEEP dive into what this means for athletes, fans, press, Madison, Aromas, and CrossFit this weeked on the Elite Sports Insider live show. If you haven’t followed the WODDITY YouTube channel, now is probably the time. I’ll put a link to it in the show notes and at WODDITY.com, but you can also find it by searching YouTube for “WODDITY” or “Ben Garves”

At the very least, it’s great to see that CrossFit is taking safety and health concerns seriously, that tickets will be fully refunded, and that they are fully committed to making sure fans still have access to the event this year, even if it’s purely in a live stream capacity.

Honorable Mentions

I have a long list of honorable mentions because it was actually a pretty big news day, but nothing supersedes a 2020 CrossFit Games update, unfortunately. As always, links to these stories are in the show notes of your friendly neighborhood podcasting app, along with on WODDITY.com.

I never thought I’d say this in a million years, but Tia-Clair Toomey and Mat Fraser were bumped for bigger stories. They were featured in Women’s Health and Men’s Health, respectively, for how they’re training in isolation.CrossFit wants to remind everyone they have a full stable of online courses available while we’re sitting around. This includes L1, L2, programming, anatomy, dumbbells, spotting flaws, running, and more.ROMWOD is matching $25,000 in donations for the Support Your Local Box campaign. I just did the second workout yesterday and I’m fully convinced CrossFit doesn’t need any barbells. It’s not too late to join and donate to a box of your choice. Workouts aren’t due until the 24th. You can enroll at games.crossfit.com/openI’ll be digging into this on Elite Sports Insider this weekend, but The Independent wrote a cool article titled, “Why not even coronavirus can halt the relentless rise of CrossFit”. Read it so we can have a deep conversation on my “Opinions from the Couch” segment.The Rogue Invitational is seeking feedback from athletes on how to best go about keeping the event, but with safe social distancing practices. This includes polling what kinds of equipment everyone has access to at home. Food for thought.

And last, we’ll close out with a moment of silence for CrossFit Prince George. They are closing their doors permanently because they cannot survive the business impact of the COVID19 outbreak. So, here’s to the countless lives you’ve impacted and people you’ve helped.

That’s it for news about CrossFit for Friday, April 17th. Thanks for listening. Please be sure to rate, review, subscribe, and share. For WODDITY, I’m Ben Garves. Behave yourselves out there.