Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race: the businesses making it a success.

AuthorWhite, Rindi
PositionVISITOR INDUSTRY

If the work of the Iditarod Trail Committee were limited to simply staging the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, it could be accomplished in roughly four and a half months of dedicated work by a crew of about five full-time staff, five independent contractors, and scads of volunteers to make Alaska's own Superbowl-class sporting event, the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, a success.

But long after the dogs are back at their respective kennels and every musher who raced is back home dreaming of how their team can improve for next year's race, the work of Iditarod Trail Committee and its staff continues on.

Stan Hooley, the long-time Iditarod executive director, jokes that his job keeps him busy fourteen months a year. Hooley is ultimately responsible for everything Iditarod-related, but he says his primary focus is raising money to keep the race running. It's no small task--last year the race had a $4 million budget.

"The only reason we exist is to meet our objective of staging the world's premier sled-dog race, so naturally, a big part of our focus--our human effort--is directed there," he says. "It's never the same goal as the year before. The expectation is that we grow every year. For the most part, we have been successful at that."

The twice-yearly Iditarod Raffle, in which four Ram pickups and a long list of other goods and services are awarded to people who buy the limited number of $100 tickets, are key fund-raisers, Hooley says, but it's not where most of the money it takes to stage the race comes from.

"Sponsorship is the biggest piece of our revenue pie, by a long shot," he says.

Nearly 40 percent of the Iditarod Trail Committee's funds in 2014 came from sponsors. Raffles and gaming, at 14 percent, comprised the next-largest revenue stream, followed by special events and merchandise sold in the two Iditarod gift shops (one in Wasilla, one in Anchorage) and through its website.

With sponsorship as the largest revenue stream, Hooley says that's where most of his time and effort is spent.

"The development of those all-important sponsor relationships, taking care of existing sponsors, negotiating new deals with broadcasters ... and also finding new sponsors, we're doing that on a year-round basis."

Iditarod: Synonymous with Alaska

Hooley's task could be overwhelming, except that most Alaskans are strong supporters of the race and, by extension, so are the twenty-seven businesses that partner with Iditarod to make the race a success.

"Of the nearly thirty sponsors we have in this race, they all have a different reason to be a part of it," Hooley says. "Some use it to promote a certain product; some use it to build relationships with clients or important customers; others use it to build employee morale by getting their employees involved." For Anchorage Chrysler Dodge Center, one of the race's longest-running sponsors, the match is symbiotic.

"The dealership has been in business since 1963," says Chuck Talsky, owner of Husky Advertising...

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