Crossfit Already Looking Past the Games and into the Off Season

Towards the end of Thursday night’s Dave Castro said something that peaked my interest when he quickly mentioned some of the plans that HQ had for the upcoming off season. In years past there has been a significant “Games Hangover.” That means basically that the sport disapears for several months following the Games in July. There's very little news out of HQ, very few competitions and little to no buzz. I almost compare the CF yearly rotation to most Olympic sports. For three years they're totally out of sight, then one year we're all supposed to care and then they vanish again. For the past couple years Crossfit has been comparably cyclical, building in excitement and momentum from January to July, then falling off a cliff right after the Games.

We’ll normally get video clips of the events at the affiliate Big Sky event and the past two years they’ve started the USA vs. the World competition but that’s really all Crossfit HQ has had to offer from basically late July through the end of the year. During that time most athletes dive into off season training programs that center on getting stronger or shoring up individual weaknesses, not to mention allowing time for their bodies to recover from the grind that Games preparation demands. While that down time and off season training is necessary, it frankly sucks if you're a fan of the sport. While it’s an unfair comparison, I look at how the NFL manages to stay top of mind all year round despite their season only running from August to February. The NFL is the top of the sports pyramid in the US, so why not try to copy some of their methods? There are ways that Crossfit could stay on the 'front burner' during the off season, so what can Crossfit HQ do to change this recent trend?

As always, Dave Castro has the answer and he gave us a tiny glimpse into that plan at the conclusion of Thursday night’s broadcast. He mentioned that they had plans for the off season that included head to head competitions with “big cash prizes” and some team competitions where “super teams” would be allowed. Now both of those declarations are extremely vague and don’t tell us much more than “hey we’ve got some ideas we’re kicking around,” but at least we have this faint promise that Crossfit won’t go totally dark for six months. While that news brought instant excitement, I also wondered what the motivation was behind the announcement.

It’s perfectly plausible that HQ has had these plans all along and that this off season plan was simply the next evolution in a quickly growing sport. The conspiracy theorist in me though started to wonder if HQ wasn’t already feeling the tiniest bit of pressure or competition from Tony Budding’s new creation, the National Pro Fitness League (if you’re not familiar with this, I’ve written an article HERE, or check out their website as well). The NPFL could turn these CF athletes into true “professionals” by paying them a salary per game or match. While I’m sure this won’t be life changing money, it’ll be more than absolutely nothing which what 95% of Crossfit athletes currently earn through the sport. The NPFL is also going to start up a month after the Games which allows time for athletes to recover before starting up a new season. It’ll be interesting to see how the upper level athletes who end up signing with the NPFL are included in any off season CF HQ events. Honestly I don’t really think the motivation behind the announcement matters though because competition usually is better for the consumer, which of course is of the most interest to yours truly.

I hope that the NPFL does force Crossfit HQ to step up their game in the off season and I like the idea that HQ is already trying to make it more difficult on the NPFL. Competition, be it Briggs vs Valenzuela or Crossfit vs NPFL, is a good thing and it has me very excited for the months following the Games this year.