Life Time's End Game
The strategic value of the Life Time Grand Prix
Last week, Life Time announced major financial updates to the Life Time Grand Prix (LTGP) for 2026. The off-road series will keep the same roster of events from 2025, but the prize purse will rise from $380,000 to $590,000, making it one of the largest in professional cycling. The increase highlights how quickly the series has grown since its launch in 2022, when the total purse was just $250,000.
The series has been an undeniable success in elevating professional racing in the U.S., bringing off-road and gravel events further into the mainstream. Still, even with consistent increases in prize money, it raises an important question: is the series actually profitable for Life Time?
In recent years, both pros and cycling media have speculated that the Grand Prix might not be a direct financial win for the company. Life Time has never released official financials for the series, which makes the question even more intriguing, what exactly is Life Time’s motive behind running the Grand Prix?
By looking at publicly available financial data, some rough estimates, and personal observations, I’ll explore where Life Time might be steering the Grand Prix. While the true financial picture may never be clear, we can still examine the broader strategic impact the series has on Life Time as a business.
A brief history of the Life Time Grand Prix
Branded as “the premiere off-road cycling series,” the LTGP consists of six unique bike races. While the lineup has changed slightly over the years, featured events have included:
Sea Otter Classic (both MTB and gravel disciplines have been used)
UNBOUND Gravel
Leadville Trail 100 MTB
Crusher in the Tushar
The RAD Dirt Fest
Chequamegon MTB
Little Sugar MTB
Big Sugar Gravel
The series launched in 2022 and wrapped up its fourth edition earlier this month with the Big Sugar Classic.
What makes the LTGP stand out from other race series is its exclusivity and its emphasis on equality. Only a select group of athletes, typically 25 men and 25 women, are selected to compete for the overall prize purse, which is split evenly between the men’s and women’s fields.
In just four years, the LTGP has become widely recognized as the leading platform for gravel racing in the U.S. and beyond. The series has helped propel riders like Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez Villafañe into the mainstream and created career opportunities for athletes who previously struggled to find teams or sponsors.
The series has solidified itself as a legitimate professional pursuit and a cornerstone of off-road cycling. Yet, even with its growing prestige, one question remains: how does the series fit into Life Time’s broader business strategy?
The Grand Prix doesn’t exist in isolation
To understand the goals and motivations behind the LTGP, it’s essential to first recognize that the series represents only a small piece of Life Time’s much larger business portfolio.
Life Time’s primary business
Life Time’s core business revolves around operating high-end health clubs and wellness spaces built around a holistic approach to fitness. The company is publicly traded, and in 2024 it reported $2.62 billion in revenue and $1.23 billion in gross profit.
Memberships, premium fitness services, and on-site purchases remain the foundation of Life Time’s business model and strategic focus. Anyone who reads or listens to the company’s earnings calls or board meetings will notice that the LTGP is rarely mentioned, if at all.
Amid the introduction of AI to the fitness industry, Life Time is more focused than ever on these core competencies.
The board of directors, composed of Life Time CEO Bahram Akradi and executives from large private equity firms and corporations, focuses on the big picture: maximizing profit and shareholder value. Keep that in mind as we explore how the LTGP fits into the company’s strategy.
Life Time Events
A sub-division of the company, Life Time Events, manages the organization’s entire portfolio of athletic events, including the LTGP. This division oversees more than 30 events across the U.S., spanning running and cycling disciplines.
Even when you include all six races in the LTGP, they still represent a relatively small portion of Life Time’s total events portfolio.
The side project Life Time continues to invest in
From a financial standpoint, it’s safe to say that the LTGP contributes only a negligible percentage of Life Time’s total revenue. Yet, despite its limited direct impact, the company continues to invest heavily in expanding the series. Clearly, the LTGP provides value in ways that aren’t immediately visible on the balance sheet.
To dig deeper, I analyzed Life Time’s publicly available financial data to draw some rough conclusions about how the Grand Prix might indirectly benefit the company.
A financial analysis of Life Time
Since Life Time is a publicly traded company, all of its financial statements are available to the public under SEC regulations. However, that doesn’t mean it’s easy to find granular details about specific revenue sources.
Across Life Time’s historical financial statements—including income statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, and ratios—there’s really only one metric that offers any insight into the LTGP’s financial impact: Other Revenue.
The LTGP falls under Life Time Events and does not represent a core revenue stream for the company, so it appears under Other Revenue rather than Business Revenue. It’s important to note that Other Revenue includes much more than Life Time Events, which is worth keeping in mind as we analyze this category.
Despite being a relatively small segment, Other Revenue is growing steadily with impressive year-over-year performance:
Other Revenue Growth:
FY 2022: $53.0M (LTGP launch year)
FY 2023: $62.3M (+$9.2M, +17.4%)
FY 2024: $74.3M (+$12.1M, +19.4%)
The consistent growth in alternative revenue streams highlights that even smaller parts of Life Time’s business can present meaningful opportunities. But how much is the LTGP contributing to Other Revenue?
To get a rough estimate, I looked at the total number of participants across the six races featured in the 2024 edition of the LTGP. This calculation doesn’t account for merchandise sales or add-on packages, but it offers a reasonable approximation of direct event revenue.
2024 Participation Estimates for LTGP events:
Sea Otter Classic: 7,000 participants
UNBOUND Gravel: 5,000 participants
Leadville MTB 100: 2,000 participants
The RAD: 1,000 participants
Chequamegon MTB: 3,000 participants
Big Sugar Gravel: 2,000 participants
That’s roughly 20,000 participants across the series. Assuming an average registration fee of $225, the LTGP likely generated around $4.5 million in event revenue. Including sponsorships and other auxiliary streams, it’s possible for 2024 LTGP revenue to fall between $5–7 million. That roughly translates to the LTGP generating ~8% of Other Revenue.
Considering Life Time’s $2.62 billion in revenue, it’s clear that Other Revenue represents only a tiny fraction of the company’s overall income.
Other Revenue as % of Total Revenue:
FY 2022: 2.91%
FY 2023: 2.81%
FY 2024: 2.84%
Other Revenue is negligible compared to Life Time’s core business, and it’s likely that the LTGP accounts for less than 1% of total revenue. With the company’s Cost of Revenue exceeding $1.3 billion in 2024, it’s plausible that the LTGP operates at a loss. For context, if just 1% of the Cost of Revenue is attributed to Other Revenue, that would amount to $13 million in costs.
The LTGP is the flagship of Life Time Events, and it likely consumes more resources than other races, which increases the chance that the series generates losses rather than profits.
Of course, this is speculative and built on several assumptions, but if it’s even partially accurate, it raises interesting questions about the purpose, benefits, and long-term viability of the series.
Fiduciary duty raises interesting questions
It’s difficult to determine how profitable (or unprofitable) the LTGP truly is, but it’s clear that Life Time sees enough value to continue investing more capital into the series and improving its production quality. If we assume the series is unprofitable or only marginally profitable, then Life Time operates under tighter constraints than many other race organizers.
As a public company, Life Time’s board of directors has a legal fiduciary duty to make decisions that serve the best interests of investors. Given that the LTGP represents such a small portion of the company’s overall revenue, it’s unlikely to face intense scrutiny from the board. However, it also won’t be granted unlimited freedom by the senior executives overseeing Life Time Events, who ultimately report to that same board.
Perhaps five years was the original trial period envisioned for the series, but given its continued growth and recognition, it seems the LTGP is here to stay. The question now becomes: how is the LTGP strategically valuable to Life Time if it is very costly to produce?
Differentiation and strategic impact
In the world of luxury fitness, Life Time and Equinox sit at the top. Both market themselves as full lifestyle brands that offer far more than a traditional gym experience. While Equinox’s financials aren’t publicly available, recent investments suggest they’re keeping pace with Life Time’s year-over-year growth.
As U.S. consumers face economic headwinds, competitive advantages will determine which high-end brand comes out ahead. With both companies pushing to own the “lifestyle fitness” identity, the Life Time Grand Prix gives Life Time a distinct edge.
Life Time Events, and especially the LTGP, attract endurance athletes who might not traditionally be gym-goers. In 2024 alone, Life Time’s cycling and off-road events drew roughly 20,000 participants, introducing thousands of potential new customers to the brand. If just 5% of those participants converted to full-time members (assuming the standard $300 monthly member fee), Life Time would generate roughly $3.6 million in new recurring annual revenue.
When you expand that potential across the 30-plus athletic events Life Time owns, the business case becomes even stronger. Members also gain easier access to these events, creating a compelling reason to join.
By integrating endurance events with membership incentives, Life Time is not only generating event-based revenue but also building long-term membership growth. Together, this creates the differentiation Life Time needs to position itself as the premier full-spectrum fitness brand.
Life Time Events and the LTGP are investments
With its ability to reach and convert new consumers into Life Time members, the value of the LTGP becomes even clearer. Marquee events like UNBOUND Gravel and the Leadville Trail 100 MTB draw international attention, making the series an exceptional marketing platform for Life Time. Personally, I had never heard of the company until I began following the LTGP.
As the series continues to attract more attention, investment, and sponsorship, the LTGP is becoming an appreciating asset within Life Time’s broader ecosystem — one that builds brand equity, strengthens community engagement, and fuels long-term growth.
Outcomes for the LTGP
An outcome that can’t be ignored is the possible discontinuation of the series. The LTGP relies on consumers having disposable income and time to participate in its events. With economic headwinds already affecting the cycling industry, it’s unfortunate but possible that newer series like the LTGP could struggle to thrive in the already niche U.S. cycling market.
Assuming the series is generating meaningful revenue, or at least on the path to, it seems there are two logical outcomes for its future. Either Life Time continues to grow the series to drive more direct revenue from sponsorships, event registrations, and membership conversions, or they eventually sell the rights to another title sponsor.
Given the LTGP’s ability to attract major sponsors, increase participation year over year, and reach a wider audience, Life Time retaining ownership remains the most likely and lucrative outcome. At this point, the series likely doesn’t generate enough direct revenue from participation and sponsorships to command a high acquisition value. For the LTGP to become an appealing investment for another company—and for Life Time to justify parting with a reliable revenue stream—it would need to continue expanding and significantly increase revenue over the next 5–10 years.
At the end of the day, the LTGP elevates Life Time’s brand in ways that broader events can’t:
Elite athlete association: Pro cyclists racing Life Time events
Premium positioning: “serious athlete” brand vs. “casual fitness”
Media coverage: Cycling media coverage (VeloNews, Escape Collective, etc.)
Social proof: Attracting the cycling community to Life Time clubs
Depending how the 2026 edition of the LTGP unfolds, it will be very interesting how Life Time continues to invest in its appreciating asset.
Ride and rip,
Kyle Dawes
Nice piece, as always, Kyle!
The LTGP/Life Time Events play reminds me of what Amazon does with Prime.
Prime, over time, developed into a competitively priced bundle of offerings and services that, on first sight, had little overlap with Amazon's core ecommerce business. And yet, by including free premium shipping in particular, Amazon ensured that prime members use their shop/marketplace more regularly and spend significantly more.
Of course Life Time's events business, by virtue of existing in the bricks and mortar world and having a different business model, is different from prime in many respects, including not generating ARR (in that sense it's almost a "reverse prime", as it aims to convert people to their ARR core business). Philosophically, though, the two strike me as related.
It would be interesting to know if Lifetime has tools in place to measure the impact of their events on their membership business. While you write if "just" 5% of participant become members, that would be a massively successful conversion rate, imho, don't you think? Also, I think it could play a role in retention/churn reduction (give people who sign up for the gym some fun goals so they keep coming back).