Pro Cycling Discussion Thread 2015

Jimbeam3678 said:
Serious question why/how is the sport on the verge of financial meltdown?
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Where does cycling revenue come from?
For the teams its sponsorship and prize money. Prize money is relatively small even for marquee events and its normally split amongst the riders. Sponsorship is hard to come by. Cycling is still a minority interest sport and therefore sponsor exposure is limited. The reputation of the sport is still tarnished and lurches from one doping crisis to another - hardly attractive ground for brands that spend years and millions developing their image. Look at the recent churn in teams at the World Tour level nevermind the lower leagues. The Tdf is also so dominant that sponsors consider that exposure is only mainstream for 3 weeks of the year - that represents poor value.

Unlike other sports its almost impossible for teams to leverage revenues from a fan base because its impossible for fans to pledge support to a team when its identity is constantly changing. You also have the strange quirk that fans don't see it as cool to wear team kit so shirt revenues a'la football for example is irrelevant.

Consider the churn in recent seasons

Rabobank withdraw, Belkin come in for one season > team disbands
Europcar manage to secure one more year from title sponsor but cant raise enough money for World Tour status so have to drop out.
Liquigas Cannondale forced to merge with Garmin cutting the roster and shedding another 30 riders out the World Tour level.
Eusakatel Euskadi - lose title sponsor and can't do a deal with Fernando Alonso to take over. Team disbands
Vacances Soliel - title sponsor pulls out and can't be replaced. Team disbands

Thats ignoring the constant change in title sponsor for the other teams. Argos Shimano > Giant Alpecin. Radio =shack Nissan > Trek Factory Racing. etc

ASO hold exclusive broadcast rights over the major tours and one day races. RCS are the Italian equivalent for the Giro. Races are expensive to put on with towns and cities, provinces helping fund the race by bidding for stage finishes in the hope it boosts tourism. Its expensive and ASO and RCS are not swamped with applicants due to the financial implications involved with the logistics. The organisers of the other races in the calendar are also battling a very challenging business model to put on the events. There is even doubt about the future of staples such as Paris Nice

A key fact is also that cycling is free to watch. There is no spectator revenue as in most other sports. TV revenues are largely retained by ASO and RCS which is something that the teams are unhappy with as they see that as revenues are increasing this is not being shared with the teams to support the development of the sport.

The UCI made a profit of £1,3m in 2013. Not bad but not a lot to fight doping and stay ahead of the cheaters let alone challenge the likes of Astana in the Court of Arbitrations for Sport. The CIRC report cost about £2m and told us naff all!!

So all in all you can see that cycling is not an easy sport to sustain.
 
Calpol, absolutely fantastic summary. Good read, and thanks for the figures, didn't know it was so little for the UCI as a whole!
 
Calpol said:
Where does cycling revenue come from?
For the teams its sponsorship and prize money. Prize money is relatively small even for marquee events and its normally split amongst the riders. Sponsorship is hard to come by. Cycling is still a minority interest sport and therefore sponsor exposure is limited. The reputation of the sport is still tarnished and lurches from one doping crisis to another - hardly attractive ground for brands that spend years and millions developing their image. Look at the recent churn in teams at the World Tour level nevermind the lower leagues. The Tdf is also so dominant that sponsors consider that exposure is only mainstream for 3 weeks of the year - that represents poor value.

Unlike other sports its almost impossible for teams to leverage revenues from a fan base because its impossible for fans to pledge support to a team when its identity is constantly changing. You also have the strange quirk that fans don't see it as cool to wear team kit so shirt revenues a'la football for example is irrelevant.

Consider the churn in recent seasons

Rabobank withdraw, Belkin come in for one season > team disbands
Europcar manage to secure one more year from title sponsor but cant raise enough money for World Tour status so have to drop out.
Liquigas Cannondale forced to merge with Garmin cutting the roster and shedding another 30 riders out the World Tour level.
Eusakatel Euskadi - lose title sponsor and can't do a deal with Fernando Alonso to take over. Team disbands
Vacances Soliel - title sponsor pulls out and can't be replaced. Team disbands

Thats ignoring the constant change in title sponsor for the other teams. Argos Shimano > Giant Alpecin. Radio =shack Nissan > Trek Factory Racing. etc

ASO hold exclusive broadcast rights over the major tours and one day races. RCS are the Italian equivalent for the Giro. Races are expensive to put on with towns and cities, provinces helping fund the race by bidding for stage finishes in the hope it boosts tourism. Its expensive and ASO and RCS are not swamped with applicants due to the financial implications involved with the logistics. The organisers of the other races in the calendar are also battling a very challenging business model to put on the events. There is even doubt about the future of staples such as Paris Nice

A key fact is also that cycling is free to watch. There is no spectator revenue as in most other sports. TV revenues are largely retained by ASO and RCS which is something that the teams are unhappy with as they see that as revenues are increasing this is not being shared with the teams to support the development of the sport.

The UCI made a profit of £1,3m in 2013. Not bad but not a lot to fight doping and stay ahead of the cheaters let alone challenge the likes of Astana in the Court of Arbitrations for Sport. The CIRC report cost about £2m and told us naff all!!

So all in all you can see that cycling is not an easy sport to sustain.
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They need to change the business model. Teams should get a percentage of TV rights and the ASO stranglehold needs to be broken. Sadly, as much as we love it, Pro Cycling will just never have the same mainstream appeal as football, rugby or F1.
 
It's not like F1 popularity is exactly thriving either. The advances they made in broadcast quality definitely improved the experience for fans, but it didn't really increase the fanbase.
 
#Chri5# said:
Great stage on the Dauphine yesterday. What a lesson in descending :cool:
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Absolutely fantastic to watch, I loved it. Romain Bardet has just placed himself firmly in amongst my favourite riders list with that performance. The best attack and then descent we have seen by far this year.

He was 6th GC at the tour last year and spent a lot of time in the white jersey.
Coming into this year a 6th at LBL, 9th in the Romandie GC and now a stage win and in the white at Dauphine.... 24 years old. Looking at a potential future GT winner in this guy, he's awesome.

Froome attack didn't hold much weight yesterday, he had no answer to Tejay but in the interview after said he felt good and the legs were great. Don't think he is all there yet, but this ties in with peaking for the tour and using this as a build up very well. The ITV4 coverage hinted at this being a bit worrying perhaps but I think the opposite, we don't want to see Froome smashing it yet, that is not the plan and never would be. Boswell was a BEAST yesterday also!
 
Man the TV coverage needs to start earlier, apparently todays stage is going mental. Nibali is in a big name breakaway over 3mins in front of the peloton and there was been various attacks and battles including Valverde, Nibali and Froome..... As usual the TV coverage going to start and we have missed all the action :(
 
xdcx said:
The ITV4 coverage hinted at this being a bit worrying perhaps but I think the opposite, we don't want to see Froome smashing it yet, that is not the plan and never would be. Boswell was a BEAST yesterday also!
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Why do you say that? Usually the CdD is a measure of form ahead of the TdF. Brad smashed it out of the park the year he won for example. Froome should be winning this race IMHO. It's not the be all and end all, I do except that, but to say it's not concerning is not true.
 
Eh, that's just one of those sayings that's been said so much people assume it's true without really having any real basis in reality. More times than not the winner hasn't gone on to win the TdF, and sure you can try to use it to judge rider's form but you can say the same of literally any other race and get the same mixed results with riders targeting different things and peaking at different times of the year.

Just enjoy it for what it is, it's a great race in itself and the top spot is a huge honour without the pressure of the TdF.
 
great stage marred by **** tv coverage. How the hell did BMC and Sky allow a break away with Nibali and Valverde? Staggering really. Much as I distrust Astana I do like Nibbles and the way he rides. He always tries things and isnt reliant on his team putting on the hurt before making his move. Sks's attritional tactics are a bore thats why it was refreshing to see Kennaugh make a move.
 
George Hincapie said:
Why do you say that? Usually the CdD is a measure of form ahead of the TdF. Brad smashed it out of the park the year he won for example. Froome should be winning this race IMHO. It's not the be all and end all, I do except that, but to say it's not concerning is not true.
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I am basing it on primarily the Nibali attitude we seen yesterday when he straight up bailed on the bunch on the climb to save himself. You would not see a rider of that status doing so on the tour. He even commented today on interview saying he has the yellow, but this is not the yellow he wants to win again.

I do not think performance wise it is a concern. Based on yesterdays comments you have quoted, Nibali had a terrible day, Froome lost out to Tejay but then look at today, Nibali was a beast and Froomey got a 1-up on Tejay..... True is the fact high placing GC guys on this go on to do well in the tour, but it's still a bit of, these guys are not peaking for this so I still maintain it is not a massive concern as ITV hinted at, kind of, sort of :p

2 words though. Simon Yates!!!! :cool::cool::cool:
 
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