The SKY is falling

[Gen]

I've said it before, French government needs to chip in.

TdF does flippen wonders for them in terms of marketing and tourism, and currently they get a free ride.

 

ASO should (at least threaten to) take the TdF to China for a year. Paris-Dakar doesn't go near either of those places anymore so its possible. See what happens then, money would be found.

ASO make fortunate from host towns/TV rights and sponsors for the privilege of being part of the TDF...the problem IS ASO.

[jdwet1980]

That new chinese team with a bigger budget than Sky, do they have riders yet?

[Velouria]

I'll step up and sponsor Sky on one condition.

 

All data is on Strava.

[Gen]

That new chinese team with a bigger budget than Sky, do they have riders yet?

Careful for those.. they dabble in football too..just ask AC Milan what a mess they left the team in after they defaulted on loans.

[eddy]

That amount sounds like a soccer players salary. Sure there is more money in soccer but the TdF is/was second in viewership to only the soccer world cup.

A few differences:

 

First, in terms of live watching, none of the 12 Million spectators buys a ticket to watch, so no "gate revenue" to the teams;

 

Second, the TV rights for the TdF (and many of the classics) belong to ASO who pocket the lot, dispensing negligible amounts to the participants and paying paltry prize money.

 

Almost nothing goes to the teams, certainly nothing to support a wage bill. The model is stuffed

[EvanB]

They need to break away like the swimmers are trying to do, just need critical mass

[kosmonooit]

Dunno about the Chinese thing .. the manager / mover shaker is a estate agent / property  guy,  and it would mean a  Sutton come-back lol .

[Wayne pudding Mol]

A few differences:

 

First, in terms of live watching, none of the 12 Million spectators buys a ticket to watch, so no "gate revenue" to the teams;

 

Second, the TV rights for the TdF (and many of the classics) belong to ASO who pocket the lot, dispensing negligible amounts to the participants and paying paltry prize money.

 

Almost nothing goes to the teams, certainly nothing to support a wage bill. The model is stuffed

In the UK the TV rights worldwide trickle all the way down the leagues - if a premiership team gets relegated, they get a balloon payment for 3 years I think - so if a World tour team went down a level, they'd be able to fund their riders at Continental level for a while.  But you can't really compare the sports because outside of the Grand Tours, most non cyclists have zero interest and difficult to fund a season based on 3 tours.  

So much is made from merchandising in football too.  So many people who don't kick a ball wear football gear.  

So another way for teams to possibly earn revenue is to get non cyclists into product - like people who didn't surf used to buy surfwear.

[jdwet1980]

In the UK the TV rights worldwide trickle all the way down the leagues - if a premiership team gets relegated, they get a balloon payment for 3 years I think - so if a World tour team went down a level, they'd be able to fund their riders at Continental level for a while. But you can't really compare the sports because outside of the Grand Tours, most non cyclists have zero interest and difficult to fund a season based on 3 tours.

So much is made from merchandising in football too. So many people who don't kick a ball wear football gear.

So another way for teams to possibly earn revenue is to get non cyclists into product - like people who didn't surf used to buy surfwear.

Campag two-tone khaki shirts ftw!

That would make farming cool again...

[Bonus]

Despite the massive viewing numbers for Le Tour, if it was "Pay-per-View", how much would it actually earn I wonder? 

[Dirt Tracker]

 So another way for teams to possibly earn revenue is to get non cyclists into product - like people who didn't surf used to buy surfwear.

 

There is a massive disconnect between the booming cycle industry for everyday joes, weekend racers, MTB guys, cycle tours etc in places like europe, USA etc and then the struggles of Pro cycling which would make you think it was ranked just above darts in popularity. Not sure how you really connect the dots, maybe most people aren't actually interested in the pro side of the sport. Sort of reverse soccer scenario loads of people watch but not that many play. Here we have a lot of riders who maybe don't care too much about the pro sport. 

 

On the surfer angle I've always thought that cycling needs to adopt the Roxy model from Quiksilver who created the female specific surf wear segment almost from scratch when it was ignored by all the rest of the companies. Massive market being pretty much ignored. For sure there has been growth now with more teams and races but it's still largely left alone in terms of segment growth from ground up. 

[Slowbee]

I'll step up and sponsor Sky on one condition.

 

All data is on Strava.

Comedian of the year !

[Dirt Tracker]

I see Thomas won Sports personality of the year last night. Froome must be wondering what he has to do to get the nod or a knighthood 4 tour wins down the line. Wiggins scored his SPOTY and a 'Sir' after one as well. Maybe it's the 'personality' bit that is the issue. 

[kosmonooit]

I see Thomas won Sports personality of the year last night. Froome must be wondering what he has to do to get the nod or a knighthood 4 tour wins down the line. Wiggins scored his SPOTY and a 'Sir' after one as well. Maybe it's the 'personality' bit that is the issue. 

 

Thing is with Chris although he has a Brit passport (thanks to Dad)  he has hardly lived there in the UK, I think that is why,

[Geronimo]

speaking of hard, and just to clarify we're not talking about the poached eggs she made the morning after.

 

 

They will all look much better without that yellow... nothing to do with eggs either

[Geronimo]

I see Thomas won Sports personality of the year last night. Froome must be wondering what he has to do to get the nod or a knighthood 4 tour wins down the line. Wiggins scored his SPOTY and a 'Sir' after one as well. Maybe it's the 'personality' bit that is the issue. 

 

You mean if you are a **** you get it and if you're not so much of a **** you don't?