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Reports are that Saudi are pulling support for LIV golf. Clearly the money taps are being switched off due to reduced oil revenues.
Plenty of other sports must be worried about funding shortfalls looming, not least UCI road cycling. Will we see teams disappear?
Will we see teams disappear?
Teams come and go at the drop of a hat anyway depending on which billionaire owner has got bored of their latest plaything and moved onto other stuff.
The sponsorship merry-go-round in cycling is built on a house of cards anyway. Stupid system.
They do but I doubt there is a queue of sponsors lined up willing to match the budgets.
The sponsorship merry-go-round in cycling is built on a house of cards anyway. Stupid system.
And how else could it work without the current system?
And how else could it work without the current system?
At one end you've got the American full-blown socialist draft system, where the priority of the league is to maintain decent competition between as many teams as possible.
Going down a level you have the central contract model that Scottish and Irish teams use in the URC rugby competition.
The dog-eat-dog full blown capitalist system favored in European sports where, unless something really unusual happens, the team with the deepest pockets wins and the rest are continually on the edge of bankruptcy is often touted as being the only way things can work.
In reality there are many ways to run a major competition.
The sponsorship merry-go-round in cycling is built on a house of cards anyway. Stupid system.
i don’t follow any professional sport so have no real view on this, but I’ve wondered why the teams don’t just have names and then the sponsors on the kit like they do in football? Surely nobody is going ”my favourite cycling team that I follow and hope to win is the laminate flooring manufacturer and those chemical manufacturer guys are my enemy which I feel very strongly about”
i don’t follow any professional sport so have no real view on this, but I’ve wondered why the teams don’t just have names and then the sponsors on the kit like they do in football?
British domestic / pro-conti team Saint Piran tried this for a while, their name was simply Saint Piran. There was then a load of logos and sponsors which could change as and when, some would be there for a year, some for more. Some would be £££, some just £.
It worked for a while, fans had a definitive team name they could get behind.
In cycling though it tends to be a very individual sport. How many people supporting Bradley Wiggins in the Tour could name any of the other Sky riders?
Who was riding alongside WvA in Paris-Roubaix last week?
Exactly...
Surely nobody is going ”my favourite cycling team that I follow and hope to win is the laminate flooring manufacturer and those chemical manufacturer guys are my enemy which I feel very strongly about”
Yes and no. I find it funny how very prosaic some of the sponsors products are - a crappy supermarket, roof sealants (or something). But I do have a negative reaction to the “Brexit Bombardiers”.
i don’t follow any professional sport so have no real view on this, but I’ve wondered why the teams don’t just have names and then the sponsors on the kit like they do in football? Surely nobody is going ”my favourite cycling team that I follow and hope to win is the laminate flooring manufacturer and those chemical manufacturer guys are my enemy which I feel very strongly about”
Yet footballers will go watch a game at the Gulf Royal Families national airline stadium, and absolutely hate the team in the other Gulf Royal Families national airline stadium and accuse them of only being successful because they have money.
Cycling, whilst a team sport, is mostly just a bunch of mercenary individuals who'll compete in whatever sponsors jersey will pay them the most, and paying the most comes with team naming rights.
Yes and no. I find it funny how very prosaic some of the sponsors products are - a crappy supermarket, roof sealants (or something). But I do have a negative reaction to the “Brexit Bombardiers”.
Oddly gambling sponsorship really winds me up for some reason, but I don't apply that to the Dutch and Belgian Lotto teams?
Is this the end for MyWoosh. Surely I won't have o go back to paying for a turbo trainer app AS WELL (as higher petrol prices) 😉
Is this the end for MyWoosh. Surely I won't have o go back to paying for a turbo trainer app AS WELL (as higher petrol prices)
As a fellow amoral freeloader.
I can't see them ever being able to charge for it. I think they do quite a few things better than Zwift, but not better enough it seems to actually draw anyone in.
Maybe they'll adopt a different strategy and make it 'free' for the virtual world and racing, but charge for DLC (bikes, kit, trainng plans, access to other routes, etc).
If they ever want to be as big as Zwift, they'll need to stick their hands deeper in their pockets and buy Zwift.
If you think cycling has got a problem with sportwashing cash, you need to check out Formula 1! They've already lost $100m from two cancelled races and there's (supposedly) two more Middle East races later this year. And F1 burns through a LOT more money than World Tour teams...
They've already lost $100m from two cancelled races and there's (supposedly) two more Middle East races later this year.
The thing with F1 is that it visits these slightly flaky Middle East countries whereas, with a couple of early season exceptions (UAE Tour and AlUla Tour), cycling doesn't actually go there so it's less affected in terms of a venue suddenly being pulled from under it.
And cycling is small beer for the likes of UAE, Bahrain etc. We're talking countries that can spend billions on football and F1 so even £50m a year on a cycling team is loose change in the sports world.
It seems that, at least for some of the Middle East countries, the countries entire "business model" is now in ruins as they are no longer seen as "safe". And with oil output curtailed, the era of "unlimited money" will now be over (or at least at risk).
Surely a LOT of different sports will be affected by this, in lots of different ways (and other businesses such as tourism and real estate). Whether that's a good or a bad thing depends on your perspective of the countries regime (eg whether human rights bother you or not)
Reports are that Saudi are pulling support for LIV golf.
Could be interesting to see how the PGA tour reacts. Not a sport I am interested in but the ongoing conflict between them with various threats and counter threats was quite amusing.