ASO buys VeloNews

[BroDeal]

Or more accurately the ASO is negotiating to buy the Competitor Group, which includes VeloNews as well as the Rock n Roll Marathon series and other events.

http://news.runnersworld.com/2012/09/21/tour-de-france-reportedly-buys-rock-n-roll-series/

This has to mean that VeloNews will either improve radically (I cannot imagine it can get worse.) or be spun off to die.

 

[blutto]

Or more accurately the ASO is negotiating to buy the Competitor Group, which includes VeloNews as well as the Rock n Roll Marathon series and other events.

http://news.runnersworld.com/2012/09/21/tour-de-france-reportedly-buys-rock-n-roll-series/

This has to mean that VeloNews will either improve radically (I cannot imagine it can get worse.) or be spun off to die.

...it could be much worse...it could be bought by Future PLC....which is apparently run by shape-shifting trans-dimensional lizard creatures hell-bent on world domination ( or so I heard thru a usually reliable source )...

Cheers

blutto

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

It could be worse, Future could be purchased by the UCI...

 

[on3m@n@rmy]

or ASO purchased by LiveStrong.

 

[Fausto's Schnauzer]

So very sad...

The once mighty VN these days has fallen so low that it now steals race photos from people's blogs, has interns write wildly inaccurate race reports, and when called out about unauthorized photo use they make lame excuses and do everything they can to weasel out of payment.

 

[Cobblestones]

This has to mean that VeloNews will either improve radically (I cannot imagine it can get worse.) or be spun off to die.

The latter. ASO has l'Equipe. What do they want with VN.

 

[Arnout]

The latter. ASO has l'Equipe. What do they want with VN.

English-speaking market.

Not a healthy situation by the way, cycling organizers owning the media. While ASO is not the most evil cycling-related organization in the industry, I can't see the upsides of this.

 

[trailrunner]

I have to think that the Rock N Roll events are big money makers. The hard work of establishing the series has already been done.

Velonews has a decent market share in the US, and doesn't seem to lack for advertisers, but since it is focused on racing, it doesn't get the casual cyclist, who would favor Buycycling magazine. Velonews also has their mail-order business and book publishing business. And don't forget the most boring magazine ever published: Triathlete.

 

[rickshaw]

This has to mean that VeloNews will either improve radically (I cannot imagine it can get worse.) or be spun off to die.

Can the un-dead die? Perhaps we'll be treated to a rebirth of "Muddy Buddy" and Rock and Roll Marathon? I'm about to pee in my pants for excitement.

 

[Big Daddy]

Velonews started going downhill long ago letting advertisers almost complete control over their magazine. There isn't a lot of journalistic integrity with them anymore.

 

[hiero2]

I for one would welcome the change. I don't think they can get worse. Or, maybe they could, but it would no longer be much loss if they did. As for ASO somehow polluting the waters because they own them? Meh, I am far more concerned about the owner of the Wall Street Journal. The WSJ impacts real-life.

 

[The Gnome]

hopefully, they will just kill it...

 

[D Avoid]

Can the un-dead die? Perhaps we'll be treated to a rebirth of "Muddy Buddy" and Rock and Roll Marathon? I'm about to pee in my pants for excitement.

There are more exciting things to do than pee in your pints!!

But I suppose some one is sure to drink to that!!

 

[Caruut]

As much as I like the idea of VeloNews being less like, well, VeloNews, I don't like the idea of too much of the sport's media being under the wing of race organisers. That said it feels a bit like the more powerful ASO are, the less powerful the UCI are which in my view is only a good thing. After hitching themselves to the Armstrong wagon for so long, I can only imagine that VeloNews has a low share price and pretty low morale right now - business wise it might be the perfect time for someone to take over and take them in a new direction.

Weirdly I've always found the VN race results archive to be very good for finding full standings of most events. Sadly they make it extremely hard to find this without googling for the race results and getting in that way.