Garmin, the next team to die

[ramjambunath]

I don't think there should be a 'punishment' for teams.
If you fulfill your finances/contracts etc you should be in the race (or WT) - after that, its a race. If a team is not successful the team will be punished by not receiving prize-money.

I should have been clearer, by punishment, I mean relegation and sentence a period of time in the pro conti level.

 

[trickydicky]

Just looking at these team budget estimates from the 2011 Tour and many people will have seen Kickstarter.com.

I'm sure this has been suggested before and I'm sure it was stupid then, but here goes...

OK, so we set up a .org (a real one, not a you-know-who one). We get 25,000 cycling fanatics around the world each to pay a minimum of €299 (c. $419) subscription a year. More would be welcome of course.

If all 25,000 folks paid the minimum, that would be enough to generate a team with an annual budget bigger than that of Saxo Bank even before you look for sponsors.

If and when you find sponsors (25,000 people with all their connections) and you rebate all the subscribers equally on their investment.

OK, so there's a lot more to it than that - like trusting the funding managers and committing to more than a single year and dealing with people like Fat - but surely it's the basis of something that might work, isn't it?

Already been done - ever heard of Euskaltel??? That's how it's funded-from the Euskadi Foundation by subscriptions from general public. Result, financial stability & massive support. Why don't others copy?

 

[craig1985]

Already been done - ever heard of Euskaltel??? That's how it's funded-from the Euskadi Foundation by subscriptions from general public. Result, financial stability & massive support. Why don't others copy?

Probably because people don't identify with other teams compared to what Euskaltel do to the Basques. If I'm Basque (and I'm not), I would probably identify and care about how the team is going, compared to Sky for example where some Norwegian cycling fans may follow them because of EBH but don't identify with the team or wouldn't support them otherwise, much in the same way that ACF only supports BMC because of Cadel.

 

[veganrob]

Just looking at these team budget estimates from the 2011 Tour and many people will have seen Kickstarter.com.

I'm sure this has been suggested before and I'm sure it was stupid then, but here goes...

OK, so we set up a .org (a real one, not a you-know-who one). We get 25,000 cycling fanatics around the world each to pay a minimum of €299 (c. $419) subscription a year. More would be welcome of course.

If all 25,000 folks paid the minimum, that would be enough to generate a team with an annual budget bigger than that of Saxo Bank even before you look for sponsors.

If and when you find sponsors (25,000 people with all their connections) and you rebate all the subscribers equally on their investment.

OK, so there's a lot more to it than that - like trusting the funding managers and committing to more than a single year and dealing with people like Fat - but surely it's the basis of something that might work, isn't it?

Kind of like the Green Bay Packers. There are 112,158 shareholders owning 4,750,937 shares.

 

[greenedge]

The TTT's could help Martin develop though. He has to work on it sometime sooner or later. Also i think he would still go if only so he can go get a stage. Mountain goats like him, Rolland and Vanendert to attack with riders like JROD ( if he even bothers to go ) and Samu if his GC is going bad ( hopefully not )

 

[FignonLeGrand]

Sad to say but this thread makes sense....

Its a ridiculous model. Why would anyone be surprised that it is hard to get money out of a sponsor when you say, "There is a CHANCE we will get to go to all the big races, but we won't know until after you commit your money and we apply". "Your return on investment will be either worldwide exposure, or relative obscurity - but the amount you need to give us is the same"

+1 "Professional cycling" is a contradiction in terms. The whole of cycling is just amateur night. Garmin are a great example, cant get extra funding because there is no guarantees, whilst also not using their best marketing tool ie the world champion at the end of the season because they don't want Thor to take points to his next team. From an investment standpoint its madness. UCI and the teams are all as bad as each other