Liz Hatch Gives the UCI a Fail

[oldborn]

you'll love this. just turn the volume down so you dont have to listen to her talk as its a buzz kill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uf4ucw03Abs&feature=related

Well first few seconds were very promising and I expected that she gonna actually show us how she train off bike, you know
And no her boobs are not done, period

 

[Cycle Chic]

Errrrrr I think they are 'done'

 

[lean mean &green]

interesting and funny thread. there are some useful ideas in it but it would probably be better to distance the topic from ms hatch herself.

rhetorically speaking, how do you promote women's cycling? before we go to far let's admit that physical appearance is a part of ALL sports marketing. david beckham is(was) a great soccer player but he's especially popular for other fairly obvious reasons. most women you ask will tell you he's easy on the eyes.

it seems fairly obvious that marketing based upon sex drive alone only acheives short lived interest. is there a way to downplay sexuality without ignoring it?

what else needs to happen, at the grass roots level for instance?

 

[stephens]

I just find it funny that people think there is something wrong with mixing sex and sport. Is there something else that would be better?

Pick one:

1) sport is about dominance, often with violence on display, and is just a metaphor for war, adults playing "cowboys and indians."

2) sport is about money, and accumulating vast excesses of it and athletes are just advertising props for greedy businessmen

3) sport is about displaying one's physical prowess in an attempt to get laid by the hottest mate one can find and to be fantasized about by all the rest


I'm voting #3. I figure "looking good doing it," should always be praised more than "I dominated and metaphorically kicked everyone's *** today!" or "My performance is surely going to prompt people to buy the crap my sponsors are selling - I'm the greatest commercial ever!"

 

[yellowjersey]

very sad

 

[Cycle Chic]

Women's Cycling on TV

The Italians have got womens cycling marketed the way it should be.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQrOTgzulnk&feature=related

Of course the race is going to be a bit boring in places - but with clever editing and good marketing it could be a real success and be a cool womens spectator sport on tv.

 

[DirtyWorks]

interesting and funny thread. there are some useful ideas in it but it would probably be better to distance the topic from ms hatch herself.

rhetorically speaking, how do you promote women's cycling? before we go to far let's admit that physical appearance is a part of ALL sports marketing. david beckham is(was) a great soccer player but he's especially popular for other fairly obvious reasons. most women you ask will tell you he's easy on the eyes.

it seems fairly obvious that marketing based upon sex drive alone only acheives short lived interest. is there a way to downplay sexuality without ignoring it?

what else needs to happen, at the grass roots level for instance?

I think they'd be dumb not to use some sex appeal. Some. It attracts viewers. Unfortunately, cycling hides athletes under helmets and glasses. But the sporting artifice is there to create entertaining drama. In cycling that means a generally close race.

For those critics of athletes talking to cameras, you try sounding sensible contemporaneously and THEN be compared to the canned speeches in other sports. It takes tons of preparation.

The UCI isn't interested in grass roots racing. OBRA is doing grass roots right. ACA was doing great until Barr sold them out. It's more complicated than that, but the ACA had little to fear from USAC. ABR is growing too. Lots of 'cross racing in California is ABR sanctioned.

All in all, growing any business organically is a tough nut to crack. Marketing is never free. Definitely a pay to play thing. (Kind of like the IOC) That's why Pat sells Tours as packages. (oman, california, colorado) It invites speculators.

 

[ElChingon]

I just find it funny that people think there is something wrong with mixing sex and sport. Is there something else that would be better?

Pick one:

1) sport is about dominance, often with violence on display, and is just a metaphor for war, adults playing "cowboys and indians."

2) sport is about money, and accumulating vast excesses of it and athletes are just advertising props for greedy businessmen

3) sport is about displaying one's physical prowess in an attempt to get laid by the hottest mate one can find and to be fantasized about by all the rest


I'm voting #3. I figure "looking good doing it," should always be praised more than "I dominated and metaphorically kicked everyone's *** today!" or "My performance is surely going to prompt people to buy the crap my sponsors are selling - I'm the greatest commercial ever!"

As much as people don't like the Sexual Overtones, guess why Olympic Beach Volleyball is so popular?
The first year it was in the Olympics my e-mail inbox filled daily with friends sending the latest photo op or even photo almost op on the sport.
Didn't one of the US Presidents slap some hynie when he visited the US team

 

[Cycle Chic]

sex appeal

Yep cant be denied...even my mum has noticed the appeal in watching the mens races.... in lycra...we often comment on that