Long Term Viability of Team Leopard?

[Race Radio]

"It's not about having the biggest bus ... which we probably will"
Apparently it's the first bus of this kind that Mercedes has ever made

This thread is useless without pics, lets see the bus

 

[Christian]

I did not realize Luxembourg had a back yard filled with oil fields so they could afford fund a team without sponsorship.

The fact is they can't. Unlike Katusha and Astana, Leopard is not funded by a group of Oligarchs whose interest is national pride. Leopard is a business. They want and need a title sponsor.

They have been searching for a title sponsor for 10 months. They thought they had one, Belgacom, who backed out at the last minute.... hence Trek moving up the stack. It does not bode well for the health of the sport with the sports top team cannot find a title sponsor.

I don't know if they have been searching for a title sponsor for as long as you say, and I don't see how you could possibly know this. Furthermore I think everyone expected them to have a made-up name and not a title sponsor; Andy Schleck repeatedly compared it to Slipstream for example.

And what happened with Slipstream? They started out the same way, they only had one small co-name sponsor with Chipotle and now they are probably one of the richest teams in the peloton, holding team camps in the Cayman Islands.

High Road has been at the top of the sport for around 3 years now, both with and without the help of sponsors.

As for Belgacom, no one can say for sure whether all that was true. The rumour only came from one luxembourgish newspaper (Le Quotidien), which is frankly not the best, by far. They were also the ones who then reported that Belgacom had backed out, shortly before the presentation. They had also announced Jabra would be a sponsor, and then never mentioned it again. The possible Belgacom-backout is one explanation of why Trek stepped up, but from a different point of view it is quite logical for them. They were about to lose any presence in the Pro Peloton with RadioShack looking almost finished, and faced strong competition from teams such as BMC, Garmin-Cervélo or Liquigas-Cannondale.

As for the oilfields, that is correct, there are none of those. There are other things though, such as Private Investment Funds for example: Luxembourg is the number 1 in that area in Europe and number 2 world wide behind the USA. You also have Mercedes Benz and Enovos, a company with a yearly turnover of 2 billion €, and where the State of Luxembourg holds 35% of the stocks.

This thread is useless without pics, lets see the bus

Unfortunately I don't think we'll get to see it until TdU, or it might pop up on one of the riders' twitter sometime before then

 

[Anonymous]

I guess then we REALLY have to be concerend about Astana and Katusha .... 5 years (something around that) and still no title sponsor







Nygaard at the press conference:

"It's not about having the biggest bus ... which we probably will"

Martin Mortensen on Twitter:



Apparently it's the first bus of this kind that Mercedes has ever made

awww.. they even have matching luggage with their names on just like sky
http://yfrog.com/h7tkcqbj

 

[Race Radio]

I don't know if they have been searching for a title sponsor for as long as you say, and I don't see how you could possibly know this. Furthermore I think everyone expected them to have a made-up name and not a title sponsor; Andy Schleck repeatedly compared it to Slipstream for example.

And what happened with Slipstream? They started out the same way, they only had one small co-name sponsor with Chipotle and now they are probably one of the richest teams in the peloton, holding team camps in the Cayman Islands.

High Road has been at the top of the sport for around 3 years now, both with and without the help of sponsors.

As for Belgacom, no one can say for sure whether all that was true. The rumour only came from one luxembourgish newspaper (Le Quotidien), which is frankly not the best, by far. They were also the ones who then reported that Belgacom had backed out, shortly before the presentation. They had also announced Jabra would be a sponsor, and then never mentioned it again. The possible Belgacom-backout is one explanation of why Trek stepped up, but from a different point of view it is quite logical for them. They were about to lose any presence in the Pro Peloton with RadioShack looking almost finished, and faced strong competition from teams such as BMC, Garmin-Cervélo or Liquigas-Cannondale.

As for the oilfields, that is correct, there are none of those. There are other things though, such as Private Investment Funds for example: Luxembourg is the number 1 in that area in Europe and number 2 world wide behind the USA. You also have Mercedes Benz and Enovos, a company with a yearly turnover of 2 billion €, and where the State of Luxembourg holds 35% of the stocks.



Unfortunately I don't think we'll get to see it until TdU, or it might pop up on one of the riders' twitter sometime before then

Slipstream was not even a ProTour team when they were looking for a sponsor. The were a year removed from being a U23 team. Leopard is the top ranked team in the world...and they can't find a sponsor? Telekom payed Bob 18 million Euros to get out of their agreement. This allowed him to take his time getting a new title sponsor. It only took him 6 months. My information about Belgacom does not come from a newspaper but from a member of the sponsor group. It is 100% correct.

I am well aware that Luxumbourg is home to many private investment funds....why are none of them sponsoring Leopard?

But none of this really matters, I want to see the bus!

 

[The_Z_man]

Same thing could be said of Slipstream when they started out in Europe, although they didn't go straight in at the top. But nonetheless they only had Chiplolte Restaurants as a minor sponsor with the majority of their budget coming from Doug Ellis. Look where they are today.

Their first year in Europe, they had a title sponsor, Garmin, before the Tour. Same thing with High Road/Columbia/HTC.

I never doubted Leopard's long term viability. Their jersey is, however, pretty conspicuous. They do have a ProTeam license, and are going to be in the Tour. When you weigh the amount of TV time a sponsor will get at the Tour alone, compared to the price, it's pretty cheap. I have to assume that with one of the top contenders for the Maillot Jaune, some company will step up and sponsor them. Flavio didn't get to be a rich guy by giving all of his money away. If a company steps up to be title sponsor, I doubt they'd be laughed off.

 

[Je ne sais quoi]

It is hard not to be concerned that after a year of talking they still do not have a title sponsor. No matter how you spin it that is bad.

I would also be concerned about the management. Certainly Sky has better management and as much money and most would say they underperformed this year.

The thing they have going for them is McQuaid says they are the future of the sport. That he can ignore the ties to Fuentes and the DS with a "Lifetime" ban and declare them this tells me that they will have no troubles this year....and if they do it will be nothing a little "Donation" cannot clear up.

+1.

For me Pat McQuaid's endorsement is the last straw. In my opinion Frank Schleck should not be riding while any of the other riders such as Valverde are sitting out. Nygaard arguably should not be a DS, let alone receive McSquid's endorsement.

The team is squandering their goodwill with what appears to be a desperate and non-stop barrage of PR.

People (including the likes of Holm) mock the efforts of Christina Watches because they consider it a personal sponsorship and therefore not as "legit". Well, at least she has put her business on the line.

Christina Hembo --> Michael Rasmussen --> Team Christina Watches --> Team Chicken.
Flavio Becca --> Schleck brothers --> Team Leopard --> Team Pussy.

It's too bad because Andy and Frank seem like nice guys.

 

[Christian]

Nygaard arguably should not be a DS

Nygaard is general manager, DS's are Guercilena, Baffi, Schmidt and Michaelsen

 

[Je ne sais quoi]

Thx, I was blurring the lines as I typed. Cheers for your good-natured support of the home team, and good prospects for the riders.

 

[Race Radio]

Thx, I was blurring the lines as I typed. Cheers for your good-natured support of the home team, and good prospects for the riders.

Cheers from me as well. I can certainly understand that Christian wants his home team to do well.

On the positive side I like the kit, website, team cars. The team is marketed well and I expect this should draw a title sponsor prior to the Tour

 

[simo1733]

I don't know if they have been searching for a title sponsor for as long as you say, and I don't see how you could possibly know this. Furthermore I think everyone expected them to have a made-up name and not a title sponsor; Andy Schleck repeatedly compared it to Slipstream for example.

And what happened with Slipstream? They started out the same way, they only had one small co-name sponsor with Chipotle and now they are probably one of the richest teams in the peloton, holding team camps in the Cayman Islands.

High Road has been at the top of the sport for around 3 years now, both with and without the help of sponsors.

As for Belgacom, no one can say for sure whether all that was true. The rumour only came from one luxembourgish newspaper (Le Quotidien), which is frankly not the best, by far. They were also the ones who then reported that Belgacom had backed out, shortly before the presentation. They had also announced Jabra would be a sponsor, and then never mentioned it again. The possible Belgacom-backout is one explanation of why Trek stepped up, but from a different point of view it is quite logical for them. They were about to lose any presence in the Pro Peloton with RadioShack looking almost finished, and faced strong competition from teams such as BMC, Garmin-Cervélo or Liquigas-Cannondale.

As for the oilfields, that is correct, there are none of those. There are other things though, such as Private Investment Funds for example: Luxembourg is the number 1 in that area in Europe and number 2 world wide behind the USA. You also have Mercedes Benz and Enovos, a company with a yearly turnover of 2 billion €, and where the State of Luxembourg holds 35% of the stocks.



Unfortunately I don't think we'll get to see it until TdU, or it might pop up on one of the riders' twitter sometime before then

Slipstream aren't like team frandyshleck.Slipstream started small and took years to get to protour level.

 

[Christian]

This thread is useless without pics, lets see the bus

Not yet the bus, but first picture of a truck:

 

[luckyboy]

Did they just scrub off the big S K Y on the side?

 

[Anonymous]

I think we can all see what Nygaard was up to at his three months at sky..

 

[Race Radio]

I don't know if they have been searching for a title sponsor for as long as you say, and I don't see how you could possibly know this.

Because I know things.

As I said, Belgacom walked at the last minute

http://bicycling.com/blogs/boulderreport/2011/01/11/did-belgacom-bail-on-leopard/

 

[Willy_Voet]

Because I know things.

As I said, Belgacom walked at the last minute

http://bicycling.com/blogs/boulderreport/2011/01/11/did-belgacom-bail-on-leopard/

Thanks for this tidbit. That was precisely the type of info I was fishing for by starting this thread.

While I'm sure a top notch outfit like Leopard will eventually find someone to sponsor them, the absence of title sponsor struck me as odd. Now we know why.

I can see how either of these would fit into the blank space color scheme and all that.

or