Should Pro Cycling Teams Build Stronger, Franchise-Like Brands?

[Carolin Schloßer]

Hi!

I'm currently conducting research for my Master's thesis on fan preferences in professional road cycling and how a consistent team identity (same team name, logo, colors) might influence team identification and fan engagement.

As we all know, pro cycling teams often change names and identities as sponsors come and go. I'm curious to hear your thoughts:

Would you prefer teams to have a more consistent identity (like football franchises), or do you think cycling's sponsor-based model works just fine?

I've created a short survey to explore this topic further — it only takes a few minutes, and your input would be incredibly valuable:


Survey - Professional Road Cycling - Fans


Thank you so much for your time and for helping me better understand what makes cycling fans tick!

Carolin

 

[Netserk]

It's annoying to spam the same survey in multiple threads.

 

[Unchained]

Hi!

I'm currently conducting research for my Master's thesis on fan preferences in professional road cycling and how a consistent team identity (same team name, logo, colors) might influence team identification and fan engagement.

As we all know, pro cycling teams often change names and identities as sponsors come and go. I'm curious to hear your thoughts:

Would you prefer teams to have a more consistent identity (like football franchises), or do you think cycling's sponsor-based model works just fine?

I've created a short survey to explore this topic further — it only takes a few minutes, and your input would be incredibly valuable:


Survey - Professional Road Cycling - Fans


Thank you so much for your time and for helping me better understand what makes cycling fans tick!

Carolin

View: https://m.youtube.com/shorts/LwGgXsfWtpo


Here's a place to start and multiple people currently in cycling have proposed " breakaway " league. And cycling has subdivided in many countries when infrastructure like UCI is unresponsive or too complicated or expensive. Asking layman what they would do is fun but can't contain many facts.. Gert from Brussels says key to good bike racing is free ice cream for everyone.. Not really data.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

There is one big difference between cycling and football, and that is that football takes place in a fixed location, where teams charge supporters to come and watch. Cycling does not have that and a lot less money flows from supporters, to the team. A lot of the money flow gets stuck at ASO and UCI. Teams don't have the luxury since the sport also, again unlike football, does not revolve around transfer fees (yet). There is less financial margin and teams sometimes have to jump from one sponsor to the next just to survive.

Due to being less popular, one way of enticing sponsors, is for the team to carry the main sponsor's name. Hence the name changes when the sponsor changes. This is also completely different from (most) football teams.

A strong brand makes sense for regions where cycling is popular. If nobody in Sri Lanka cares about it, then local brands will have little to gain by sponsoring it.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

In theory, I would prefer it if, for example, Caisse d'Epargne Abarca had changed to Movistar Abarca (that being the example that best comes to mind where the name of the team owner entity is known and long term).

But it's not a strong preference, and I wouldn't want to see teams forgo much sponsorship income for it. And when teams already have three sponsors in their name, a 'timeless' identifier would be overkill. There is also the complicating factor that sometimes the sponsors also buy the team, rather than just paying them to carry their name.

Similarly, some degree of consistency in colours of design would be nice: I guess the double stripe that has passed through various guises from Giant to Picnic, or the argyle that occasionally re-emerges in EF kits would be examples. But it is to be expected that companies with aggressively defended corporate identities would want to feature their brand colours.

I'd struggle to say there's much more to the issue than that: good luck trying to turn it into a masters' thesis.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

It's annoying to spam the same survey in multiple threads.

I have gathered the two threads with identical OPs into one.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Did the survey: intrigued as to how she will do a raffle for giftcards without having taken any email or anything....

 

[nedhill]

The premise of this survey is faulty. It is not a question of whether teams want to build asset value. It is well known that UCI and ASO are working in unison to maximise the value for the race organizers, in particular the ASO. Numerous studies show that. Further more take a Sports Business class, at any tier 1 B-School in the US and they will state it is the fundamental basis for sports teams. (you would fail the class if you didn't understand this).

Perhaps you should read the literature from a Tier 1 US school.

 

[Axel Hangleck]

UCI are the governing body, they shouldn't be involved with running the World Tour.......Look at F1, the FiA don't actually run it, merely just govern and enforce rules/ regs. A separate promoter runs the show, now Liberty Media; they decide the calendar, sell TV rights,, do deals with venues, etc That is how the World Tour should be - and once you're relegated, you don't race in WT races........

 

[Carolin Schloßer]

Did the survey: intrigued as to how she will do a raffle for giftcards without having taken any email or anything....

If you have completed the survey and would like to enter the raffle, you will be asked to enter your email address at the end of the survey

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

If you have completed the survey and would like to enter the raffle, you will be asked to enter your email address at the end of the survey

I did do the survey, and I was not.

 

[Carolin Schloßer]

I did do the survey, and I was not.

Then you were not eligible for the survey, and it was terminated prematurely.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Then you were not eligible for the survey, and it was terminated prematurely.

In that case, perhaps it could have been polite enough to thank me for my participation but unfortunately my data couldn't be used.

Rather than just dumping me into a page in another language.

Why would I be ineligible?

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Nope: did it a second time: still not invited to submit an email address.

 

[Carolin Schloßer]

Nope: did it a second time: still not invited to submit an email address.

Thank you for taking the time to participate in my survey. Unfortunately, it appears that you do not meet the eligibility requirements for the survey, which is why the survey was terminated prematurely and you are not eligible in the prize raffle. I cannot tell you which criterion you do not meet, as the survey is anonymous and no conclusions ca be drawn about the participants.

If the survey is terminated prematurely, you will be notified. The entire survey is in English. Please understand that each participant can only take part in the survey once in oder to guarantee the accuracy of the data.

Thank you for your time and understanding!

 

[dazaau]

I know a lot of people on here have favourite riders. I'm not sure many have favourite teams? I have a few teams I don't really like for one reason or another, but I'm not invested in any team really.

 

[ingsve]

One aspect that I feel your survey is missing is whether our engagement with a team at all changes when the team changes names, logos and colours. That questions seems to be at the heart of this type of survey.

To me cycling teams identity goes beyond their name in a way. It manifests in different ways. Often it has to do with country of registration and the people in charge as well as the main rider roster that keeps the red thread going.

For example Team Sky was still essentially Team Sky when it became Team Ineos. They were still the sole British team in the pro ranks and they still had Dave Brailsford as the main figure along with the profile of prominent Brittish riders.

Or if you look at US Postal Service, they didn't because a completely new team when they became Discovery Channel. They were still Lance Armstrongs team headed by Johan Bruyneel.

Often teams do have a consistent identity even in their sponsors. Soudal - Quick Step has had many main sponsors, logos and colours throughout the years but one thing that has been consistent is Quick Step who has been part of the team name throughout all the changes in the past 25+ years. Many other sponsors also stick around for more than a decade or longer. For example Ag2r are now leaving their sponsorship after being a consistent part of the peloton since 1997 so we'll have to see if that impacts their ability to be recogniced in any way.

Of course for casual fans that come and go or don't follow the sport over time it might not be obvious to them thata certain team they see is actually one they were familiar with from the past. Like the fact that Movistar, Caisse d'Epargne, Banesto and Reynolds are the same team continuously from the 1980s. Or PicNic PostNL used to be Team DSM, Team Sunweb, Team Giant-Alpecin, Team Argos - Shimano and Team Skil-Shimano.

But for anyone who consistently followed the sport from year to year, those identity changes were not something that completely rewrote how the team was viewed by the fan base. They were still the scrappy little team in the shadow of bigger teams from the region that consistently worked their way up through the ranks and became more and more prominent.

 

[Gratemans]

No offense but this kinda seems like trying to turn a random shower thought into a masters thesis. There just isn't enough there. Read Logic's post and Ingsve's, they perfectly explain why cycling is different and the 'football model' won't work. That's not me being against change either. It's like Logic said:

football takes place in a fixed location, where teams charge supporters to come and watch. Cycling does not have that and a lot less money flows from supporters, to the team

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Thank you for taking the time to participate in my survey. Unfortunately, it appears that you do not meet the eligibility requirements for the survey, which is why the survey was terminated prematurely and you are not eligible in the prize raffle. I cannot tell you which criterion you do not meet, as the survey is anonymous and no conclusions ca be drawn about the participants.

If the survey is terminated prematurely, you will be notified. The entire survey is in English. Please understand that each participant can only take part in the survey once in oder to guarantee the accuracy of the data.

Thank you for your time and understanding!

Well I am over 16, so according to the published eligibility criteria, it can only be assuming that I do not have an interest in professional cycling. Despite my having said that I ride, often watch on TV, occasionally attend races, and have been following the sport for more than ten years.

So you must be disqualifying participants on unpublished grounds, with seems rather impolite.

Unless your objection is to my not having a favourite team: I would suggest that if you are compiling your masters on the premise that interest in cycling is fundamentally linked to partisan support for a particular team, you are not on a sound footing.

 

[Carolin Schloßer]

No offense but this kinda seems like trying to turn a random shower thought into a masters thesis. There just isn't enough there. Read Logic's post and Ingsve's, they perfectly explain why cycling is different and the 'football model' won't work. That's not me being against change either. It's like Logic said:

Thanks for sharing your opinion on this topic.

Have you heard of the Unibet Tietema Rockets?

This team launched their own identity (own team name, logo & colors), but still have a title sponsor. The question is if this would lead to higher team identification and fan engagement and create an opportunity for new income sources (e.g. merchandise) or if cycling fans don't really care about a consistent identity as they are fans of individual riders and not of the whole team.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

So I pretended that I have a favourite team based on having a favourite rider. I was then faced with a barrage of questions about what I do in relation to races this team is in, with no distinction about whether I would have the same interest in a race if that team were not in the race; or whether my interest was vested in that team only when the preferred rider was taking part.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Have you heard of the Unibet Tietema Rockets?

This team launched their own identity (own team name, logo & colors), but still have a title sponsor. The question is if this would lead to higher team identification and fan engagement and create an opportunity for new income sources (e.g. merchandise) or if cycling fans don't really care about a consistent identity as they are fans of individual riders and not of the whole team.

Do you really thing that if MegaCorp came along with a huge sponsorship deal, but wanted the team name to be simply MegaCorp, the team owner would refuse. It is a position that his current sponsors are willing to let him hold, but how long term that is remains to be seen.

Abarca has its own name and history, and some recognition within the sport, but their cycling identity is entire;y determined by their main sponsors.

And given that sponsors will often buy the organisation, the question of their retained identity sems moot.

 

[hrotha]

I always felt that rooting for teams rather than just riders was football-coded and thus immediately suspect

 

[JohnWayne]

No offense but this kinda seems like trying to turn a random shower thought into a masters thesis. There just isn't enough there. Read Logic's post and Ingsve's, they perfectly explain why cycling is different and the 'football model' won't work. That's not me being against change either. It's like Logic said:

Guys, it's a master's thesis. It doesn't need to be that deep. I think the question is interesting, and if the result is no, because x, y & z, then that's fine in my opinion. But I don't think it's as obvious and straight-forward as some seem to think.

 

[Potomac]

Somehow I ended up a fan of EF.
Not sure how that happened. Perhaps I needed a team to root for.
If you have a favorite rider they don't compete in every race.
Even if I just root for American riders there's not enough strong ones to threaten the podium in most races.
So having a team to root for works for me.