Couldn't get past the bolded. You do realize they are popular sports in the US, cycling is not and never will be. Folks don't understand it, it's a Euro thing, only Americans that ride seriously will follow it. Cycling gets no significant coverage and hence interest isn't generated and it gets no coverage because there is no interest. Your kidding yourself if you think American football has a broad following outside the US (beyond a handful of countries that have been totally dominated by US culture). By contrast, in the US many sports are followed by people who have never practiced them. Millions follow football and basketball because they are culturally relavent and socially important, at the local bars, weekend gatherings, etc. It's arrogant to say cycling is it's own problem, when Americans simply find the sport, if they've even heard of it, unappealing and alien. The problem is the average American is simply unable to appreciate European cycling, and no amount of money and marketing will change that. The first thing would have to be teaching probably the majority of them where to find say Belgium on a map or San Remo, then why riding at speed for six hours in say the Hell of the North (perhaps in the rain) or the Tour is as awesome a spectacle as the Super Bowl or the NBA Championships. Good luck with that one among Philistines. Cycling doesn't need to change to accomodate those for whom it has no cultural relavence, no sporting history. The UCI is bogged down in the morass of beuracracy and petty power struggles with teams granted, but the sport as it plays out annually is magnificent at its traditional core, from the first stage races, to the spring classics, grand tours, Worlds and autumn classics. It doesn't need tournaments or playoffs, which would only destroy the nature of cycling. What cycling needs to do is value its traditions better by supporting national venues that truely count and stop trying to take it all over the world in search of revenues, which only line the pockets of the promotors, while hurting races where viewership actually matters. Push to make the Tour not the overwhelming reason for investing in the sport. Give the teams a share of TV revenues, in exchange for requiring top riders to participate in a number of one-day races, stage races and Grand Tours of choice, ensuring viewer drawing battles among them throughout the year, not just in July. Above all it should immeadiately do away with or radically reform a points system that encourages negative racing.