fmk_RoI said:
Mamil said:
TV money. Like every sport TV deals and other rights are where the real money is now made, all the more so for cycling where most of the road-side spectating is free. I'm sure the TV money for cycling is smaller than most, but it would still be significant and there would certainly be ways of making it bigger. The teams get very little of it.[/url]
Try and work with me on this, I'll take it slowly for you.
It is an act of faith that, beyond the Tour, all other races struggle. Agreed? Apart from the Tour, all other races struggle financially. That's an act of faith in discussion about cycling economics. Has already been presented in this discussion without dissent.
So. Those TV revenues. We're limited to the Tour's TV revenues if all other races struggle financially. You would agree with that, that that automatically follows from the article of faith that all races bar the Tour struggle financially? I mean, you can't take what others don't have to give, can you? ASO, you would also agree, run more than just the Tour. So - if the article of faith that only the Tour makes money is to be believed - it surely follows that the Tour's profits are subsidising other ASO races, you would agree?
All this really makes the next series of questions very, very easy for you. What do you think the Tour's TV revenues are? How much of that is subsiding other races run by ASO? How much do you think is available for each team once distributed fairly, equitably and beneficially?
Some numbers, please. Facts. Not just things you're "sure" of, please.
An article for reference:
http://inrng.com/2017/11/amaury-sport-accounts-finances/
This shows the annual reported revenue and profit of the ASO as a whole.
The reality is individual races rarely report their financial outcomes so it's pretty hard to say specifically.
The ASO has a total annual profit of ~€40-50 million. They run a lot of different events, including Paris-Dakar rally.
TdF is clearly a major event for them, so even if it was responsible for half of their total profit, €25M is not much money in world sport terms. The ASO's revenues would include money from TV rights (~€20 million
according to Velonews report) and hosting fees from bidding towns/regions. In terms of world sport this is peanuts.
In the linked article it shows the Dauphine did report its revenue and profit separately and in 2016 it made a measly profit of just €0.012M on a budget of €2.29M (a 0.5% return). If a race like the Dauphine is running that close to the bone one can only imagine the finances of many other races.
Bike racing, like many sports, is highly dependent on taxpayer subsidy. Even the TdF. How much taxpayer money is used to bid for stage hosting rights which contributes to ASO's profit?
In many locations it is state tourism promotion bodies that pretty much underwrite races. If they withdraw support, the races fold.
Here's an earlier article about the RCS income/profit from cycling:
http://inrng.com/2015/05/giro-finances-rcs-gulf/
Again the lack of itemised details means a few assumptions but even being generous with those the reality is the returns are very skinny, even for the Giro. Their best way of making money is to start the race somewhere outside of Italy and rake in some hosting rights money.
I know the 4 major races in Australia are all underwritten by State governments: Cadel Evans GORR, the Herald Sun Tour, the Tour Down Under and the National Road Race Championships, the latter also receiving local government money. No big race here would survive without the taxpayer funding it.