# Discovery sponsorship now?



## robdamanii (Feb 13, 2006)

Wonder if they take home yellow if they'll have an easier time finding a sponsor for next year.

Hmm...


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## IAmCosmo (Jul 26, 2005)

Honestly, with a team that has gained as much recognition as Discovery, I'd be willing to bet they won't have a problem finding a sponsor.

The problem in sponsorship is the current doping situation. I'm betting a lot of companies don't want to get involved with something like that.


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## lamazion (Sep 11, 2004)

How about a drug company!


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## jupiterrn (Sep 22, 2006)

They already sponsor a whole race, "Amgen Tour of California".


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## FondriestFan (May 19, 2005)

And they don't test for EPO.

Schwing!!!


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## atpjunkie (Mar 23, 2002)

*free samples*



FondriestFan said:


> And they don't test for EPO.
> 
> Schwing!!!


in the musette bags at the feedzones


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## Guest (Jul 26, 2007)

FondriestFan said:


> And they don't test for EPO.
> 
> Schwing!!!


LOLZ! Best punch line of the day


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

I've heard the number is around 12 millions dollars.... That's a lot of money for a sport that is in upheaval. Yellow jersey or not, I wouldn't put my companies name on a cycling team today.....


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## dagger (Jul 22, 2004)

*Johan's quote*

"It's difficult to find a person who can write a check for $15million dollars"


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## jupiterrn (Sep 22, 2006)

Johan doesn't live in Palm Beach.


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## magnolialover (Jun 2, 2004)

*Dollar for dollar...*

Dollar for dollar, cycling sponsorship is still one of the best investments for companies wanting to get their name out there. There is a lot of publicity from races that are run from February through October. Get one of your riders into a 4 hour breakaway on a long stage in a grand tour, with most euro TV carrying the whole stage live, and you get your name out there for a long long time.


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## ti-triodes (Aug 14, 2006)

magnolialover said:


> Dollar for dollar, cycling sponsorship is still one of the best investments for companies wanting to get their name out there. There is a lot of publicity from races that are run from February through October. Get one of your riders into a 4 hour breakaway on a long stage in a grand tour, with most euro TV carrying the whole stage live, and you get your name out there for a long long time.



Assuming they want to continue as an American team, It's hard enough to find an American company to sponsor a primarily European sport. There's little network TV coverage for cycling. Adding the current scandals makes it extremely difficult.


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## FondriestFan (May 19, 2005)

dagger said:


> "It's difficult to find a person who can write a check for $15million dollars"


Does it matter if it bounces?


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## Len J (Jan 28, 2004)

*I don't see that......*



magnolialover said:


> Dollar for dollar, cycling sponsorship is still one of the best investments for companies wanting to get their name out there. There is a lot of publicity from races that are run from February through October. Get one of your riders into a 4 hour breakaway on a long stage in a grand tour, with most euro TV carrying the whole stage live, and you get your name out there for a long long time.


as true unless you are doing a very large amount of business in Europe.

For a US based Co, it would be less of a return.

Len


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## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

FondriestFan said:


> Does it matter if it bounces?


I would like to think so.


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## SilasCL (Jun 14, 2004)

Some teams have tried this method before, including not paying riders or staff for a few months. Ask Mercury or Coast how it worked for them.


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## California L33 (Jan 20, 2006)

Len J said:


> as true unless you are doing a very large amount of business in Europe.
> 
> For a US based Co, it would be less of a return.
> 
> Len


I wonder what Skoda would say if Ford started sponsoring the former Discovery?


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## chuckice (Aug 25, 2004)

Doubtful - wayyyyyyyyyy too much bad press. Why would a company that has to answer to any board want to invest in something with this hanging? Only possibility would be an "angel investor" such as someone like Tinkoff, Mark Cuban, etc.


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## SeeVee (Sep 25, 2005)

chuckice said:


> Doubtful - wayyyyyyyyyy too much bad press. Why would a company that has to answer to any board want to invest in something with this hanging? Only possibility would be an "angel investor" such as someone like Tinkoff, Mark Cuban, etc.



Not necessarily trure. Marketed correctly, the doping scandal can work to their advantage. Something on the order of Team SlipStream with super high internal doping controls of their own.


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## chuckice (Aug 25, 2004)

SeeVee said:


> Not necessarily trure. Marketed correctly, the doping scandal can work to their advantage. Something on the order of Team SlipStream with super high internal doping controls of their own.


There is no good spin on all of this. Look at all the lost fans and sponsor dollars. The sport is not picking up more as a result of Puerto, Basso, Floyd, Vino, Rasmussen, etc.


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## OldEndicottHiway (Jul 16, 2007)

Amgen will sponsor them. Surprise!


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## schills (Jan 16, 2002)

SeeVee said:


> Not necessarily trure. Marketed correctly, the doping scandal can work to their advantage. Something on the order of Team SlipStream with super high internal doping controls of their own.


Its not working for Slipstream yet. They don't have a title sponsor either. Hopefully it will pay off next year with a big title sponsor.


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## IAmCosmo (Jul 26, 2005)

magnolialover said:


> Dollar for dollar, cycling sponsorship is still one of the best investments for companies wanting to get their name out there. There is a lot of publicity from races that are run from February through October. Get one of your riders into a 4 hour breakaway on a long stage in a grand tour, with most euro TV carrying the whole stage live, and you get your name out there for a long long time.


I'm not 100% sure I agree with that. How many of you watch the Discovery channel more now than you did before they sponsored a team? How many of you watch it because they sponsor a team? How many of you (like me) watch the channels that have the shows you want to watch, regardless of whether or not they sponsor any sort of team?

Honestly, while I know the names Cofidis, Astana, Rabobank, AG24, Quick Step, etc. I don't know what a lot of them actually do. I read in VeloNews an article that told what each of the major sponsors actually do, but if I hadn't read it, I would have no idea what line of work Saunier-Duval was in...

I'm not saying I don't think sponsorship is a good idea. I'm just saying that I'd like to see how any company's sales have changed due to sponsorship. Whether it be in cycling, NASCAR, or any other sport.


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## I3erto (Jul 23, 2007)

I read an interview with Lebron James, who apparently owns quite a bit of cannondale stock, he said he was thinking about sponsoring a tour team.. that would be quite entertaining to see a team Lebron James .. and you know he would have no problem writing a 15 million dollar check..


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## IAmCosmo (Jul 26, 2005)

I3erto said:


> I read an interview with Lebron James, who apparently owns quite a bit of cannondale stock, he said he was thinking about sponsoring a tour team.. that would be quite entertaining to see a team Lebron James .. and you know he would have no problem writing a 15 million dollar check..


Wonder if the team will have to wear sleeveless jerseys and baggy shorts? Or high top cycling shoes...


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## JohnnyTooBad (Apr 5, 2004)

On Velonews' live coverage of today's stage, they took that question and gave a bit of an answer. They said there's a *rumor* that HP/Oracle might be interested. Considering Larry Ellison (Oracle CEO) is willing to sponsor an America's Cup sailing team, I'm thinking this might be a good fit (if he's at all into cycling). The sailing audience is a lot smaller than the cycling audience, and an America's Cup boat/team/sponsorship is more expensive than a bike racing team. Both have larger audiences outside the US as well, although sailing is much bigger in Australia/NZ than biking.


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## JohnnyTooBad (Apr 5, 2004)

IAmCosmo said:


> I'm not 100% sure I agree with that. How many of you watch the Discovery channel more now than you did before they sponsored a team? How many of you watch it because they sponsor a team? How many of you (like me) watch the channels that have the shows you want to watch, regardless of whether or not they sponsor any sort of team?
> 
> Honestly, while I know the names Cofidis, Astana, Rabobank, AG24, Quick Step, etc. I don't know what a lot of them actually do. I read in VeloNews an article that told what each of the major sponsors actually do, but if I hadn't read it, I would have no idea what line of work Saunier-Duval was in...
> 
> I'm not saying I don't think sponsorship is a good idea. I'm just saying that I'd like to see how any company's sales have changed due to sponsorship. Whether it be in cycling, NASCAR, or any other sport.


I think Discovery has a number of channels in Europe, that we don't see in the US. I have to wonder if their viewership over there has increased, since biking is so much bigger over there.

Also, I know a little bit (not much, mind you) about NASCAR fans, because I know a few (I watch a race now and then, but don't really care). My Brother In Law is a huge NASCAR fan, and goes to 2-3 races a year. Those people support their favorite driver's sponsors almost religiously. If you're a Dale Jr fan, you wouldn't be caught dead driving anything other than a GM vehicle. If your favorite driver drove the Tide car, you bought Tide and nothing else, until your driver changed sponsors. But they have some pretty hard-core fans.

I'm surprised Nike doesn't sponsor a team.


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## California L33 (Jan 20, 2006)

IAmCosmo said:


> I'm not 100% sure I agree with that. How many of you watch the Discovery channel more now than you did before they sponsored a team? How many of you watch it because they sponsor a team? How many of you (like me) watch the channels that have the shows you want to watch, regardless of whether or not they sponsor any sort of team?
> 
> Honestly, while I know the names Cofidis, Astana, Rabobank, AG24, Quick Step, etc. I don't know what a lot of them actually do. I read in VeloNews an article that told what each of the major sponsors actually do, but if I hadn't read it, I would have no idea what line of work Saunier-Duval was in...
> 
> I'm not saying I don't think sponsorship is a good idea. I'm just saying that I'd like to see how any company's sales have changed due to sponsorship. Whether it be in cycling, NASCAR, or any other sport.


 Marketing is kind of a funny art. Even the experts don't know exactly how well most ad campaigns work. There's an old adage in marketing- I know I'm throwing away half of my advertising budget; I just don't know which half. 
A while back a chip maker started trying to get people to buy computers with their chips in them. The problem is that computer chips are just commodities that run software- you can market software and operating systems, but it was a waste of money for the company to try and get customers to specify their chip because any chip that can run the O/S is essentially the same. I read an article by an ad agency exec who said if he had been approached by the company he would have told them to invest in making faster chips rather than throwing their money away on an ad campaign. The company was Intel. The campaign was "Intel Inside." Did Intel snag a greater share of the market because of the campaign, or because they made better chips? Even they probably don't know, but name recognition seems to work. Nobody has stopped printing election posters with just a candidate's name, and most stadiums carry corporate branding. Major corporations might not want to be involved in scandal, but I'm sure some ad guru is advising some company right now that 15 million is dirt cheap to get their name to a worldwide audience. I'm a bit surprised a major sports company like Nike, a soft drink company like Gatorade, or maybe the NFL which has been trying to make inroads in Europe hasn't already written the check for a multi-year deal.


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## galanz (Oct 28, 2004)

Golden Palace FTW!


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## djg21 (Oct 25, 2003)

magnolialover said:


> Dollar for dollar, cycling sponsorship is still one of the best investments for companies wanting to get their name out there. There is a lot of publicity from races that are run from February through October. Get one of your riders into a 4 hour breakaway on a long stage in a grand tour, with most euro TV carrying the whole stage live, and you get your name out there for a long long time.


I'll call you on this one. Give me some hard data? 

My sense is that in North America, no one gives a damn about bicycle racing except for those who participate in the sport, and that is a relatively small number. Otherwise, the Tour would be on the networks, and not on Versus. Unless you do business in Europe, the investment in a team sponsorship seems like a silly extravagance. It makes more sense to sponsor a Nascar driver.


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## JSR (Feb 27, 2006)

djg21 said:


> Unless you do business in Europe, the investment in a team sponsorship seems like a silly extravagance. It makes more sense to sponsor a Nascar driver.


This is correct. Discovery was interested in advertising their European channels. The guy who posted that he didn't know what any of the ProTour sponsors actually made or did, that's because they are marketing to a Euro audience.

Most ad campaigns are complicated, multi-faceted deals. Print ads, tv ads, bus posters, cycling team. All with a similar look and message. The advertiser is trying to reinforce his brand awareness until it sticks.

T-Mobile is great at this. They have re-branded all their offers - Deutsche Telekom, T-Mobile, DT, etc. It's now all T-Mobile and their advertising is bolstered by a similarly single-minded campaign of men's and women's cycling teams. They are able to get "borrow" from their Euro campaigns for American exposure, using the same visual mateials, copywrighted material, and so on. They must be spending 10's of millions, of which cycling is a part.

JSR


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## Jaji (Nov 26, 2001)

AMGEN manufactures and sells EPO....

ironic huh?


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## MikeBiker (Mar 9, 2003)

Get a job and get free samples.


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