"There is no point in calling them teams anymore, if they are investing €50 million" - Marc Madiot on cycling's extreme money surge in the 2020's
Cycling
Cycling is a sport where the money present is increasing exponentially in recent years, good for the stability of some top teams but it increases the gaps significantly to the rest. Marc Madiot, manager of Groupama - FDJ, fears that this 'money splashing' is reaching an excessive level and worries about the sustainability.
Alongside this, he also worries about the increasing dangers for pro riders during races: "The riders are riding faster and faster on terrain that is precisely designed to slow down vehicles. It is even more dangerous on descents. And since many riders don't want to understand what's going on, there's only one solution: reduce the speed," Madiot said in words to L'Équipe, not distant from the proposal of Tour de France director Christian Prudhomme.
Recently we have seen Mathieu van der Poel, who makes a big sum of money for starting fees at cyclocross races, arrive at a race in a €500.000 Lamborghini and into Sunday's Besançon World Cup he flew in a private jet, something unthinkable years ago. It is something else that Madiot was quick to point out, as one sign of how money is changing things in the sport, and that this will continue to happen.
"This isn't criticism at all, but I see Van der Poel arriving at a cyclocross with his Lamborghini and flying to Besançon in a private jet, for 50,000 euros per cross. Good for him, but the cycling world is changing. Red Bull is already in football, Formula 1 and in the boats, just like INEOS. Now they're here. I think we're going to see a big shift in 2025 and 2026".
It is "the end of an era" according to the veteran, the times are changing. "People like Patrick Lefevere and I are small grocers, but now we are going to five or six groups. There is no point in calling them teams anymore, if they are investing €50 million. In time, that might even be ten or fifteen groups. That will raise questions with sponsors, who will expect more in terms of image investment for ten million. They want to make money, while we have always been in a balance model. Are we ready for this as cycling? Do we want this?"
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— Équipe Cycliste Groupama-FDJ (@GroupamaFDJ) December 15, 2024
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so juan soto, major league baseball player from the Dominican, just signed a contract for $765,000,000. more money in any sport is a sign of its popularity and marketability, same with any business, right? what am i missing? it’s “not sustainable.” well, maybe not by the same people/companies who have sustained it in the past, but if the big teams are seeing a return on their big investment, then there are always gonna be new players entering. i mean, RED BULL isn’t running a charity…
Not completely right, more money doesn’t always make sport more popular, maybe more expensive instead, ie, altering the profile of fans. We’ve seen it in F1, Football and elsewhere, it has been particularly easy to notice since oil money started flooding the market and that isn’t always in search of financial returns, hence the trend in all terms ending with washing ;-)
what i was saying is that more money being dumped into a sport is a sign that it IS growing in popularity, because major corporations don’t just take a complete flyer on some sport or league without metrics to justify it. everybody who says YES has to justify that yes, especially if the results are anything less than projected.
i think you’d accept that the oil money is still in service of an agenda that ends with profit. it may not require profit from the team itself, but it’s still part of a MARKETING strategy that ultimately is profit driven.
i’m feeling pretty stupid right now, because i had a really hard time understanding what the heck madiot was saying. apparently there’s something that’s bad, or might be bad, and then there’s mathieu van der poel, and THAT thing is, ummm, not so good but might be cool or isn’t. and yeah, it’s just this whole big thing…
How is it not a team just because they have a $50 million payroll? Ridiculous comment.
You know what - part of me feels like it's a good thing: how many potential cycling greats did we miss out on because they (or their parents) chose a more lucrative sport (e.g. football, tennis, etc.)?
50 mil is not okay, no no. But 20-25 or however many FDJ is investing is perfectly fine Makes sense
How is it not ok??? That makes no sense. The Tour de France is the biggest sporting event in the world, and the top ride makes $6.0 million?? THAT makes no sense.
Money for the teams goes down, "Oh my gosh, a crisis, what will we do?" Money for the teams goes up, "Oh my gosh, a crisis, what will we do?" The response from "small" team owners (especially Vaughters) is always the same, revenue sharing, capping team spending, and solidifying who gets to be in the upper echelons of cycling. Odd, that is precisely the thing that most benefits them, so they can now compete against the "big" teams, and don't have to worry about being supplanted by smaller teams below them. Odd how that works! -An Economist
Cycling has one of the most complex and arbitrary financial structures, there are n
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