After the bombshell news that cycling fans in the UK and Ireland will lose Eurosport coverage as it moves to TNT Sports for substantially more, British rider Tao Geoghegan Hart took to Instagram to point out the severity of the issue. Starting Feb. 28, in order to watch pro cyclists, those in UK and Ireland will have to pay a hefty £30.99-a-month subscription–just over 50 Canuck bucks.
“For those in need of some context, the cost of watching racing has gone from £87 a year (approximately CAD $143) to £370 (approximately CAD $610). As of yet, I’ve seen little comment from pro cycling itself, especially from the many Great Britain riders whose profiles, families and fans it impacts so greatly,” Geoghegan Hart posted.
The Lidl – Trek said that cycling going behind such a large paywall is a huge problem. He said that professional sports are all competing for the same audience.
“Cycling is completely reliant on this audience, it is how teams justify themselves to sponsors spending millions a year. Only a few teams can realistically promise a sponsor to win the Tour, but all teams can demonstrate good return on investment when capturing so many eyes, hearts & minds. It’s not only wins that can be of value,” he said. “It’s the journey and the heartache too.”
Many on X already said that they would not be willing to pay such a high subscription fee and would have to use pirated websites to watch their favourite races–or simply not watch it at all.
Watching cycling with friends and family
Journalist and prominent cycling tweeter, Cillian Kelly, spoke about how he got into cycling, watching races with his dad. “I found the sport, as I’m sure a lot of people in the UK and Ireland did, because my Dad watched it on Channel 4 and back then, watching television was a social thing, you watched what everyone else in the room was watching. Ironically now, social media is not socialized, it’s personalized. Feeds and the algorithm are personal. My kids are not going to see what I see,” He said. “Are they going to watch over my shoulder while I scroll through my cycling-filled feed and wonder what it is I’m getting excited about?”
Geoghegan Hart went on to say that the news is a huge shame. “Cycling provides such great entertainment and inspiration to so many. GB fans are living a real high point of the sport. There are so many GB professionals, with Tom Pidcock winning his first race for his new team this afternoon a great…
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