As the countdown to the 2024 season gathers pace, Cyclingnews looks at some of the key storylines that will define the coming year in cycling.
In October, during the announcement of the 2024 Tour de France route, a story emerged that eclipsed the ASO’s annual presentation ritual in Paris.
The Reuters new agency broke news of a secretive project to create a ‘superleague’ in professional cycling spearheaded by Visma-Lease a Bike manager and AIGCP teams organisation president Richard Plugge, with possible and management backing from venture capitalist investors.
Cyclingnews understands the plan is to create some kind of new company within the sport that brings together teams, race organisers and the UCI to create new revenue streams. These would be through a variety of means: packaging broadcast rights of smaller races together, shared revenue with organisers, marketing athlete image rights, creating an e-commerce platform to sell team merchandise, and a digital platform for cycling content.
Other key ideas include creating a reduced, more selective race calendar that is more coherent and understandable to fans, and perhaps even the consideration of a salary or budget cap to level the playing field amongst teams.
The initially project first emerged in 2023 and called ‘One Cycling’ with the UCI involved. However the possibility of venture capital coming onboard and taking a stake in any ‘new-co’ business model has elevated the project to another level and raised far more concerns.
The name ‘Champion’s League’ of cycling has also been mooted, in comparison to the successful European football tournament organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA).
Any new calendar could see the Grand Tour remain as the biggest events in the sport, with the new One Cycling calendar built around them, much like in professional tennis.
Five leading WorldTour teams, including Ineos Grenadiers, EF Education-EasyPost, Lidl-Trek and Visma-Lease a Bike are said to be involved and pushing for the One Cycling reforms and venture capital involvement.
Reuters reports that accounting and consulting firm EY has sought expressions of interest from potential investors for the project. One well informed source told Cyclingnews that funding could even come from Saudi Arabia investors, as was the case with the LIV golf breakaway league. Reuters suggested that CVC Partners, the former owner of Formula One motor racing, could be interested in investing in the…
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