Sponsorship Query

steve23

well..........my workplace has offered to help me out this year by giving me some extra time off to train!!! great!!!

my question is, they obv now want to see their name somewhere about my person. BUT i am already a member of a cycling club.

are they/I allowed to wear their name on my kit and still race??? or is there some kind of rule to stop this? as they are only sponsoring me and not my club, so can the two go together!?

cheers for any info!

Eddy S

There are BC rules and regulations around advertising agreement fees and registered clothing.

You need to read this -> http://www.britishcycling.org.uk/nmsruntime/saveasdialog.asp?lID=459&sID=122 and have a look at sections 8 & 9.

steve23

so you can wear what you want, but have to register it with BC???

thats strange!!!

cougie

Not that strange really is it ? Lots of sponsored clubs and teams around.

steve23

no not strange, but (for example) if you werent in a club, you could really have whatever you wanted on your shorts/shirt!!??

Kléber

The idea is that if you take money from someone, you have to declare it. If you're not on the Astana team, you can wear their jersey.

steve23

but i dont take money from them, thats the thing (well apart from my wages)

they have just given me extra time off to train!

Kléber

You are getting a payment in kind and representing their colours. I'd talk to an official at British Cycling for advice and discuss it with your club members.

andy_wrx

Without reading the half-dozen pages in the regs Eddy has linked to, I think you have a problem and can't do this.

If I remember rightly
- if it's commercial advertising (i.e. pro team with commercial sponsor), you have to register your racing colours and pay a licence fee to British Cycling to wear them. BC are providing races where the sponsor's name & logo etc can be seen, so they make some of their money by taking a cut of that sponsorship
- if it's your amateur club colours (where your club may have some smaller local companies sponsoring the club), again you have to register your racing colours but no licence fee because it's considered 'amateur'/small-scale/supports-the-club sponsorship, paying club overheads and lowering members' subs rather than the club being a 'professional' pro team with commercial sponsorship

You want to ride in your club colours, with additional advertising.
BC will say that these are not registered colours - your club's colours are registered, but not the way you've modified them.
So they'd be different colours, and because you're not a club, BC would say you'd have to register them as commercial colours and pay the registration fee - which obviously you don't want to do.

And your club might not be keen on this either, there may be something in your club's regs which states you have to ride in the club's colours only, not your club's modified colours, because it might dliute the advertising impact of your club's sponsors or there might even be a clash if they are competing companies.

andy_wrx

Kléber wrote:

The idea is that if you take money from someone, you have to declare it. If you're not on the Astana team, you can wear their jersey.

You can wear what you like in training, but you can't race in an Astana jersey unless you're entered by the Astana team, and Astana have paid the licence fee for that jersey.

Tempestas

The simple solution to this is to add a web address or company name onto your bike, I did this when I was part of a team a few years back. I had the web address of the company down my seat stays and added their name to my top tube. This avoided any conflict with regards to jersey sponsorship, the shop gave me the bike to ride so had the stickers made up and fitted.

aarw

Tempestas wrote:

The simple solution to this is to add a web address or company name onto your bike, I did this when I was part of a team a few years back. I had the web address of the company down my seat stays and added their name to my top tube. This avoided any conflict with regards to jersey sponsorship, the shop gave me the bike to ride so had the stickers made up and fitted.

yip, and helmet too. not sure if you can get away with shorts?

Tempestas

aarw wrote:

Tempestas wrote:

The simple solution to this is to add a web address or company name onto your bike, I did this when I was part of a team a few years back. I had the web address of the company down my seat stays and added their name to my top tube. This avoided any conflict with regards to jersey sponsorship, the shop gave me the bike to ride so had the stickers made up and fitted.

yip, and helmet too. not sure if you can get away with shorts?

No chance on the shorts, my team manager would have made me ride with none on! rather than have someone else's name on them :oops:

Helmets too nowadays I guess, but that was part of my teams kit so was a no go for me, but I cannot see a problem if you are not supplied with one.

Simon Notley

Yeah, put their logo on your bike / helmet other kit (although i think this is also technically against the regs unless you register it). And if they want to provide you with a jersey, you could wear that when out training, but you should really be wearing club colours when you're racing for your club (which you must be unless you enter as a private member or your workplace decide to affiliate to BC!). However, I have never seen these rules enforced at my level (3rd cat) not sure how high up you have to go before they will start calling you up. Also, watch out for this reg:

No competitor who is dirty or untidily dressed shall be permitted to start.

aarw

how about a baseball cap for presentations/podium/photo's?

steve23

so i could have the company name on my bike???

that would solve it!!! as for a baseball cap for podiums...........wish i was that good to need one!