professional cycling is good value

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  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    True, it is good value.

    But there's a reason why it's cheap: scandal. A big investment in marketing can be undone if the team gets caught cheating. I'd liken it to a junk bond, you get plenty of interest for your money each year but there's a real risk that the bond defaults, that you don't get your money back because a doping scandal happens. It's higher risk stuff than tennis or golf.

    This needn't be so, for a bit more money a team can operate like FDJ or Garmin and give a near guarantee of clean riding. But in a world where winning = publicitity, the pressure to cut corners is big.

    Cycling audiences on TV tend to be more female orientated and elderly. Now I reckon most forum members here are male and not geriatric but the cycling at 3pm in the afternoon easily attracts housewives and pensioners as well as typical male sports fans, it's glorified daytime TV of course. That's why anti-snoring products, hearing aids and other products are linked to teams. It's also a good way to take the sport to hard to reach places, Agritubel can get it's message to farmers in remote corners of France for example.

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