Questions about Team Sky Pro Cycling

rick_chasey

For the 2nd time, sky wants break Italy, not the UK....

joelsim

Sky have more than double the market share of Virgin.

jzed

DonDaddyD wrote:

What benefits does Sky get for sponsoring this team?

Sky sponsor British Cycling and Team Sky. £30m over 5 years apparently. In supporting British Cycling, they are fulfilling one of their social responsibility goals. Much like the supporting WWF in the Save the Rainforest campaign.

Undoubtedly in choosing cycling they identified it as a growing area in the UK, that it was an area of British success and that having Sky linked with that success (and visible on all the kits).

I can't really see breaking Italy as a factor in the original decision.

Is Team Sky (or any cycling team for that matter) profitable? (In the sense that it makes business sense for BSkyB to keep sponsoring them.

I can't see Team Sky making a profit as that isn't its primary goal. It is probably run at a loss or break even. It has a whole host of other sponsors - Pinarello, Kask, CNP....

How long before BSkyB get's bored and 'Pro Cycling' (not the real name) goes looking for another sponsor?

Its a five-year deal - they're not going anywhere

If BSkyB stay on board sponsoring 'Team Sky' should they have or will they have launched a 'Womens Sky Pro Cycling team?' (personally think they should have).

Team sky is the male Pro team - they support the British Cycling team too so they are supporting women too.

Do you think Team Sky's mission to win the Tour de France within 5 years will be achieved? (Note that "create the first British winner of the Tour de France, within five years" is no longer their mission, according to Wiki).

Who knows - seems they have invested in the best set-up to do it. Fingers crossed

Who thought BSkyB would make a play to broadcast the Grand Tour and other great bike races on their sports channels?

ITV have the rights until 2013. The deal was done in 2008, presumably before Sky's investment.

suzyb

JZed wrote:

ITV have the rights until 2013. The deal was done in 2008, presumably before Sky's investment.

I don't think so.

In Ned Boulting's book he mentions they renegotiated the rights and Sky didn't bid for them despite having the team. He sounded kinda surprised about it tbh.

At least I'm pretty sure it was after Team Sky was setup that the rights were negotiated.

jzed

suzyb wrote:

JZed wrote:

ITV have the rights until 2013. The deal was done in 2008, presumably before Sky's investment.

I don't think so.

In Ned Boulting's book he mentions they renegotiated the rights and Sky didn't bid for them despite having the team. He sounded kinda surprised about it tbh.

At least I'm pretty sure it was after Team Sky was setup that the rights were negotiated.

ITV did their deal in late 2008, Team Sky was established in early 2009, so possibly there was an overlap whilst the team was being established and Sky chose not to bid.

EKE_38BPM

In the UK, you would have to have Sky in order to see Team Sky race.
With the tour on another channel Sky get the benefit of their name being mentioned very regularly during the race on another channel.

Not bidding would make sense to me under those circumstances.

First.Aspect

DonDaddyD wrote:

Lastly, your sarcasm really isn't necessary.

Yes, you are probably right. But then it wasn't completely out of place, was it?

BelgianBeerGeek

If Team Sky only have another 3 years to put a British TdF winner on the podium, who do you think that will be?
It seems to me that Team Sky have the inconvenience of the London Olympic games to focus on next year with the British riders (as they will surely have to).
Perhaps their TdF ambitions were more of a pipe dream rather than a business plan. Could be interesting to watch this unfold.

DonDaddyD

So lets

First Aspect wrote:

DonDaddyD wrote:

Lastly, your sarcasm really isn't necessary.

Yes, you are probably right. But then it wasn't completely out of place, was it?

Bell-end.

JZed wrote:

Sky sponsor British Cycling and Team Sky. £30m over 5 years apparently. In supporting British Cycling, they are fulfilling one of their social responsibility goals. Much like the supporting WWF in the Save the Rainforest campaign.

Undoubtedly in choosing cycling they identified it as a growing area in the UK, that it was an area of British success and that having Sky linked with that success (and visible on all the kits).

I can't really see breaking Italy as a factor in the original decision.

OK, if it's part of the organisations mission to be socially responsible (ethical, responsible organisation) then I can understand why Sky has invested so much in a market not directly linked or tied to increasing it's profit/market share. It does however raise the company's profile within the UK as Team SKY is a UK market venture.

Thanks for the post prior to that JZed.

sketchley

The downstairs of my house is wall to wall top of the range quick step laminate flooring. I remember thinking in the shop when I picked it out that Quick Step sponsor a team on the tdf. Now I'm not saying I purchased because they sponsored a team*, I'm just pointing out what brand awareness is all about.

*I purchased it becuased i liked it, it doesn't scratch the way real oak does, and when we had samples lying next to real oak it looked more "real", even has texture and groved edges on all four sides. Cost a bit too about the same as engineered real wood flooring but half the price of solid oak boards

shouldbeinbed

Motorola were 7-eleven in their previous life and a different entity to US Postal > Discovery.

Discovery withdrew the sponsorship and the team went bust, Astana were the big payers in the peloton at the time and pretty much bought up the cream of the suddenly umemployed Discovery riders - Contador Leipheimer etc along with Brunyeel. THis is the same Astana team but they had to start again pretty much after their doping problems

fenboy369

DonDaddyD wrote:

Bell-end.

Its been ages since I heard that.

Now then, Team Sky, maybe they are looking at the growing market in cycling and thinking "Lets set the seeds. When cycling is big in the UK we can claim we were there, supporting it at the start". I, like DDD think that a company would not pay out money if they thought that it wasnt going to pull some in for them. The reasons and methods esacpe me, hence I am a lowly aircraft engineer, but there must be a reason that is more related to a heavy wallet in the CEO's pocket than a warm fuzzy feeling in his heart.....

Bikequin

As sketchley has pointed out a lot of marketing is about brand awareness - not necessarily driving people to go out any buy a product but making sure that when an individual does decide to purchase a type of product that the brand is thought of.

It is also about adding perceived value - take nurofen for example, it is 4 - 5x time more expensive than a generic ibuprofen yet because of the perceived value that their advertising has added to the product they are able to charge far more (and many people are willing to pay the extra).

First.Aspect

DonDaddyD wrote:

Bell-end.

Nob splat.

scattered pedals

Its NOT just about promoting in the UK - the real benefit of sponsoring a team is EUROPEAN and to a lesser extent global coverage. Thats why its not team called BSKYB. How is this so hard to understand?

bigmat

Sketchley wrote:

The downstairs of my house is wall to wall top of the range quick step laminate flooring. I remember thinking in the shop when I picked it out that Quick Step sponsor a team on the tdf. Now I'm not saying I purchased because they sponsored a team*, I'm just pointing out what brand awareness is all about.

*I purchased it becuased i liked it, it doesn't scratch the way real oak does, and when we had samples lying next to real oak it looked more "real", even has texture and groved edges on all four sides. Cost a bit too about the same as engineered real wood flooring but half the price of solid oak boards

We had that flooring in our old flat, good stuff, looked good as new after 6 years (apart from the beading - that didn't last so well. Just got new house laid with engineered oak boards, looks more or less the same if I'm honest but maybe a bit more in keeping with a period property. Talk about digressing....