Gilbert charges for interviews

rick_chasey
rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
edited October 2011 in Pro race
Seems some cycling journos on twitter are getting over-excited about Gilbert charging reasonably chunky sums just for an interview.


Any opinions? Do we think less of the man?
_

Comments

  • lostboysaint
    lostboysaint Posts: 4,250
    Yep. His income from the sponsors is based on coverage etc. and he should be looking to get interviews and coverage for them to justify that money, not charging additional.
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  • Gazzaputt
    Gazzaputt Posts: 3,227
    Nope not at all.

    All top sports people charge a fee for interviews.

    Got to pay the bills hasn't he?
  • lostboysaint
    lostboysaint Posts: 4,250
    Gazzaputt wrote:
    Nope not at all.

    All top sports people charge a fee for interviews.

    Got to pay the bills hasn't he?

    No they don't. In fact quite the opposite, a very large proportion of them don't because they know that they need to keep their profiles up to keep sponsors happy/income flooding in.
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  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    Isn't it just a way of managing his media engagements?
  • dulldave
    dulldave Posts: 949
    lostboysaint wrote:
    Yep. His income from the sponsors is based on coverage etc. and he should be looking to get interviews and coverage for them to justify that money, not charging additional.

    +1
    Scottish and British...and a bit French
  • Turfle
    Turfle Posts: 3,762
    Depends on who/when/why.

    If it's all interviews, then yeah that's very poor.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    I thought it was well known that he charges (and is the only one that does). As least I already knew, so it can't that secret. It was mentioned in one of the cycling mags a couple of years as a reason why never interview him. It was something like five grand for a big magazine piece (and that was a couple of years ago).
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    David Millar used to put up a paywall around a part his website that gave more direct access to Millar on ..his www.itsmillartime.com website pre 2004..too much success turns most of them into diks for a while..likely Gilbert too
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBacb2V ... ata_player
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Either Sporza get discounts from him or they give him quite a bit of money...
    _
  • Pru
    Pru Posts: 53
    RichN95 wrote:
    It was something like five grand for a big magazine piece

    If anyone wants to interview me, I'm not famous but I'll do it for HALF that fee!
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    andyp wrote:
    Isn't it just a way of managing his media engagements?

    Yeah but you come out looking like a douche if you're the only one doing it.

    It'd be better to say "Sorry, really packed out with media stuff as it is", surely?

    Granted you don't get the 5k, but I doubt Gilbert notices 5k here or there.
    _
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    Rick Chasey wrote:
    Either Sporza get discounts from him or they give him quite a bit of money...

    Maybe he offers a season ticket or perhaps a loyalty card.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Turfle
    Turfle Posts: 3,762
    Also surely there is some sort of media obligation where races are concerned. Certainly for race winners.
  • rc856
    rc856 Posts: 1,144
    What would happen if the journos collectively decided not to interview him etc.
    Less pics in mags for sponsors etc but I imagine that wouldn't happen because the mags will weigh the cost of the fee against selling extra issues of the mag?

    Based on that, is Gilbert to blame if he knows the mags will pay it?
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    He doesn't come across as a great interviewee anyway, so I doubt it's often worth paying him that much.

    Has he given any insights into his own, or others' psyche? He doesn't seem to rile riders up, he's excellent at balancing both sides of Belgium, he's not had any shocker seasons (compared to expectation), and he's not been on the marching powder or crashed any cars.

    Where's the interview value, other than it's Gilbert?
    _
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    You could make that point for pretty much every pro cyclist.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    andyp wrote:
    You could make that point for pretty much every pro cyclist.

    Ah I disagree. Some are worth reading/listening to.
    _
  • hammerite
    hammerite Posts: 3,408
    RC856 wrote:
    What would happen if the journos collectively decided not to interview him etc.
    Less pics in mags for sponsors etc but I imagine that wouldn't happen because the mags will weigh the cost of the fee against selling extra issues of the mag?

    Based on that, is Gilbert to blame if he knows the mags will pay it?

    There seem to be plenty of pictures in magazines of him crossing the line in first place to keep his sponsors happy.
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    David Clinger tried to charge Pro-Cycling for a piece about his full-face tattoo once, I think in the magazine they retorted with

    "Only if you type it in, mate"
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    Pru wrote:
    If anyone wants to interview me, I'm not famous but I'll do it for HALF that fee!

    I'd do it for free. I'd would just be happy to have someone to talk to...
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    Perhaps he doesn't like interviews and this is his way of saying "no".
    Un uomo solo al commando
  • Ron Stuart
    Ron Stuart Posts: 1,242
    No doubt he would be clad in the sponsers logos and telling the press what a great team (name of main sponser/s) were. So in a sense he is already getting paid, some may argue that it should go (with the territory) for free.

    Surely the guy still needs to have a life and not be hounded all the time.

    It probably boils down to what he is charging for an interview, I mean is he taking the pee like Tony and Cherie Blair :?:
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Ron Stuart wrote:
    No doubt he would be clad in the sponsers logos and telling the press what a great team (name of main sponser/s) were. So in a sense he is already getting paid, some may argue that it should go (with the territory) for free.

    Surely the guy still needs to have a life and not be hounded all the time.

    It probably boils down to what he is charging for an interview, I mean is he taking the pee like Tony and Cherie Blair :?:

    The impression I got from the journos whining on twitter that it was reasonably considerable.
    _
  • edhornby
    edhornby Posts: 1,780
    given that he has a only a set number of years to make the big cash and he's not the only one I don't see what the issue is, stops people wasting his time as much as anything else

    it's a perk for being one of the best in the world
    "I get paid to make other people suffer on my wheel, how good is that"
    --Jens Voight
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Pretty sure Boonen didn't when he was Belgium's poster boy.

    He did it via other means - endorsing sidi shoes in a gladiator outfit or putting his name and face to world champ Pâté.
    _
  • lostboysaint
    lostboysaint Posts: 4,250
    edhornby wrote:
    given that he has a only a set number of years to make the big cash and he's not the only one I don't see what the issue is, stops people wasting his time as much as anything else

    it's a perk for being one of the best in the world

    No, the sponsorship deals are the perk for being one of the best in the world and they generally come with two caveats - the first is to keep getting the results, the second is to represent the brand properly. The second often comes with a hefty contractual obligation as to how much media work you are expected to do. Ask Hamilton and Button, Vettel and Webber, Rooney, Messi etc all of whom do advertisement shoots, interviews, product launch interviews as part of their sponsorship deal. Think Contador and others and some of their dreadful promo stuff and interviews, all of which were part of the deal.

    If he's able to negotiate for interviews outside of his sponsorship obligations then great, he's got a very good agent/manager, but that's very, very short term (about as long as he's banging in the results) whereas the clever long term, media friendly rider will generate better income through sponsorship and coverage despite not having the results, and for longer.
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  • dougzz
    dougzz Posts: 1,833
    I think it's completely wrong. You get the salary, the sponsorship and other opportunities. Talking to the media is really a conduit for passing info to the people that make the salary, sponsorship and other payments possible. It seem petty, and rather tasteless to me, but then that's just me.

    If you PM I'll tell you how to send me £10 for a fuller version of above.
  • Ron Stuart
    Ron Stuart Posts: 1,242
    dougzz wrote:
    I think it's completely wrong. You get the salary, the sponsorship and other opportunities. Talking to the media is really a conduit for passing info to the people that make the salary, sponsorship and other payments possible. It seem petty, and rather tasteless to me, but then that's just me.

    If you PM I'll tell you how to send me £10 for a fuller version of above.

    dougzz you are 100% correct but alas it's a sad reflection on the times we live in, grab and greed culture, a model of which is the ex PM. The only justification put up here is that it may keep the press from hounding him too much.
  • nferrar
    nferrar Posts: 2,511
    Don't see a problem with it myself, as has been said I'm sure he has contractual media commitments and these are non-contractual ones he's charging for. He probably doesn't get a whole lot of free time outside of training and contractual stuff so given he's a pro why shouldn't he charge if someone wants an hour of his time or so (and I bet a lot of people do want his time).

    Lostboysaint makes a good point that it could back and bite him if he does stop performing well, the journos are going to be all over it calling him a has-been etc. But even if he was a media darling they end up turning eventually if it makes for a good story so he probably figures screw it, may as well make hay whilst the sun shines and all that.

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