RCS revenue sharing

iainf72

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rcs-spo ... artnership

Quite a shrewd move by RCS I think.

inkyfingers

Interesting, particularly if they started doing this it would make it very difficult for other race organisers not to, otherwise you can see a situation where teams would send their strongest team to the Tirreno Adriatico and a weaker team to Paris-Nice.

blazing_saddles

Seems both sides get a little of what they want from such a deal.
Better riders for their races. Cash for sending better riders.

Of course, the TDF doesn't need to go down this line.

inkyfingers

My only concern with this is that it will hasten the demise of races that are already struggling. We nearly lost Pais Vasco and San Sebastian this year as they can't pay for themselves as it is, if teams are expecting a slice of the "profits" as well then that will probably be the nail in the coffin.

There is a danger that we end up with a similar situation to professional football where we have a Premier League of races that make money and can afford to pay out money to the teams (major classics, GTs etc) but the races that aren't as profitable become even less attractive and end up dissapearing from the calendar if there is no financial incentive for the teams to ride them. As fans we might not immediately miss some of the smaller races, but in the long term it would not be good for the sport.