Who owns a cycling team?

tailwindhome
tailwindhome Posts: 18,928
edited June 2012 in Pro race
Bit confused about the organisational structure of a typical cycling team. Specfically Radioshack.

Who owns the team?

Bruyneel? The Schlecks? Lance? The Sponsors?
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!

Comments

  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Typically the licence holder.

    So I can't remember who's got the licence, but the team is registered in Lux, which would indicate Flavio Becca is still the owner.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,097
    Beccia has the licence. Bruyneel has the sponsors.

    A match made in heaven.
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    Seems to me that this thread should be part of the “New to the Tour de France/Cycling? Click here” thread.

    If Premier League teams were to go under their main sponsor names (Chelsea = Samsung, Everton = Chang, Man City = Thomas Cook, etc), then maybe it would be clearer to a newbie how things are organised in cycling - but it isn’t like that.

    I’m not even sure (as andyp implies) that the team manager deals with the sponsors. In the case of BMC, as example, I feel sure Rihs does the negotiating with the sponsors, not Ochowicz, Baldato, Sciandri or whoever (i.e those involved in the team management).
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,147
    knedlicky wrote:
    In the case of BMC, as example, I feel sure Rihs does the negotiating with the sponsors

    Not the best example - Rihs is the sponsor. He owns the team and the BMC company.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    RichN95 wrote:
    knedlicky wrote:
    In the case of BMC, as example, I feel sure Rihs does the negotiating with the sponsors
    Not the best example - Rihs is the sponsor. He owns the team and the BMC company.
    Yes, I forgot he's BMC. So maybe not the best example, but I hope my point is nonetheless understood (wrt other teams).
  • ms_tree
    ms_tree Posts: 1,405
    I could be wrong but doesn't Riis (as opposed to Rihs) own the licence for the Saxo team? Then he brings on sponsors to pay for everything else. Garmin - don't something like Slipstream own the licence for that (is it part Elllis, Vaughters, Millar?).
    I'm just writing this off the top of my head without doing any research (tsk!) but from memory have read this.
    'Google can bring back a hundred thousand answers. A librarian can bring you back the right one.'
    Neil Gaiman
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,097
    Ms Tree is right.

    In most cases there is a management company that owns the World Tour licence, has sponsorship agreements in place with the sponsors and contracts with the rider. In many cases the contracts of the riders are longer than the contracts for the sponsors, with the view that another sponsor can always be found. Sometimes this doesn't happen, as anyone who remembers the Ferretti/Sony Ericsson debacle will recall.

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