Tour of Missouri Organizers All But Concede That There Will Be No Race This Year
After months of pedaling uphill, it would appear that the Tour of Missouri, one of the most high-profile bicycle races in the U.S., has run out of steam and will have to cancel this year's competition.....
about 2 years ago
steph-
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A shame
Can’t say that I can gin up all that much outrage, though. Public money to private sporting events is generally in my Not A Good Idea column. And they’re making a big mistake trying to lay it down on Nixon as a political issue (even if that’s absolutely true).
haha
Well, it’ll be interesting to see what happens to ToB once they start slashing Regional Development Agency budgets all over the place.
Has to be said though, if the municipalities or regions or whatever didn’t stump up the cash I doubt there’d be a Tour or a Giro. The Italian environment ministry’s sponsoring the maglia bianca & the ministry of employment & the Trentino tourist board are two of the other sponsors. & that’s before you look at what the start/finish towns etc. put in.
"I was just trying to keep warm" - Ian Stannard on finishing third in KBK
re: Tour/Giro
Yes, but two distinguishing points:
1) I know it’s obvious to us, but they are orders of magnitude bigger than the ToM, and I’d be far more inclined to believe that the public money invested in them brings a net public return. ToM? Umm, yeah.
2) The whole US/EU difference in public funding is definitely a factor, here. Almost completely different philosophies driving such decisions (despite years of Labour’s best efforts, thanks).
Anyway, probably a tender spot over which to discuss the subject. I’m truly sorry that the ToM has gone away.
Well, as someone who just about owes her entire career to Labour's best efforts of publicly funding the arts
I had probably better shut up. ;-) My point was that cycling – possibly uniquely – is a private sport that it is rather hard to envisage without considerable amounts of public (financial) support.
"I was just trying to keep warm" - Ian Stannard on finishing third in KBK
Writing a welcome note to Nick, are you? (Because we know that other toff won’t even read it). [But seriously, are you talking about the lottery money side?]
Cycling, as competitive sport, can get on quite nicely without public funding. But cycling as a top professional sport, yes, has grown almost entirely through public money.
Considering
it takes over 200 kilometers of space and often various town centers, there’s a necessary public component, at least the need for municipalities to permit stuff and do what they need to for security. Also, unlike most sports, races bring something to town that wasn’t already there. Kinda like the circus showing up, albeit sometimes without stopping. No reason the towns shouldn’t support this when, as in Europe, the presence of the race brings in serious money.
by Chris Fontecchio on May 27, 2010 6:51 PM EDT up reply actions
Bifurcated response:
it takes over 200 kilometers of space and often various town centers, there’s a necessary public component, at least the need for municipalities to permit stuff and do what they need to for security.
US me: totally down for that in every instance. Free permits, provide public security, etc? All good. Cash into the US promoter’s pocket? Not so much.
Also, unlike most sports, races bring something to town that wasn’t already there. Kinda like the circus showing up, albeit sometimes without stopping. No reason the towns shouldn’t support this when, as in Europe, the presence of the race brings in serious money.
In the EU, I’d agree. In the US, there’s an important modifying clause there: “when the race brings in serious money.”
I love pro cycling. I love American pro cycling. I love American amateur cycling. I think there are about eleventy billion other things that public money in the US would get a better net social return on.
Perhaps a point that is tangential to the one you're making...
But here in the US of A, we have no problem throwing public monies (by the boatload) at the owners of fucking football, baseball, basketball, and hockey teams.
Just sayin’
MBT
by ManBicycleThing on May 27, 2010 11:44 PM EDT via mobile up reply actions
Not only do we throw money at them, we allow ourselves to be held hostage by their
“needs”. Like new improved venues. Check San Diego, not likely to host another Super Bow,l for instance, because the thirty + year old stadium is not up to “current league standards”. WTF, they have grass, seat, food, beer and bathrooms. What else do they possibly require?
have you supported your local race photographer today?
Why not? It's cheap, easy and you might win something.......
by Christopher See on May 28, 2010 1:51 AM EDT up reply actions
But presumably it had some corporate sponsorship?
Or did it not at all?
"I was just trying to keep warm" - Ian Stannard on finishing third in KBK
Cuz
No one managed to sell it as an attractive way to advertise? If cycling is going to grow in the United States, some one really needs to figure out how to sell it to advertisers. And I don’t mean by waving Armstrong’s name around.
Eh, yeah, I have a post about Cali on those sort of subjects in my mind. Maybe I’ll put it up next week.
Find a corporate sponsor that will sponsor a bike race in Missouri and then we will see...
It seems like it was a race that was in a weird spot…It was big but it might not have been big enough to warrant big corporate sponsors
Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!, Tommeke!
by Vlaanderen90 on May 27, 2010 7:48 PM EDT up reply actions
perhaps the corporate entities are less than bowled over by the organizers numbers.
I saw a tweet that indicated it might not have been as good a proposition as everyone wanted to make it out to be.
have you supported your local race photographer today?
Why not? It's cheap, easy and you might win something.......
by Christopher See on May 27, 2010 8:52 PM EDT up reply actions
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