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Kona team is done
Lots of pro woman looking for teams next year as most are up for contract
If Kona is done it'll be interesting to see where Fearon and Miller end up. Maybe Miller to Pivot?
This is why I would not be shocked to see Kona to be done. They haven't produced results (at all). Fearon is good, but the team does nothing when you compare what else that money could be spent on.
With that said, you're still right and I do often wonder how much of a rational choice is in the funding of a smaller team. I would suspect the answer there is "not much", and it's mostly done out of love for seeing rad dudes go fast on bikes.
If Maes is moving, and that's a big if, it's more likely for him to join Atherton Racing than a team with a manager he barely knows and riders he doesn't usually hang out with.
also asked the magic eight ball if gee or rachel would be on track at world cups in 2022 but no answer
Rachel I want to say yes but kind of think we may have seen the last of her outside maybe one last race at somewhere like Ft William.
If anything, I'd say the DH team is worth more (has a better reach) than the EWS team.
I think the issue is the media exclusiveness/format too. Hockey went thru a real dark period that had other many factors but was greatly effected by nbc having exclusive rights to league coverage. ESPN effectively dropping hockey not only from programming schedule but it’s highly relevant sports talk programs led to a massive overnight drop in the casual fan base. Sport became far more niche and it is still fighting to shake that feeling.
Discovery plus was a poor decision. The new format doesn’t work (not gonna watch them race 45 seconds of track on a Friday and wait for the results of what I watched on sunday) and double headers certainly don’t feel in the spirit of ews. If they races all different tracks or did first race blind I’d be for it but otherwise to me it serves only to take away from excitement of a single race in a venue way across the world. Enduro is already about being the best average on the day. It should lean towards blind racing and track walk/practice should mostly be for letting riders turn it up a bit safely. Let’s not turn enduro into the best average on a week on the same course. Lastly the mtb industry already knows how to serve the goods to those who care about it. I just fail to see what new fanbase discovery is helping to bring in or how they have improved existing coverage for the current fans.
Enduro is my fav form of racing and the field is better than ever in talent and personality. I’d love to see red bull pick up the sport. Not necessarily to broadcast live, but they know how to make a race recap, cover racers, and market gravity bike racing. The best ews content ever put out was Red Bull’s series with keane. I just don’t think live coverage in enduro makes much sense other than how crank works does it. it’s tongue in cheek in terms of actual quality of bike racing but it can be fun to watch riders reactions/interviews and how people finish live.
So maybe Miller to Pivot, and Fearon to Giant? What other teams have openings?
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