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I’m relatively new to mtb racing(gonna be my 31st year racing this year) but before I started racing, I was a teenage super fan who studied the history of MTB racing the way normal American jock kids study sportsball. American mtb team sponsorship was historically more about real life brand activation than earned media. 20,000+ people used to go to American mtb races 6-7 times a year just to spectate. The value of the outside industry sponsorship was seen as being in front of those stoked people- driving 3+ hours from home to watch DS, XC, DH. Of the 20,000...

I don't think it is a lack of hustle in getting outside sponsors, it is a lack of exposure for the sponsors in any form of MTB. We don't have the TDF with billions of viewers to drive viewing of other events. How many viewers does a typical WC XC or DH race get? Where on the socio-economic scale do those viewers sit? Big difference in advertising value between a 19 yo that attends a DH race with a chainsaw sans chain and a 40 something watching the big TDF stages on the weekend. This is the real reason that...

i would like to point out that before Mercedes happened in the 2010's, there was a Mercedes Benz Marin MTB racing team circa 1998 with British racers such as James Allaway and Dave Hemming. We also had: Volvo Cannondale, Schwinn Toyota, Trek Volkswagen, Ford Kona, Gary Fisher Subaru, Subaru on Mountain Dew Specialized, BMW Proflex, Klein Catera, Chevy Trucks on Team GT, Wiesmann Roadster on Nicolai made bikes and so on and so forth. The World Cup was also sponsored by German electronic maker Grundig in its beginnings, then by Diesel and then famously by Rocky Roads, thanks to the...

I sound like a broken record, but I spend a majority of weekends in late winter through to early summer wrenching for a local U23 and NICA national level race team. I took it upon myself to try and rustle up some sponsors for the team this season, and granted we’re pretty small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, but my initial idea was to approach only outside the industry, or industry adjacent companies under the assumption they likely have more promotional budget to toss around some product, as I wasn’t even asking about financial support. Unfortunately, I was...

Say a riders career is maybe 10 years if you have a good run. (lets leave out old greg here) that's 10 years to make as much money as possible to fund future endeavors, education, housing etc. If you are not a top 10 guy, that won't be a lot of money. I follow major league baseball, the minimum salary is $740k USD! this is to be a nobody that sits on the bench. That's Gwin money! to be a nobody! Make that cheddar while you can baby! I'd wear Fleshlight branded clothing to get that Moolah if I had...

The liv golf thing was/is a wild story and maybe relevant but for a different reason? Basically the PGA held a monopoly on players & tournaments which made it tough for new players to own their image, media and where they could play. LIV stepped in to give players more freedom and control over their careers which really shook up the industry. They are definitely not saints but it exposed the PGA and its practises and forced some massive shake ups (including an eventual merger which stitched up the guys who rejected big offers to go to LIV). Point is...

I think people would be very surprised how low salaries are for support staff. I know of one mechanic working for a decent team that was paid in the form of a bike. Sure they got to "travel" but it was very low. While it may seem like there are only a few days of "work" they are huge days and don't forget, these guys drive the van around and spend months away at a time. Some of the teams down even spring for a hotel with one big team having the mechanics sleep on the race truck... It's a...

Certainly a fair point, but keep in mind that there is an 'acceptable' number of alcoholic drinks a person can have each week. But many sports are limiting the amount of sponsorship (via visibility allowed on athletes or vehicles) of alcohol brands. I am not really sure that is fair to say these sports management teams and athletes are lazy. Ford currently works with TMac, Paris Gore, and other professionals in the cycling industry for the Bronco. Ford also supports an XC race team. Look at the World Tour teams, a ton of outside industry support. MTB may just not...

I'd personally doubt energy drinks will ever be equivalent to cigarettes as there is no such thing as a healthy amount of tobacco use while but having an energy drink once a week isn't really unhealthy. And sure much like alcohol the vast majority of energy drinks are bought and consumed by those with an unhealthy habit I doubt either will ever be culturally unacceptable the same way cigarettes have. I think the main issue really is the lack of hustle on behalf of the top of the sports management circles. With how often MTB is used to sell product...

That is definitely an interesting point. I think it is shown that they currently can. How long each of those lasts is TDB. Though if you look at some of the riders getting sponsored by CBD and OF, they can be limited, but when the interested sponsor goes for the whole league or series (LIV), then the rules change a little. For sure energy drinks have a potential risk and they could be limited in the future, but they are also working/talking to a huge part of their customer base. Just like beer sponsors at NASCAR races were talking to...

First off, we already have some pretty successful examples of outside sponsorship. Think Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar, Clifbar. Those have allowed some athletes to afford houses and make a true career out of being a rider/racer. Look at other professional racing/sports. They all have outside industry sponsors and even some cycling brands sponsor outside the cycling industry (Specialized/Intense) supporting MX/SX race teams. They see value in expanding to additional markets. Think how big Norba was when Chevy Trucks were sponsoring. Think iconic race cars covered in Marlboro. The bike industry only has so many dollars to go around for sponsorship/marketing...

Vali Höll was out riding/filming with the YT Mob near LA. Getting the 2024 Santa Cruz V10.8 dialed on Secret Trail (Testing on a Legit DH Trail) 1/15/24 (youtube.com) (embedded here too)

Three points I'm compelled to make here... 1) I don't disagree that when you factor in all your SG&A plus what certain brands were doing on a COGS basis to rush product to market that a 3 year snapshot of most companies will look upside down. I wouldn't put this squarely on the shoulders of "those in finance" however. Nobody has a crystal ball and lots of very smart people really did think COVID was going to create long lasting changes as to "how we all hang out". (not true - obviously). I'm not trying to save face for these...

Aron Gwin said something really smart in a podcast (don't remember where) regards the marketing side of DH. From memory he said viewers/fans of DH own around 3,2 bikes, and viewers/fans of XC and road owned around 1,5 bikes each (in the ballpark,). By that it means 1 fan of DH is likely to buy more bikes from said company for each use. But the hardcore XC/road fans often has one high end/expensive bike. With that in mind maybe the long turn ROI of a WC DH team isn't as bad as it looks? And I'm sure temas don't throw...

From a pure numbers perspective (cost of running a factory team vs. sales generated from the team) I don't believe DH racing has ever made financial sense. That doesn't mean there isn't a bigger return for the company. DH racing is a halo product for an entire brand. DH racing has a huge impact on the brand image. The brand image helps sell bikes. DH racing also helps develop technology that transitions out to other types of bikes.

Until something like Hard-line has a deeper field of world-class riders and larger crowds it can't compare to World cup downhill racing. I've found watching g the same Hard-line venue for a decade become rather boring. The decision to hold an event in Tasmania was a great idea to freshen it up

Don't forget that he's good at marketing and entertainment. Neko's able to tell a unique and compelling story that viewers will tune in for, beyond the industry standard "look at a video of us racing and talking about the race." We obviously watch Neko's race videos, but typically that's because the individual races are touchstones in a bigger narrative that we're hooked on. The story guy knows how to get consistent clicks and views! (TELL A GOOD STORY)

trash them. Happens in lots of industries. The only issue is that the brands incredibly foolishly sunk too much into inventory. Normally you just absorb the loss of a bad year from profit of the good years (21 & 22) but the issue is the losses from 23 eclipse any profit from 21 and 22 combined. The finance teams just totally cocked it up, and nobody questioned the fact that MTB (and bikes overall) hasn't actually exploded in terms of usage, people just bought new bikes, but they aren't going to buy new bikes every 2 years lol.