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In the "Golden age" of XC mtb in Spain (early 90's), many big sponsors were alcohol or tobacco firms and we had the "Larios DH Cup" (gin), the "J&B XC Cup" (whiskey), "Team Coronas mtb" (tobacco) and others. Money was flowing, good times. Years later (after the tobacco and alcohol sponsorship and advertising ban) I still remember the Grundig World Cup and others. Maybe not tobacco and/or alcohol, but I think external money can be very welcome back in the mtb circus.

Something I learned this year was how difficult the timing is - a few things I never considered. Not all of a rider's sponsors line up to end on the same date. Can't takea pic in your new TL kit if Alpine was doing your old and you are still under contract for them...so multiply that my all the support a team has for the existing and new riders. Then, once all that is finally squared, the logistics of an announcement have to match up...got to plan the photo, video, place...hope it's not raining etc. Here is a big one...

I think one of the biggest issues is most top end dh racers aren’t using publicists to reach a wider audience. Very few are like missy giove back in the day who would hustle a ton off the bike to build her brand.

I would speculate that the European market generally responds better to marketing in the form of bike racing (whether it be world tour cycling, cyclocross, world cup XC, or world cup DH) compared to the North American market. As evidence of this, it seems like the overwhelming majority of non-endemic sponsors of various bike racing teams, or series, do not sell their product in North America or at least are based in Europe. Elite level bike racing is also increasingly easier to view in Europe compared to North America. If this speculation is correct, I think brands targeting the European...

I think you are misreading. I'm not suggesting DH racing sucks to watch overall (though it has gotten worse the last year). I love the sport. I'm suggesting that the business of running a team makes zero sense and actually does *not* translate to the whole "win on sunday sell on monday" motif that seems more grounded in yesteryear motocross and is not quantifiable for brands today in mountain biking. Again, I don't know how a marketing manager can justify the millions into a DH team relative to the reach, ROI, boost in sales, boost in brand equity etc other...

https://www.singletracks.com/mtb-trails/how-a-small-new-york-town-attra… Some very interesting tidbits in this article... 1. They signed a 3-year deal with Warner Brothers/Discovery to host world cups. 2. This Lake Placid, NY venue says Warner Brothers/Discovery REACHED OUT OT THEM to host the event. Which is interesting as we have been discussing and know, PART of the reason there aren't more rounds outside Europe is that venues are not bidding. You can't have a World Cup race in Vail, CO if they don't bid for the race. However, this information, flips that on it's head a little bit. Saying that WB/D was actively pursuing the venue...

Just wanted everyone to remember that shit show

A break away series was always 'possible'. The races would only need Cat3 Uci status like Hardline gets every year (interestingly for now the 24 Hardline events are not on the uci calendar?) Nothing has stopped the CWX series from growing and increasing TV coverage while under Uci rules. It would be possible that if a series grew to really rival the World Cups that in the past the UCI would have started to pull uci status from events in a political move. But really, it's never happened, nor is it likely. So as long as an organisation is happy...

I don't have a hypothesis. I agree with you by in large. The TREND is not for the world cup to be more eurocentric. It has ALWAYS been Eurocentric. My point is that things are not trending to be more eurocentric, There is little change. But the change there is points to a longer term strategy of building new venues in a sustainable way. Just because enduro and DH got a pretty lacking calendar in 24 doesn't mean it's going to be like that forever. And probably most important in trying to analyze this is you have to include xc...

Yes, I fully agree. I'd love to see more rounds in different countries, but as Kusa says not much can be done if venues aren't bidding.

The euro centric WC can be simply for the reason that EU rounds are wiling to place money for it while US doesn’t. At the end it is always a business, just in case you thought there is some other reason. No one is doing it for love of bikes in the first place no matter how much you think they do - money poured into venue come also from different resources and in EU its often to support local travel business and it is funded by government. Is that the same in the US? I doubt that since a...

Ahh, somehow I missed that. Point still stands, 1 race in the rest of the world doesn’t make a proper World Cup.

A US only series rivaled the World Cup in the not so distant past. At the height of the NORBA series all of the big names would show and the series was on actual broadcast TV in the US. I’m not saying a 4 round startup will recreate the success of the past just dropping a reminder that the UCI World Cup hasn’t always been the only game in town. Especially for top North American talent. Obviously the way we consume media has changed and it’s far easier to get information on the WCs now than in 90s but I...

Very close to some of my points I've made before in this debate. Keeping the cozy UCI run, RBTV broadcast series was always going to reach a dead end of sorts (probably very soon). In terms of potential for outside sponsorship etc. While things were great for lots of "real" fans. It's clear that the ones who won't now tune in care more for their entertainment than they do the sport. Which is fine of course. But, you can't have the cake and it it and all that. More prize money for riders, more outside sponsors, more professionalism etc... have...

"where's the money going" makes no sense. WDBsports didnt make a special platform for streaming MTB races They put the broadcast in with gcn/Eurosport or whatever you had here in the US. You couldn't expect them to give them away for free. Their other customers subscribing for road cycling etc. would not be stoked. Subscription for 6-9 months or even a year was less than some people pay for an MTB tyre. The argument that the money is not going back to MTB because the riders ain't getting it is silly. WDBsports are now covering all areas of organisation that...