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news
Team Sky Arc de TriompheSky to end sponsorship of Team Sky next year
Broadcaster Sky is to cease sponsorship of Team Sky at the end of next season as it ends its involvement with professional cycling.
The company has backed the team – the richest in the sport, with an annual budget of around £30 million – since 2010.
Sky chairman James Murdoch, himself a keen cyclist, was key in the sponsorship deal being put together and its subsequent renewals, but he left the business in October after its £30 billion takeover by US firm Comcast.
In a statement on the team website, Sky chief executive Jeremy Darroch said: “We came into cycling with the aim of using elite success to inspire greater participation at all levels.
"After more than a decade of involvement, I couldn’t be prouder of what we’ve achieved with Team Sky and our long-standing partners at British Cycling. But the end of 2019 is the right time for us to move on as we open a new chapter in Sky’s story and turn our focus to different initiatives including our Sky Ocean Rescue campaign."
The team was set up by Sir Dave Brailsford with the aim of winning the Tour de France within five years with a British rider, an objective met with raised eyebrows from many.
A decade on, and the team has come to dominate the race. In 2012, Sir Bradley Wiggins won the yellow jersey, and since then Team Sky has won five of the past six editions, with Chris Froome clinching four editions and Geraint Thomas winning this year.
The past two years have seen Team Sky embroiled in controversy due to the issue of Therapeutic Use Exemptions to Wiggins and the ‘Jiffy Bag’ affair, with a parliamentary committee highly critical of the team.
However, a UK Anti-doping probe was shelved after it was unable to prove any wrongdoing.
IThe UCI WorldTour outfit said it would carry on racing beyond 2019 if it managed to secure a new backer.
Brailsford said: “While Sky will be moving on at the end of next year, the team is open minded about the future and the potential of working with a new partner, should the right opportunity present itself. For now, I would like to thank all Team Sky riders and staff, past and present - and above all the fans who have supported us on this adventure.
“We aren’t finished yet by any means. There is another exciting year of racing ahead of us and we will be doing everything we can to deliver more Team Sky success in 2019.”
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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18 comments
Hasn't there been a shake up in ownership of Sky, perhaps that is the reason for the withdrawal.
I am still going out at the weekend with some mates, moan about the cold, wonder why we are doing this and why does my arse still hurts after all these years. Might take a hily route might decide to go flatter and have a coffee. There will be a couple of close passes, maybe a mechanical and more moaning. Death stare when i get home but I will be happy. This happened before Sky and will happen after.
If your getting the "death stare" on your return from cycling can i give you some good, and well used advice ... bugger off with her best mate, you know the one , she flirts with you , the blonde divorced one ..... who will be fun to be with and thinks your cycling is a plus , because she gets "her time" .... trust me it's for the best .... has been for me ...
In "her time" she's playing "post the pink parcel" with your best mate.
It's a real blow to the sport and the professional peloton.
Thing is I've read so much negativity from supposed fans of the sport berating their dominance, budget and general controlling attitude during races that we can't be too surprised if non fans and key decision makers pick up on that and perhaps cite that as reason for pulling the plug.
Like or loathe them Sky raised the bar and injected, I think, much needed professionalism and media attention to the sport so we're all poorer for them not being around.
Let's hope new sponsors can be found for all that face losing their jobs, and as we know that's a lot of people.
Archer-Phrasing-300x194.jpg
It was on the cards. Who would want to have their name associated with the bad press and booing?
You never know, maybe this is the start of levelling the playing field that Matt White spoke about when being asked if power meters were spoiling the excitement of Pro Tour racing -
“Taking away the power meters is not going to restrict Sky. If you really want to restrict Sky, the best way would be to implement some sort of salary cap,” he said. “If you’re serious about leveling the playing field, some sort of salary cap would be the best way.”
Is it really though? Does the sport get more attractive from riders getting paid 1mio/year iso 500k/year?
Do you think Froome will stop riding his bike and start playing soccer when he no longer gets paid 1mio?
No, but you've now got a flood of riders (and staff) that had safe, well-paid jobs looking for similar positions in a very crowded market.
Add to that the fact that the UK won't have a World Tour team. Does that matter for mass participation? I'd argue that the increase in BC membership suggests that having that big, successful 'home nation' team does great things for the growth of cycling in the UK.
Also, you've got to remember all those boys will be on the market. Say Froome goes from 1mil to 500k, that's 10 worldtour riders minimum wages that a team can no longer afford
Is this more evidence to substantiate the claim that the UK has 'gone past peak cycling'?
Glad I'm not the PR company having to look after the Jiffy brand; now inextricably linked to (aledged) dodgy medication delivery!
Can you show us some stats for that, because according to everyone else who has looked at the figures in detail (including the government) no sporting success nor even BC membership increases (a few thousand?) has had any inpact on growth of cycling
.A report on this very website told us that there's been no increase in cycling trips, have you not read that Liam??.
"the proportion of adults cycling at least once a week in England has stayed the same" https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/walking-and-cycling-statistics-...
Whilst miles travelled has increased (though since 2005 has remained roughly the same) there are no additional trips social/leisure or otherwise.
Care to argue your case as to why you think the opposite to the facts at hand?
British Cycling had ~ 15,000 members in 2005, ~50,000 in 2012, it now stands somewhere north of 125,000, that's more members than some political parties about to elect a new leader have. Now I'd accept not all of those new members ride bicycles, and even those that do maybe not as much, but a good chunk must surely ride and record them on Strava as theyve just claimed we've all cycled in the UK & Ireland 1 billion km this year. So I've no idea how the government work out their cycling figures, I don't recall being asked by them,maybe you do, but just maybe their data is an estimate and not a very good one at that.
As I said, I don't dispute cycling memberships are up but actual people cycling has not gone up according to the government. In any case 75 thousand people increase over 13 years is less than 6 thousand extra people max per year if you take every membership as a person cycling regularly/ It has had zero effect on total people cycling, not every person needs to be asked (though census dat is used for some data), these are facts not complete guesswork which is what you and Liam are doing.
Sponsors come, sponsors go. Usually driven by someone high up in the sponsor company, as was the case here. Life goes on.
But, no other teams have found sponsors with pockets as deep as Sky's and so love them or loath them, this is bad news for cycle racing as a whole.
Earlier this week I saw a comment that 5 years is a long time for a headline sponsor in pro cycling. True, that's a good stretch for a sugar daddy sponsor (Andy Rihs) or bike-mad company boss to put into the sport, so 10 years for Sky is good going. The end was inevitablem, particularly with the sale of the business.
Cycle sport is contracting at all levels - from grassroots all the way up to WorldTour level. Yes it will be bad for rider salaries but these costs have soared in recent years, mainly due to teams at the top end like BMC (now defunct) and Sky paying silly money. I can't get bothered about millionaire tax exiles facing the possibility of a pay drop but I do feel for the team staff, also the minimum wage riders in Pro-Conti and continental teams like JLT (now defunct) who train just as hard but face the prospect of retiring early.
But it is what it is. Sport - and life in general - is never fair.
Agree. In this case though Sky were also the owner, not just the sponsor, so that complicates things more from the point of view of maintaining it as a going concern.
Everything has a market value and it's all relative. I think it was Carlton Kirby @Eurosport who commented that what Sky budgets total for one year is what a single top line defender in wendyball would cost.