Go Back  Bike Forums > The Racer's Forum > "The 33"-Road Bike Racing
Reload this Page >

New chief of collegiate cycling has some good plans

Notices
"The 33"-Road Bike Racing We set this forum up for our members to discuss their experiences in either pro or amateur racing, whether they are the big races, or even the small backyard races. Don't forget to update all the members with your own race results.

New chief of collegiate cycling has some good plans

Old 02-04-06, 07:51 AM
  #1  
Upgrading my engine
Thread Starter
 
DXchulo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Alamogordo
Posts: 6,218
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 125 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
New chief of collegiate cycling has some good plans

Check it out: https://www.velonews.com/news/fea/9453.0.html

Sounds like he has some good plans. I especially like these two:

One of the thoughts I have is to approve a national collegiate cycling vendor program to identify vendors who want to help collegiate cycling programs. We can create a hub for products and services that any collegiate program can tap into to get the equipment they need to keep going.
I would like to see cycling as an NCAA (National Collegiate Athletics Association) sanctioned sport in five years. That's a simple statement that has huge meaning.
DXchulo is offline  
Old 02-04-06, 11:16 AM
  #2  
Upgrading my engine
Thread Starter
 
DXchulo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Alamogordo
Posts: 6,218
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 125 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Don't get me wrong- the NCAA thing won't work. The bottom line is that cycling can't make the universities money. Not only that, but the NCAA wants women athletes and cycling can't provide that, either. Besides, anyone who raced in the summer would be in danger of losing "amateur status" as defined by the NCAA.

What I like is the ambition behind it all.
DXchulo is offline  
Old 02-04-06, 09:59 PM
  #3  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Posts: 312
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by DXchulo
Don't get me wrong- the NCAA thing won't work. The bottom line is that cycling can't make the universities money. Not only that, but the NCAA wants women athletes and cycling can't provide that, either. Besides, anyone who raced in the summer would be in danger of losing "amateur status" as defined by the NCAA.

What I like is the ambition behind it all.

couple of questions:

1) Do all NCAA sports make colleges money? If so, why couldn't cycling? It is quickly gaining popularity in the US.

2) Why do you say that cycling can't turn out female participants? I don't think your statement has any merit...

As for racing over the summer, you're right, I don't know how they'd get around that.
acathi_cyclist is offline  
Old 02-05-06, 07:19 AM
  #4  
Upgrading my engine
Thread Starter
 
DXchulo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Alamogordo
Posts: 6,218
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 125 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
1. Go take a look at the list of sports: https://www.ncaasports.com/. The only real surprises to me there are bowling, fencing, and rifle. However, take a closer look at bowling. It's women's bowling. Rifling still kind of baffles me, but its championship history goes back to 1980, so we're not talking about adding rifling to the NCAA menu in these times of decreased enrollment and budget cuts. The bowling history only goes back to 2004, but again, that's women's bowling. I'm sure that was just a move for "gender equality." Fencing sounds like an obscure sport, but it's actually more popular than you'd think.

To make money for the NCAA sports need to (a) get television coverage (b) get sponsorship or (c) make money off of admission fees. Cycling is not a spectator sport, so (a) and (c) are out. Could you imagine even charging the spectators $2 to watch a race? They'd laugh in your face. (b) could be a remote possibility if a company like Trek or Cannondale forked over huge amounts of cash to be "the official bike of the NCAA." But again, this raises issues for anyone who wants to ride in the summer.

Also keep in mind that not every university fields a team for every sport the NCAA has to offer. Most of the smaller universities carry the big ones like basketball and football, regional favorites like hockey, and whatever else can equalize the gender numbers. Even if cycling made it to the NCAA, you'd have a hard time pitching it to individual schools over something more gender-friendly like soccer or a growing TV possibility like lacrosse.

2. Come on, this is obvious to everyone but you. Even recreational cycling is male dominated, and racing is even worse. This issue is brought up in the article above. One of his goals is to get more women involved.

I'd love to see some official numbers as far as how many male vs. female cyclists were licensed in 2005, but I'm having a hard time finding anything.
DXchulo is offline  
Old 02-05-06, 03:56 PM
  #5  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Posts: 312
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
So you're telling me that fencing would make more money for a university than cycling? When have you ever seen fencing on tv? I have only met one person in my life who fenced, how many people do you know who ride a bike competitively?

How about cross country? I used to be a runner and we never got television coverage, nor did we ever charge people to watch us race.

How about NCAA golf? When have you ever payed to see someone golf?

I still think that you are talking out of your ass. None of the above sports are very profitable and all of them are dominated by male competitors.
acathi_cyclist is offline  
Old 02-05-06, 04:28 PM
  #6  
Upgrading my engine
Thread Starter
 
DXchulo's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: Alamogordo
Posts: 6,218
Mentioned: 5 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 125 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Originally Posted by acathi_cyclist
So you're telling me that fencing would make more money for a university than cycling? When have you ever seen fencing on tv? I have only met one person in my life who fenced, how many people do you know who ride a bike competitively?

How about cross country? I used to be a runner and we never got television coverage, nor did we ever charge people to watch us race.

How about NCAA golf? When have you ever payed to see someone golf?

I still think that you are talking out of your ass. None of the above sports are very profitable and all of them are dominated by male competitors.
I'm a cyclist, so of course I know more cyclists. If you fenced, you'd be talking about how you don't know any cyclists. Check the list of schools that have fencing as an NCAA sport: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...encing_Schools. It's mostly an Ivy League thing. Also take note of the ones that say "women only."

As for as cross country, I did my undergrad at Indiana State University and Terre Haute has hosted the NCAA Cross Country Championships before. It was actually a big deal and brought a lot of business to Terre Haute. Besides, how much money does it cost to field a cross country team? They just need shoes, coaches, and travel.

Take a look at golf's history and you'll understand: https://www.ncaasports.com/golf/mens/history. Golf is one of the major sports in America. And yes, people pay to watch golf. Look at this: https://www.ncaasports.com/golf/mens/schedules and pay close attention to the ticket information. NCAA golf plays a pretty big role as a training ground for the pros, as well.

By the way, I already showed you that fencing isn't male dominated, and neither are cross country and golf. Both have women's teams.

Cycling is an expensive sport and it really doesn't have a good way to support those expenses under NCAA guidelines. If that doesn't kill it, the gender inequality definitely will.

You're making faulty assumptions and coming at me with wrong information. Who is talking out of his ass?
DXchulo is offline  
Old 02-05-06, 04:58 PM
  #7  
Senior Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Brooklyn
Posts: 312
Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
I'm no expert but I would guess that when golf became an NCAA sport there weren't any female teams. The same goes for fencing. Who's to say that if cycling was NCAA that women wouldn't gain interest.

Just because Terre Haute made money off of the cross country championships doesn't mean that the school was profiting. In addition, even if it made Indiana State money, the championships are once a year and don't benefit every school financially.

Ok, maybe you're not talking out of your ass. I still disagree with you. It is naysayers like you that will prevent the progression of our sport.
acathi_cyclist is offline  
Old 02-05-06, 05:44 PM
  #8  
@ Checkmate Cycling
 
jbhowat's Avatar
 
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Denver, CO
Posts: 1,617

Bikes: CAAD 8 - Ultegra

Mentioned: 0 Post(s)
Tagged: 0 Thread(s)
Quoted: 0 Post(s)
Likes: 0
Liked 0 Times in 0 Posts
Resistance will come from within the collegiate cycling community if we aren't allowed to race in the off-season. Most of the best collegiate racers nationally are also professional cyclists. College cycling is their early season warmup. Probably 50-60% of the road race field in Kansas would be ineligible under NCAA rules.

That said, appointing someone is a great idea and it shows they really know that the NCCA can go somewhere.
jbhowat is offline  

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are Off
Pingbacks are Off
Refbacks are Off


Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service -

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.