Fifty Plus (50+) - The end of the road for Team Discovery

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/aug07/aug10news3

Well, that's a shame and, no, it doesn't look too good for pro cycling right now

Okay that is alittle sad, but all the good riders, so probably all, will get picked up by other teams, and this is just a shift. We will still get to watch the races!

Well, they had a great run and I hope that Slipstream will fill the void. Trek will be looking for a new team to sponsor, maybe get either Gerlosteiner or Quick Step since Specialized is currently sponsoring both. I'm sure the top riders will find a home.

The bottom line though is that the doping scandals are reducing $ going into the sport. This will lead to pay cuts and the buses will not be as fancy. I think cycling will survive especially since some companies like T-Mobile want to make a statement of supporting cycling.

I suspect that there are some skeletons yet to come from the Disco/Postal closet which makes it hard to promise good times to potential sponsors. I think pro cycling will survive and eventually thrive, but not before going through some painful times. This move should open the door even wider for Slipstream to move up into a bigger role. But those are some big shoes to fill.

It may be a shame but this is what pro cycling needs. Take the $$$ out of it and the sport will clean itself up. Hope T-Mobile follows suit. It matters not if you are selling farm machinery or mobile phones, if your team is sullied by drugs, your ad money is down the drain. The decision for Discovery was made long before the TdF. Didn't sell enough Lance vids from last year to cover the millions spent.

T-mobile signed up to support a team through 2010, so their sticking it out. I agree that the more the $ get involved the harder it is to stay clean. But if the teams want it to be clean and the riders believe it will be clean you have a good chance of getting things cleaned up. There will always be someone who looks for an edge, but the sport cannot exist if everyone is using PEDs and its all about who has the best PEDs, eventually a lot of death and destruction will result. I think we saw a bit of this with the NFL and now we are seeing that recently with the WWF. Doing PEDs will provide a short term benefit but you pay for it in the end.

I'm just about finished with all PRO Sports!! Blood doping!! Steriods!! Dog Fighting!! Shootings at Strip Clubs!! Hold Outs!! Not to mention the thousand dollar tickets, six dollar hot dogs and seven dollar beers!! There is just too much money involved anymore. Pro athletes should be well paid, but if they were only making a tenth of their current salaries, it would still be more than they are worth. As long as the fans buy the tickets and watch the games on TV, the prices and salaries will continue to skyrocket and the "game" (whatever it is) will continue to suffer. Amatuer sports are not far behind!!

I wonder what Trek is gonna do with all the bikes that are painted like the team bikes. FIRE SALE!

Given the drug-drenched history of not only Dicovery/US Postal, but of Johann's old team, Once, I'm surprised they lasted this long.

Think we have a couple more years with Cheats and drugs being dragged out of the woodwork. Difference is that Cycling is making the stand to get drugs out of its participants so Lots of Publicity around right now. Lets see that happen in Athletics Or Any other sport. And lets not forget about Soccer- Football- Rugby or any other physical sport.

Any sport that has big money in it is open to corruption. It is just a pity that the corruption is being Headlined to the extent that it is.

I wonder what Trek is gonna do with all the bikes that are painted like the team bikes. FIRE SALE!

I don't think they've painted next year's bikes yet. They still have this season to finish.

I never liked the Yankees or the Cowboys, either.

Bike racing will go on. It's not really a spectator sport anyway. Unlike most sports, most of us who follow bike racing actually ride our bikes instead of watching others.

+10 for LynnH.

Big-league sports will endure. We've seen ample evidence here in the U.S. but cycling is a big-league sport in Europe. There may be some lean times but it will emerge again and be strong. I am most sorry for those who are clean right now and in the latter part of their careers. They won't be the beneficiaries of their own stand against doping.

-soma5

I fear the break up of Discovery will hurt the visibility of cycling here in the US. Just as it seemed cycling was ready to make serious in-roads into the sports arena here, the doping scandals really hurt the sport. Now the prominent US team disbands. A new start-up will not have the following that Disco had.
So how does this affect us? Lack of visibility translates to lack of support for cycling in the US, translates to fewer tax dollars spent for MUPS, bike lanes and Mountain Bike trails.

I'm just about finished with all PRO Sports!! Blood doping!! Steriods!! Dog Fighting!! Shootings at Strip Clubs!! Hold Outs!! Not to mention the thousand dollar tickets, six dollar hot dogs and seven dollar beers!! There is just too much money involved anymore. Pro athletes should be well paid, but if they were only making a tenth of their current salaries, it would still be more than they are worth. As long as the fans buy the tickets and watch the games on TV, the prices and salaries will continue to skyrocket and the "game" (whatever it is) will continue to suffer. Amatuer sports are not far behind!!

As a general rule, I never buy tickets to see pro sports simply because who is stupid enough to pay good money just to watch a bunch of millionaires having fun?

Having said that, I did buy a ticket to see David Beckham when he comes to Vancouver with the Galaxy to play against our Whitecaps. If the tickets are sold out and seem to be in demand, I'll be selling mine for considerably more than I paid for it.. Probably a questionable investment, though. I would lay odds he'll be injured and hors de combat by October 4. He's a multi-multi millionaire; what does he need to show up in some backwater like Vancouver for? (At least that typifies the attitude of most overpaid pro athletes these days.)

Probably the best sports to watch are at the level just below the majors, like Triple-A baseball or Junior Hockey. Guys that still travel on buses, stay in cheap motels, and put in an honest effort in order to try and attract the scouts. Hey, that sounds a lot like pro cycling in North America!

- L.

Call me naive, but I firmly believe the adage that nature abhors a vaccum. Disco may be gone, but there will be another team step up. Perhaps Slipstream, maybe Health-net or Toyota. Who know, but cycling will continue to grow and there will be a forward-looking enterprise ready to take advantage of that growth. (Maybe its the rose-colored lenses on my safety glasses...)

According to some of the interviews on Velonews, doping is not the ultimate reason that Tailwind is withdrawing from the sport. There are many movements going on in Pro Cycling right now with arguments between sanctioning bodies and assosciations of teams. There appears to be a reasonably strong argument brewing to return to "National Teams". In this light, it does not make sense for an investor to come forward with 15mil that may get blown away in a rules/organization change. At least this is the gist of what Tailwind has to say about the matter.

According to some of the interviews on Velonews, doping is not the ultimate reason that Tailwind is withdrawing from the sport. There are many movements going on in Pro Cycling right now with arguments between sanctioning bodies and assosciations of teams. There appears to be a reasonably strong argument brewing to return to "National Teams". In this light, it does not make sense for an investor to come forward with 15mil that may get blown away in a rules/organization change. At least this is the gist of what Tailwind has to say about the matter.


I read that too, but I'm not sure I'm buying it. at least not completely. I think they are concerned that the testing and investigating will eventually uncover some thing they have done and leave their sponsors in a big mess.