Originally Posted by
Dubbayoo
They were asking $45mil over 3 yrs and that's just for TITLE sponsorship. No way JV can come up with a figure anywhere near that. His backer (Doug whatshisname) surely wouldn't foot it. Any other good Americans on the Disco squad that Slipstream can steal cheap now? Tony Cruz? McCartney?
Yeah, and they have had a handful of associate sponsors over the years...my comment was what I recall their annual operating budge to be.
Cruz and McCartney, while very good riders are not grand tour world class riders. And this team has always been about Grand Tours...
People somehow still associate Disco as being an "American Team"...Leipheimer and Hincapie in their top group, then Danielson in the second tier. Popo is Ukranian, Paulinho is Portugese, Noval, Contador, Martinez, Spain, and Gusev is Russian. It is or was owned by a couple of Americans, but they've always been about signing the best riders, regardless, especially after 1999.
I don't think this is any bigger of a deal than when Mapei called it quits. They were the winningest team of all time and bagged it.