Originally Posted by Grasschopper
Ok so I was reading over some news bits at velonews and I read about Lemond being in court and telling the jury "neither his stardom nor his marketing appeal has been eclipsed by Armstrong,"
What is he smoking? I mean maybe I am new school or something, I remember Greg Winning the TDF and sure he was a star and one of my favs but to say Armstrong isn't bigger now is just crazy and delusional even.
How about this line "LeMond explained further that he believed his "LeMond" brand could become a household name "like Calvin Klein" in testimony Monday."?
Dude needs to put down the crack pipe.
I don't know the details of the court case he's involved in, but LeMond has a nice, juicy contract with StairMaster. StairMaster was it's own monster until it was acquired by Nautilus (who also bought Schwinn Fitness and Bowflex). The moneymaking potential for LeMond to have his RevMaster indoor bikes and all products from the RevMaster line of his indoor cycling bikes have enormous potential for Greg to bank some serious cash. Schwinn fitness had a relationship with Johnny G to make the Johnny G bikes, and until that relationship soured (when Nautilus bought Schwinn), Schwinn made the Johnny G bikes. Once Johnny G broke off his relationship with Schwinn and allied himself with StarTrac, Schwinn was free to take the Johnny G design (the only thing Johnny G owned from the bike he created was the seat design) and develop their own fitness program and bike. With the money backing of Nautilus, Schwinn was able to pull themselves out of bankruptcy and do just that, and at the same time, mass produce bikes for stores like Target and Walmart. Now, it looks as though Lemond, who was part of the Stairmaster group, could have also benefitted greatly from the same type of support from Nautilus and positioned himself as a huge player in the fitness industry. If I were in his shoes, I'd go to court and tell them just about anything to make sure Target honored their contract with me. He'd be crazy not to go to court over this. The money lost from the Revmaster line would be too great a potential to not go to court and sue.
I am just speculating, but if this is the issue (which I suspect it is, since Nautilus has a huge contract with these big time stores to sell its subsidiaries' products on its shelves), he better be saying he made the moon too.... he's about to lose a lot of money if he loses in court.
Stairmaster and Nautilus could stand to lose also. I'm sure Lemond had a contract with Stairmaster, and when that contract expires, Lemond is free to walk with his bike and ally himself with other major players in the fitness industry. I'm sure Stairmaster doesn't want that.
Koffee