Any of you shaved-legged types read this article today? - cougarguard.com — unofficial BYU Cougars / LDS sports, football, basketball forum and message board

8ballrollin · 05-14-2007, 01:03 AM

"..Since Landis tested positive for synthetic testosterone in July, races have been canceled and teams have folded, both for lack of sponsors; fans have stayed home or switched off their televisions (for one Belgian race this spring, the venerable Tour of Flanders, there was a 77 percent decline in the live audience, according to IFM, a sports research company in Germany); and television networks in the United States and Europe have sharply curtailed their coverage of the sport.

The Championship of Zurich which had endured for nearly a century, was canceled last month by Swiss organizers after doping scandals scared off sponsors. As for the sport’s bottom line, IFM calculates that cycling has plunged as a marketing investment this season.

“In every boardroom, if you talk about sponsorships for any big cycling race, they all discuss the doping problems,” Henri van der Aat, managing director of a sports consulting agency in Amsterdam, told The International Herald Tribune this week."

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/we...ew&oref=slogin

05-14-2007, 01:03 AM	#1
8ballrollin Senior Member Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: WA Posts: 1,287	Any of you shaved-legged types read this article today? "..Since Landis tested positive for synthetic testosterone in July, races have been canceled and teams have folded, both for lack of sponsors; fans have stayed home or switched off their televisions (for one Belgian race this spring, the venerable Tour of Flanders, there was a 77 percent decline in the live audience, according to IFM, a sports research company in Germany); and television networks in the United States and Europe have sharply curtailed their coverage of the sport. The Championship of Zurich which had endured for nearly a century, was canceled last month by Swiss organizers after doping scandals scared off sponsors. As for the sport’s bottom line, IFM calculates that cycling has plunged as a marketing investment this season. “In every boardroom, if you talk about sponsorships for any big cycling race, they all discuss the doping problems,” Henri van der Aat, managing director of a sports consulting agency in Amsterdam, told The International Herald Tribune this week." http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/13/we...ew&oref=slogin