Professional cyclists are set to suffer a reduction in salaries of up to 35 per cent next year and even those with long term deals could face lower salaries, a leading sports economist has said.
Wim Lagae of KU Leuven University, who specialises in
cycling economics, told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad
that professional sports were set to suffer due to Covid19.
As companies were forced to cut their costs spending on
sports-based marketing would drop and cycling would not escape the cuts.
Some teams have already implemented cuts to rider
salaries and laid off staff. Others have postponed 70 per cent of salary
payments and in a number of cases, such as CCC Team, sponsorships are set to
end and teams may close.
A number of
prominent figures in the sport have warned of financial devastation for cycling
if the Tour de France was not held this year.
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Wim Lagae said salaries in cycling may regress next year
to what they were 10 to 15 years ago.
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And though some riders had contracts well beyond next
year, they may see those deals renegotiated as their sponsors seek to cut costs.
“The latest figures that we have available show that
sports marketing budgets worldwide will decrease by 30 to 35 per cent,” he
said.
“It would be strange if this were different for the
sponsors of cycling teams. Football still earns a lot through media rights and
income from ticketing but that's not the case in cycling with the current weak
business model.
“After 30 years of constant growth, wages are set to fall
back to the level of 10 or 15 years ago.
“Even existing contracts will be renegotiated with some
teams and we should expect an average reduction of 30 per cent. The bargaining
power no longer rests with the riders.”
Patrick Lefevere said his Deceuninck-QuickStep team would
collapse and pro cycling would be devastated if there is no pro racing this year,
though he made those remarks some time ago.
Even the owners of Ineos, the chemicals company that
sports the richest cycling team in the world, was seeking hundreds of millions
in emergency funding from the British government to shore up an oil company it
parts own.
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