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The impact of Covid19 on the finances of professional cycling would likely go far beyond this year, Nicolas Roche has said.
He believed riders, team and race promoters all faced a
difficult time ahead, though not all would be impacted equally.
“I think 2021 is going to be a strange year,” he said. “I
don’t know exactly how but I have a feeling it’s going to be difficult, and
probably in every single way.”
Loss of TV revenues, Roche said, would have a big impact
on some race promoters, many of whom would also be out of pocket because they
would still incur expenses despite their races not going ahead this year.
And he believed riders – apart from a small number of big
names and those on new three-year contracts – faced the very real prospect of
salary cuts.
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But the double Grand Tour stage winner added the
financial impact of the virus would not fall evenly on all parts of the sport.
Instead, it would take time to assess which parts of the pro cycling business
were most exposed to the current crisis.
Roche said when it came to race promoters, for example, those who had paid for hotels for teams and other expenses before their races were cancelled would now be out of pocket significantly.
“Maybe the ones that were about to happen immediately,
Volta Catalunya and Pais Basque; they probably had paid hotels and so many
other different things so races like that may struggle next year,” he said.
“But some other races that haven’t paid those big
expenses; maybe they only lose something like a 30 per cent deposit on hotels
for 150 riders. And maybe that means they survive, and that’s just because
their races were not going to be on until July.
“With some races, they only pay hotels for WorldTour
teams but not other teams. There are all kinds of differences; not everyone is
equal. So it’s a case to case with these races and nobody knows how badly each
race will be affected because nobody knows those exact details.”
Roche said when it came to how the pro teams, at all
levels, would progress through the financial problems caused by Covid19, it all
depended on how their sponsors reacted and how exposed they were.
“Will a sponsor that had, say, fifteen to twenty million
for a team before the crisis; will they still have that in July? And that’s
what’s happening at CCC Team. I read the other day the (sponsor) owner lost
something like 90 per cent of his value in shares over the last two months.
“So this guy, OK he’s a billionaire; but does he have an
extra twenty million, maybe thirty million, now to spend on a cycling team? And
some of these companies (who sponsor cycling teams) are not owned by
billionaire...
“What’s going to be a big factor is the question about
whether teams are going to survive next year. And, secondly, will they be
forced to reduce their budget for 2021? And what about 2022?
“If we go into a world financial crisis, it’s not going
to be just six months, the problem is next year too and the year after.
“So apart for the salary cuts going on today, will riders
have salary cuts next year? What about the new riders who come along next year?
I can only see the salaries going down for most of the peloton.
“There’s always going to be a fight (between teams) for
the big riders. So I wouldn’t be worried about the very big salary riders
because there are so few Grand Tour potential winners. But 90 per cent of the
peloton are going to suffer some change in salaries over the next few years.
“The guy who signed for three years last year; he’s,
maybe not exactly laughing, but he’s at least half happy, he’s happier (than
other riders).”
Roche added he was surprised to see teams cutting salaries of riders almost immediately it became clear Covid19 was going to halt racing.
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At the time of writing, his Team Sunweb squad had made no announcement about cuts.
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“It’s going to be tough. I don’t have any of the answers, these are just my impressions,” he said pondering the issue of salary cuts.
“But for me, the salary cuts after just three weeks (of
the crisis)… that’s a little bit premature.”
He pointed out that riders were still “training, doing
their jobs every day” adding none of the pros had “gone on holidays” due to the
halt in racing.
Now in his 16th season as a top flight pro, Roche also
said riders had significant value to a sponsor even when they were not racing.
“With social media now, there’s more visibility today
than ever. Every single cyclist is on social media posting photos of jerseys,
what they eat, their hydration sponsors and so on,” he explained.
Roche - who has 113,400 Twitter followers and 103,000 followers on Instagram - believes social media reach, with some pros having huge followings, was worth a significant amount of money to the brands they were pushing via their channels.
“We actually have influencers on Instagram, that’s an
actual job now, being an influencer. And that’s proof that sharing images on
social for sponsors has a real value,” he said.
“One Italian girl last year made €5 million on Instagram.
There’s 21-year-olds becoming millionaires by posting photos on Instagram; so
that shows you it has a visibility and a value.
“OK, people will say ‘but the riders are not racing at
the moment’. But since when did a race bring money to a team?
“OK, there’s visibility (for a sponsor when a team races)
but there’s also visibility on social media, on Instagram; for jerseys, power
meters, home trainers and all kinds of brands and sponsor names all over the
place
“You know, teams are not surviving from TV rights, from
ticketing or merchandising. They’re surviving through visibility. And most of
the riders are now posting continuously
and giving the sponsors as much visibility as possible.
“I can’t see how the sponsors are losing money because
we’re not racing. There’s real power in social media in 2020.”
Roche told stickybottle last week about his training in
lockdown and said he was aiming for a return to racing some time in August as
he believed events would be taking place at that point.
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