Gerolsteiner

Bill C said:

The German economy is in the worst shape it has
been since that was a reason to hand the government to [censored] so I'm
not real optimistic about German pro cycling expanding,

dumbass,

it's naive to think that the prosperity of a country's pro teams (even
in a cycling nation) or the pro-cycling scene in general has any
connection with the economy.

pro cycling sponsorship is a tiny background fluctuation and is totally
disconnected with the large scale economic situation, or even the
situation of it's main sponsor.

the money to support a protour team is a fraction of what is spent on
marketing in general. there are NHL and NBA players you've never heard
of who make more salary than the budget of a protour team.

a pro team's existence depends purely on the interest within a company
from the few people who are in the position to control purse strings.

amit said:

Bill C said:

The German economy is in the worst shape it has
been since that was a reason to hand the government to [censored] so

I'm

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

not real optimistic about German pro cycling expanding,

dumbass,

it's naive to think that the prosperity of a country's pro teams

(even

Quoted message said:

in a cycling nation) or the pro-cycling scene in general has any
connection with the economy.

pro cycling sponsorship is a tiny background fluctuation and is

totally

Quoted message said:

disconnected with the large scale economic situation, or even the
situation of it's main sponsor.

the money to support a protour team is a fraction of what is spent on
marketing in general. there are NHL and NBA players you've never

heard

Quoted message said:

of who make more salary than the budget of a protour team.

a pro team's existence depends purely on the interest within a

company

Quoted message said:

from the few people who are in the position to control purse strings.

[censored]. When everybody is in the toilet economically, cycling
sponsorship is going to be really low on the advertising dollars scale.
You're right about ti being dependent on the preferences of the people
making decisions, but when the companies are in trouble discretionary
spending, such as cycling aren't on the agenda.
Bill C

Bill C said:

[censored]. When everybody is in the toilet economically, cycling
sponsorship is going to be really low on the advertising dollars

scale.

dumbass,

obviously if a company has no money they won't sponsor a cycling team,
but even if the economy is lousy there's money being spent on
marketing, and a cycling team represents a tiny fraction of that pie.

the teams that sponsor cycling for the most part aren't even big
players. i'd never even heard of gerolsteiner until the team came along
(though they do sell water where i live).

it's possible that a company like that could be doing well even if the
economy is [censored].

Bill C said:

You seem to think that only big business sponsors cycling, or that

when

Quoted message said:

the stock market tanks by several hundred points that doesn't have a
direct effect on how they spend their money.

no, i'm said for the most part it's NOT big businesses that are in
cycling. fassa bortolo and liquigas might be big companies in italy,
but aren't the biggest companies in the world and they probably aren't
even the big advertisers in italy.

some of the biggest US teams are sponsored by companies i'd never heard
of except through their cycling team: eg. navigators and health net.

the economy reflects what's happening to the biggest players, and those
for the most part aren't involved in cycling. so there is some
disconnection between the economy in general and the health of cycling.

Bill C said:

Cycling might be a small budget item but it is easy and visible to
jettison for corporate scum because it shows no immediate results.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2005/apr05/apr08news
Boonen's success pays off
Davitamon manager Marc Coucke has already stressed it, but now also
Patrick Lefevere's Quick.Step team is proving to be an excellent vehicle
for its sponsors to invest their budgets. Philiep Caryn, PR manager at
QuickStep, told the Belgian press that Boonen's win in Flanders has had
a huge impact: "Of course Tom's win is a golden scenario for us. We
estimate that last Sunday's race alone accounts for a commercial return
of 350,000 to 400,000 euro."

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should have been "is not the single biggest factor"
Sorry
Bill C

Curtis L. Russell said:

Short of a true depression, someone is always
doing well - in fact, usually a lot of people are doing well.

a blurb about the 1981-1982 recession in the usa (from "secrets of the
temple" by william greider)

"The economic consequences were barely noticed by some groups and, in
fact, some sectors flourished throughout the recession. Manufacturing
was shrinking, but the so-called service sector of the economy actually
continued to expand throughout the 1981-1982 recession, adding 1.5
million jobs. In its broadest usage, "services" meant any work or
business that did not produce something tangible for sale. So the
general term covered everything from neighborhood drugstores to the
largest banks and brokerages, from laundries to airlines and insurance
companies. Service jobs ranged from the menial to the most specialized,
maids and lawyers, short-order cooks and stockbrokers, key-punch
operators and molecular biologists. During the recession, one growth
area for service jobs involved the spreading use of computers and
high-tech careers. Another growth area was finance and banking, riding
the resurgence of financial assets."

i haven't looked into this in more detail, so i can't provide chung
style data, but i thought it was interesting and somewhat on topic to
this thread.

heather