USPS Pro Cycling Team

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Kathrin
I'm wondering about the future of Team USPS.

No rumour; the reporting is that there's intense US domestic criticism of the USPS sports budget, especially in a business that heavily loses money.

My guess is that as soon as LA is no longer winning the tour, USPS will be immediately out of cycling. They might even come out before then, although I think with LA national pride will keep it going.

They will be stupid to end the contracts of riders like LA
george hincapie etc. they probably have the strongest
team in the world!! would cancel such a contract??

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by SchwinnFan
They will be stupid to end the contracts of riders like LA
george hincapie etc. they probably have the strongest
team in the world!! would cancel such a contract??

My concern is not that USPS won't end the contracts with the riders but pull out of sponsoring cycling completely.
But I agree with you that it is the strongest team in the world, and I hope it will be possible to keep it intact with a new sponsor if USPS should really terminate sponsoring.

Sponsorship is a business.

7-Eleven, Motorola, same things happened.

Sponsorhip is not a lucrative investment. It is advertising, but that can only get you so far .......

I think USPS will be around as long as Lance is. After that who knows? I think if USPS pulls out before Lance is done another sponsor will be easy to find and the team won't miss a heart beat.
If Lance and the major sponsor leave at the same time it could be the end of having a US based team.

Just an observation, but have you notice there are less and less Yanks on the Postal squad? Not that they can field a team to win the Tour with just Americans but it is kind of interesting.

As to a public outcry to the USPS sponsoring the team, I don't see it. The truth is most Americans don't even know there is such a thing as the USPS team. They have heard of Lance, but most don't put 2 and 2 together and realize that USPS is the post office.

I'm not complaining, but I never did see how it made sense to sponsor a team that got most of its publicity overseas. In the overall scheme of things the amount that they spend is so small compared to the budget of the postal service, it probably costs more to fuel their truck for 1 week than they spend on the team.

The interesting thing is, in Europe, thanks to USPS's sponsorship of Lance, and the broader interest in cycling over there, the "image" of the US Postal Service is of a swift, dependable service - quite different from how the average American thinks of the USPS (not that it does them much good on another continent they don't serve).

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Allen H
.. in Europe... the "image" of the US Postal Service is of a swift, dependable service

Not where I am in London. USPS is simply "Lance's team", known only to cycling fans. We know what the name stands for, but neither know nor care if they're any good. And we, too, are bewildered as to why they do it.

US Postal = Jurgen Van den Broeck en Bruyneel (for us, belgian peopl

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by donhix1

Just an observation, but have you notice there are less and less Yanks on the Postal squad? Not that they can field a team to win the Tour with just Americans but it is kind of interesting.

Well, USPS has become one (or rather the) top pro cycling team and all top teams have an international roster. This internationalism is something I really like about pro cycling, by the way. But it would be loss not to have an American-based team anymore. Might make it harder for American riders to get into the pro scene.

I had heard rumors from somewhere or other that Heras was signing to another team soon:
http://www.cyclingplus.co.uk/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=14076