Sky announced as major British Cycling sponsor
Hoy and Pendleton will be among the elite athletes to benefit from Sky's sponsorship (Sky)
In a multi-million pound sponsorship deal, satellite broadcaster Sky has been announced as British Cycling's ‘principal partner’ for the next five years.
The partnership will cover all levels of the sport from investment in the elite athletes’ programme through to initiatives at grassroots level and will include disciplines ranging from BMX to track and road cycling. The aim is to help boost the development of the elite teams whilst accelerating the emergence of fresh talent
The deal, however, does not include the funding of the British national road racing team with which British Cycling hopes to compete at Grand Tour level in the next few years.
In addition to its financial investment, Sky will use its marketing expertise and relationships with one
in three families across the
"I believe this partnership will create a step change for cycling," said David Brailsford, British Cycling's performance director.
"Sky is a committed and passionate partner for British Cycling. Working together, we can take elite cycling to new heights and get more people involved in the sport at all levels."
Sky Sports is also sponsoring the London Freewheel cycling event on September 21.
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User Comments
There are 5 comments on this post
Showing 1 - 5 of 5 comments
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squired
Posted Thu 24 Jul, 4:31 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
It would be nice if Sky followed this up by adding some cycling to their schedules.
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colint
Posted Thu 24 Jul, 8:38 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
surely they will now, so good news all round
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El Nino 9
Posted Fri 25 Jul, 12:56 am UTC Flag as inappropriate
Another move stripping the BBC of worthwhile viewing. I think the viewing figures for the worlds in Manchester must have been a big deal.
Quite strange the road racing side doesn't get any funding though, does this confirm that the track is the main interest for British Cycling?!
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Travis_M
Posted Fri 25 Jul, 1:15 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
It was reported earlier that they want the Road Team to be a like a F1 type thing.
I would then suggest, many smaller partners and 1 large one.
With Sky being in 1 of 3 families it certainly has a lot of weight to offer in promoting cycling, and as Squired says, it would be great if they can also add cycling to their schedules.
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kourou
Posted Sat 26 Jul, 3:04 pm UTC Flag as inappropriate
If you reread the article, you'll see that Sky's investment will support the road side too - what it doesn't cover specifically is the new 'whatever the ProTour is going to end up becoming' British professional cycling team.
That still leaves plenty of other activity from grassroots to elite road (and other) cycling that Sky will support. Sounds great, apart from wondering if I will have to invest in Sky for next year's Tour coverage...
It doesn't exactly rule out that a later announcement will say that Sky will add supporting or title/prinicipal sponsorship of the pro team. I should imagine that project is being run very much separately as they are creating a company to own this.
Also, Sky are mainly interested in the UK, but watch the financial pages for a PR from Sky saying that they plan to focus on expanding their customer base in mainland Europe - that might give us a heads up...
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