A number of major cycling teams in Europe are talking about plans to set up a new cycling competition, a so-called Super League. One of those teams, according to the Reuters news agency, is the successful Dutch Team Jumbo-Visma. The aim is to create more social security for the teams, which are now mainly dependent on sponsorship income.
Reuters bases the news on anonymous sources. They reported that an accounting firm is investigating the interest of investors. One of the parties that would be interested is CVC Partners, former owner of Formula 1.
With the new cycling competition, in which existing races can be included, the teams also aim to make money from the profits of cycling events. In the current setup, this money mainly goes to organizations of the most important cycling races, such as the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta.
Director Richard Plugge would not confirm to Reuters that he was involved in the talks, but he did say that “cycling is a sleeping giant that deserves an improved business model.” The only way for the top teams in cycling to achieve that is through collaboration.”
Jumbo-Visma announced on Wednesday that it has completed sponsorship for the coming years. Plugge, who has to say goodbye to supermarket chain Jumbo as main sponsor, did not yet want to say who the new sponsor is. “We will do this during the team presentation on December 21,” the team boss said to NOS.
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