Sponsors from the Arab world are omnipresent in cycling. The Bahrain Victorious and UAE Emirates teams are mainly funded by Bahrain and Abu Dhabi. The regional superpower Saudi Arabia has joined the Australian team Jayco AlUla as a co-sponsor – and is well appreciated.
“It’s excellent. You’re wonderful. And we now have our first Saudi racing driver in the program. That gives me satisfaction,” says Gerry Ryan, who is very satisfied with the Arab investors in an interview with DLF. Ryan is a multi-millionaire, owns the caravan manufacturer Jayco, which is the name of the cycling team godfather. Last season he took on the tourism agency for the Saudi Arabian region AlUla.
Think, “I don’t think you can fight back”
Other racing teams are also not fundamentally opposed to Saudi investors. Many teams have already competed in the Saudi Tour, a race organized by the Saudi Ministry of Sports together with Tour de France organizer ASO. And everyone is looking for new sources of money anyway.
Ralph Denk, team boss of the German racing team Bora-hansgrohe, explains: “Sure, that’s a topic that you can philosophize about for a long time. I don’t think you can defend yourself. And you shouldn’t defend yourself against investors from the Middle East .”
Possible Saudi entry into Jumbo-Visma causes unrest
Of course, there are signs that Saudi investors could join the currently strongest tour team of all people: Jumbo-Visma. In recent years, the Dutch have won all three Grand Tours. And Jonas Vingegaard could defend his Tour de France title this year.
Joining the number one – that suits Saudi Arabia. The “Financial Times” recently described the country’s investments in world sports as a “bulldozer approach”. The LIV Tour was born in golf and has now practically taken over the PGA. In football, millions and millions are paid for aging world stars like Cristiano Ronaldo (38) and Karim Benzema (35).
Cycling is about small amounts in comparison. This sport is only interesting for Saudi Arabia because of the Tour de France. The third largest sporting event in the world guarantees global attention, especially for the strongest team.
Sport director “not involved” in sponsor search
Meanwhile, Jumbo-Visma wants to keep the ball flat. Arthur van Dongen, team manager, emphasizes: “I don’t know anything about it, but it’s not my area either. We are responsible for the sport. But there is no internal information about it, about the coaches or other people. We are firmly convinced that that the team will continue in the years to come.” But he doesn’t know “who the new sponsor will be”. “Jumbo still has a contract for next year.”
Grischa Niermann also says dryly: “I haven’t gotten a raise yet.” The team’s sporting director confirmed that a “successor sponsor” was being sought “behind the scenes”: “But I’m not involved in that either. And as far as I know, there’s absolutely nothing in the towel yet and it will be with many parties negotiated.”
Saudi entry could further exacerbate budget differences
Jumbo-Visma may become even stronger if Saudi money flows into the racing team in the future. “That depends on how big the Saudis get in. Maybe they get in smaller with Jumbo,” jokes Bora boss Denk. Of course, he doesn’t care about the topic at all.
There are already large gaps in the budgets of the individual racing teams. It is a three-tier society with Ineos Grenadiers, UAE Emirates and Jumbo-Visma at the top. Their budgets are between 40 and 50 million euros per season. This is followed by mid-range racing teams like Bora-hansgrohe with budgets between 20 and 30 million euros. The smallest teams are only competitive to a limited extent at around ten million euros.
50+1 rule? Denk sees UCI facing deep questions
Denk therefore warns against an intensification of the contrasts: “And the only question is, do you leave the barn door completely open or do you limit it somehow, like in Formula 1? Or like in German football, that ownership is limited? The UCI has to decide what they want. They have the leverage to regulate that. Who gets to own the teams? How much budget can the teams have? Do they want a draft rule like in American sports?”
Budget restrictions, along the lines of Formula 1, would be the easiest to implement. A kind of 50+1 rule like in German football is also conceivable, in which the parent club always retains the majority of votes. However, the racing teams are not clubs. Ineos Grenadiers, for example, is already completely owned by the chemical company that gave it its name.
Structures in cycling not yet suitable for draft
The idea of the draft based on the US scheme could be interesting. The worst racing team of the season can sign the greatest young talent for the next two years.
However, cycling would have to establish a system of transfer fees and training fees for this. We’re still a long way from that. It is important to tackle these problems before big money from the Arab world causes the next upheavals.