Crowded Race Calendar; Freeman Case Finally Wraps - With Lessons for the Future; Confusing Team Developments; SBT Gravel; Will Apple Buy ESPN, and What Could It Mean for Cycling?

Key Takeaways:

●        Continued Calendar Congestion

●        Freeman Case Finally Wraps, and …

●        What It Suggests for Future Doping Controls

●        Confusion Around WorldTour Team Announcements

●        Will Apple Buy ESPN From Disney?

●        New Books: “The Right Call”

At the risk of repeating ourselves, calendar overlap continues to be an issue impacting fan focus and the value of pro cycling’s broadcast product. This past week, no fewer than five UCI regional stage races were going on simultaneously – with the Arctic Tour (Norway), Tour of Burgos (Spain), Tour du Limousin (France), Tour of Denmark, and Volta a Portugal stretching both teams’ logistical capabilities and fan focus and interest. Unlike baseball, soccer, or other major league schedules, this kind of proliferation can exact a terrible logistics cost on teams – particularly if they wish to contest concurrent events in the markets important to their team sponsors. Similarly, fans can’t keep track of things or access all of these races in one place online, owing to the regional blocks and multiple streaming carriers with licensing rights. While the racing was exceptional at times – including hometown-hero rides by Mads Pedersen in Denmark – the lack of exposure and focus remains troubling. An interesting contrast to this situation is that the UCI’s recent World Championships congress passed an edict to downgrade some Women’s WorldTour events to further stratify the WWT schedule, making its key events more accessible and eliminating race overlap. However, there was no similar proposal that might benefit the men’s calendar in a complementary way.

The curious case of ex-SKY, ex-British Cycling, and ex-Dr. Richard Freeman took an expected turn last week, when he was banned for four years by the UK Anti-Doping agency – for procurement and distribution of testosterone replacement products. The back-dated UKAD suspension may seem toothless in comparison to the punishment Freeman received from the Medical Practitioners Tribunal Service – “erasure,” or permanent banishment from the medical profession – but it at least creates a barrier that prevents him from acting in an advisory role to athletes in the future. However, there are other layers to this story. First, the team formerly known as SKY, and its former director, Dave Brailsford, have made very strong public statements against cheating, within the context of the team’s “marginal gains” ethos – which won Olympic golds, five Tours de France, a Giro, and a Vuelta for the team.  That remarkable run of success is now somewhat tainted by questions about doping. Whether this plays into any decisions about the current INEOS team by billionaire owner Jim Ratcliffe remains to be seen, as he has made similarly strong anti-cheating statements in the past.

But a more meaningful potential impact of the whole affair is something we hinted at in 2020: the role that information technology plays in the wider medical field, and how this can be used to prevent and punish medically-assisted doping in the future. A hidden gem that appeared in both the Tribunal findings and UKAD proceedings was that Freeman claimed to have returned the Testogel doses he ordered back to the distributor. However, prescription medication inventory movements are tightly regulated and permanently recorded in databases to ensure product safety (for recalls) and authenticity (physician or pharmacist oversight). This detail hints that the Tribunal likely pulled data on Freeman’s complete medication ordering history using his unique physician’s credentials (a strategy often used by the Tribunal across myriad malpractice cases), the drug codes for everything he’d ordered, and any post-processing such as a “return.” This suggests that a more formal working relationship between anti-doping agencies and medical oversight commissions – particularly pharmacy oversight boards – could provide bellwether inventory trending and geolocation data for medications commonly diverted to enhance performance. And better information regarding the critical “who” and the “how” questions that arise when diversion does happen could reinforce the integrity of sports like cycling.

Setting aside all of the whirlwind of rider transfer news, two team changeovers are providing the most interesting twists in the news cycle.  The Human Powered Health (HPH) men’s cycling program may close at the end of 2023 if its license holder, Circuit Sports, doesn’t find a replacement sponsor. This development could hit the American scene hard – as this has been the strongest U.S.-sponsored team for many years (under several iterations of United HealthCare Group backing) and achieved many breakthroughs at the ProTeam level internationally. The team has been the springboard for many of the current North American WorldTour riders such as Ben King, Chad Haga, Phil Gaimon, Michael Woods, Magnus Sheffield and Sepp Kuss. Indeed, Mark Cavendish was rumored to be close to signing for HPH before he landed with Astana last year. Although visibly shaken and saddened by the announcement, many HPH riders spoke graciously about their organization when interviewed at the Arctic Tour last week. Discontinuing the men’s program while keeping the HPH WWT women’s team, suggests that UHG’s decision may reflect trends in the sponsorship market – particularly for women’s sports, which often focus on self-care and personal improvement. While this bodes well for women’s cycling sponsorship opportunities and growth, we are saddened to hear that – once again – one of the most innovative and widely respected men’s programs may eventually exit the sport for lack of funding.

However, the whirlwind of developments surrounding the demise of the current women’s EF Education-Tibco-SVB WWT team – and the initiation of a new Continental-level solely EF-backed women’s team – has been a head-scratcher. The very public collapse of Silicon Valley Bank earlier this year, and the economic struggles of software firm TIBCO – long the team’s primary sponsors – quickly implied that the team would face challenges. Those developments left EF Education, which only joined last year, as the sole remaining title sponsor. Given EF’s interest in building a women’s team, it at first seemed likely – at least on the surface – that some sort of consolidation between the two organization’s service courses and management structures would make sense: i.e., combining the resources, logistics, and staff organizations into a stronger and more efficient competitive engine. But, on paper, the original team has folded completely as of last week, and EF is in the process of building the new lower-level program essentially from scratch; a director and some riders were signed last week. Allegedly, there were contractual restrictions regarding staff of the old team moving to the new team, although it is not clear exactly what those restrictions were, why they were put in place, or even if they are being enforced by either side. While there’s scant reliable information on what transpired behind the scenes, it seems likely that contrasting management strategies and styles may have contributed to the situation.

The SBT GRVL event, with pro fields and age group participants from around the world, took place on Sunday in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. In its short 4-year existence, the race has become (along with Unbound Gravel) one of the most important bike races of any kind in North America. Over 3,000 riders took part in this year’s edition, representing one of the most diverse race fields in American history – and owner Amy Charity should be commended for prioritizing diversity and inclusion as a core part of the event’s mission. Participant feedback showed that the event “looks and feels completely different from any other competitive cycling event in the world.” Pro athletes Keegan Swenson and Sofia Gomez Villefane extended their essentially perfect seasons with dominant victories in the marquee 140-mile race, adding to their respective leads in the Life Time Grand Prix series at this point in the season. Encouragingly, there was increased industry presence at the expansive fan Expo which ran concurrent to the racing  with some marketing executives suggesting that SBT has become as important as the Sea Otter Classic in terms of consumer engagement.

In the sports media world, there is continued speculation that Apple will acquire ESPN from Disney, for as much as $50 billion. The company made its first big move into live sports by spending $2.5 billion to acquire the rights to televise MLS soccer for the next ten years – a move which is looking smarter every day. By acquiring ESPN, the company would automatically get the rights to “the NFL, NBA, WNBA, MLB, NHL, UFC, the PGA Tour, tennis Grand Slams, Formula 1, and college football’s Big 12 and SEC Conferences — plus ESPN’s first two Super Bowls after the 2026 and 2030 seasons.” Many observers are comparing a potential deal here to Fox’s audacious acquisition of the NFL rights back in 1993, and how that essentially put Fox on the map. “Did Fox overpay? Yes. But Murdoch knew he either had to go big or go home — and his decision changed the sports TV landscape forever.” One question pro cycling should consider if this acquisition happens is: can it consolidate its licensing fast enough and jump onto this potentially huge content distribution train before it leaves the station?

Washington Post sportswriter Sally Jenkins – best known in the cycling world for collaborating with Lance Armstrong on his two earlier autobiographical works – has written an insightful new book about sports and life. Entitled “The Right Call: What Sports Teach Us About Work and Life,” Jenkins identifies the basic principles which guide good decision-making and success. Drawing on extensive interviews with such successful coaches and sports icons as Pat Summitt, Steve Kerr, Gregg Popovich, Jill Ellis and Phil Jackson, and business leaders such as Bob Iger and Jeff Bezos (as well as a trove of Harvard Business School professors) she posits that great leaders are determined by their focus on seven key attributes: conditioning, practice, discipline, candor, culture, failure and intention. Jenkins weaves an interesting set of stories in the “sports as a microcosm life” mold – utilizing these seven principles to illuminate the superhuman accomplishments of athletes like Diana Nyad, Tom Brady and Michael Phelps. But she also looks at the other side of the coin and dissects how a lack of attention to these types of principles can lead to monumental failures in leadership – such as those exhibited by coaches like NFL short-timers Matt Patricia and Urban Meyer.