New Irish pro Conti team (aka The Aquablue thread)

jimbobaloobob

What does it come down to, the value creating capacity of sponsorship or lack of?

dahat

Holdsworth would affect a few Irish lads as well.

Didn't Cigala go there mid season? Has he raced for them yet?

wirelessdude01

dahat wrote:

Holdsworth would affect a few Irish lads as well.

So Shaw, McKenna, Cigala and McDunphy without teams.

Raam

dahat wrote: »

Holdsworth would affect a few Irish lads as well.

Didn't Cigala go there mid season? Has he raced for them yet?

He did some stage race in China for them.

dahat

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

So Shaw, McKenna, Cigala and McDunphy without teams.

Aaron Kearny was in some way attached as well.

I haven't been able to find anything solid on Holdsworth, is it just rumour?

Beasty

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

What does it come down to, the value creating capacity of sponsorship or lack of?

I think there has been a fundamental shift in the "sponsorship" model in recent years. More businesses are attempting to evaluate "real" returns on their sponsorship "investment". In the past I suspect a lot of money going into sponsorship of Cycling and other sports was to some extent because of budgets that senior executives "supporting" the relevant sports could influence decisions (indeed I know of one major sponsor of a cycling team that do so simply because someone very senior within the business is a keen cyclist)

Unfortunately bigger businesses have grown on the Global stage, and in doing so are only seeing decent returns on investment at a Global level, which for cycling is World Tour level

It's a bit like comparing the football Premiership and all the money attaching to that nowadays with the Championship and indeed other divisions - quite literally in different leagues from a sponsorship perspective, with massive investment in the former and relatively much smaller sponsorship opportunities at the lower levels. I can forsee a situation where more teams fold, and only those with rich benefactors, or perhaps national federation support, survive at much more than an amateur level below the World Tour teams.

Whether it's Nissan, An Post or indeed other prior sponsors of Cycling events or teams, much of the money that used to be around is no longer

RobFowl

Class act that Ricky lad....

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/aqua-blue-forced-into-bank-guarantee-after-september-wages-not-paid/

circler

What a crap way for it to end up but at least the guarantee is in place and hopefully everyone gets sorted.

brocbrocach

RobFowl wrote: »

Class act that Ricky lad....

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/aqua-blue-forced-into-bank-guarantee-after-september-wages-not-paid/

Look who's to blame for the wages being late, that damn UCI...

wirelessdude01

What happens then to the guarantee that Rick Delaney made that any rider under contract for next that didn't get sorted would still be paid?

gordongekko

wirelessdude01 wrote: »

What happens then to the guarantee that Rick Delaney made that any rider under contract for next that didn't get sorted would still be paid?

Probably as reliable as the guarantee that he would fund the team for 4 years

neris

Anyone hear Conor dunes no go tour diary for the cycling podcast? Bet he regrets his comments now about what a great guy Rick is

godtabh

neris wrote: »

Anyone hear Conor dunes no go tour diary for the cycling podcast? Bet he regrets his comments now about what a great guy Rick is

Did I hear he was signed up to a 2 year contract after the nationals? Can’t find where I read it but might explain the good comments. Probably not now!

jimbobaloobob

I thought there were only three in contract for next year? is it not the case that if another team takes them on their wages are guaranteed because of the deposit made to the UCI? so effectively another team wont have to pay them or will only top up their pay based on negotiated contract? I maybe be wrong but thought this was the case.

harringtonp

brocbrocach wrote: »

Look who's to blame for the wages being late, that damn UCI...

From what I can see anybody in Ricks position would do the same thing. They have already paid 25% of their staff annual salary to the UCI and it is done for these eventualities.

Not going this route would be like you or I paying years of house insurance and then not claiming when there is a break in.

buffalo

harringtonp wrote: »

From what I can see anybody in Ricks position would do the same thing. They have already paid 25% of their staff annual salary to the UCI and it is done for these eventualities.

Not going this route would be like you or I paying years of house insurance and then not claiming when there is a break in.

I would've thought it's more like skipping out on your landlord and not paying your last month's rent?

RobFowl

harringtonp wrote: »

From what I can see anybody in Ricks position would do the same thing. They have already paid 25% of their staff annual salary to the UCI and it is done for these eventualities.

Not going this route would be like you or I paying years of house insurance and then not claiming when there is a break in.

Anyone in Rick position would not do this sort of thing.

The deposit is refunded in full at the end of the season if all the riders and staff have been paid.
It is like a rental deposit.
It's a disgrace that he has forced the riders to go begging to the UCI because he cannot be bothered to fulfill him obligations.
All this was made 100% clear in the licence he applied for and sign up to.
Nothing here should be a surprise.
Cannot believe he is being defended on this, genuinely astounded !!!

Macy0161

godtabh wrote: »

Did I hear he was signed up to a 2 year contract after the nationals? Can’t find where I read it but might explain the good comments. Probably not now!

My impression from the no go tour was he'd agreed a 2 year deal not signed. The ones Delaney said he'd honour were the the second years of existing 2 year deals (i.e. 2018 was year 1, 2019 year 2). I don't think Dunne was ever covered by that.

RobFowl

Macy0161 wrote: »

My impression from the no go tour was he'd agreed a 2 year deal not signed. The ones Delaney said he'd honour were the the second years of existing 2 year deals (i.e. 2018 was year 1, 2019 year 2). I don't think Dunne was ever covered by that.

And I think that may have just been Dunbar who has since signed with Sky...


Seems that allowed him to shaft all the other riders this year.

harringtonp

He did put a lot of his own money into this and that's how it survived the time it ran. You could view the venture as a good thing that wouldn't have happened otherwise.

Most other teams managers are very good at finding and putting other peoples cash into ventures.

Good point on the deposits being refunded at the end of the year, hadn't realized this, I thought they were a non-refundable insurance type of pool.

CramCycle

harringtonp wrote: »

Good point on the deposits being refunded at the end of the year, hadn't realized this, I thought they were a non-refundable insurance type of pool.

I thought it was only fully refunded if they hadn't gone too far into it, almost like insurance. If AB are the only ones to claim, everyone else should get theirs back but if a few teams wipe out the fund then no one gets anything back. I could be wrong. I also presume you just carry over the balance to off set the following years cost.

harringtonp

Good that the UCI require this deposit, I suspect there was a lot of messing before it was implemented (whenever that was)

I vaguely remember reading something about ABS been later registering this year due to unspecified problems, if that is the case it sort of makes sense now

Boscoirl

https://twitter.com/larrywarbasse/status/1047405165056339969?s=21

Macy0161

RobFowl wrote: »

And I think that may have just been Dunbar who has since signed with Sky...


Seems that allowed him to shaft all the other riders this year.

I thought there were 4. Notwithstanding the rest of the messing, riders are out of contract in every team.

gman2k

Adam Blythe is selling off his ABS clothing on the Facebook groups in the UK!

Eamonnator

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fenn-criticises-aqua-blue-sport-bosses-after-more-salary-woes/

Aquablue riders/staff are still having problems getting their salaries.

RobFowl

Eamonnator wrote: »

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fenn-criticises-aqua-blue-sport-bosses-after-more-salary-woes/

Aquablue riders/staff are still having problems getting their salaries.

"Feckin millionaires, never pay their bills"






Bonus point if anyone can name the film that quote is from

royrogers

How many of the riders are still without contracts, besides Conor Dunne? Was Shane Archbold still with them when they folded?

CramCycle

RobFowl wrote: »

"Feckin millionaires, never pay their bills"






Bonus point if anyone can name the film that quote is from

How do you think they became millionaires, Bill Gates didn't become a millionaire writing cheques.

Repo Men

Are you a commie Rob??

cunavalos

royrogers wrote: »

How many of the riders are still without contracts, besides Conor Dunne? Was Shane Archbold still with them when they folded?

I found this from cyclingnews. Its a pretty depressing list and may not be fully up to date.

Shane Archbold: Unknown.
Adam Blythe: Lotto.
Matt Brammeier: Retired (happened before team shut-down).
Mark Christian: Unknown.
Stefan Denifl: CCC/BMC
Eddie Dunbar: Sky.
Connor Dunne: Unknown.
Andrew Fenn: Unknown.
Aaron Gate: Unknown.
Lasse Norman: Corendon-Circus.
Peter Konig: Unknown.
Michel Kreder: Unknown.
Daniel Pearson: Unknown.
Casper Pedersen: Sunweb.
Larry Warbasse: Ag2r.
Calvin Watson: Retired following lack of interest from other teams .


Also when this thread got bumped i noticed that the Aquablue Shop is no longer responsive