SKY-high contracts

[tsarpepe]

During the RAI Sport coverage of the Tour today, I picked up a curious bit of information that I thought I'd share. Giuseppe Saronni said on air that they had an agreement with Froome prior to last year's Vuelta; he was supposed to join Lampre, and the money was agreed. After the Vuelta, acc. to Saronni, Sky approached Froome and offered him TEN TIMES the amount Lampre had on the table. Upon further interrogation, he reiterated that he was not being metaphoric, and that the money was in fact 10x more. He concluded with the obvious: no other team in cycling can currently offer what Sky is throwing around.

TFWIW

[Germany_chris]

During the RAI Sport coverage of the Tour today, I picked up a curious bit of information that I thought I'd share. Giuseppe Saronni said on air that they had an agreement with Froome prior to last year's Vuelta; he was supposed to join Lampre, and the money was agreed. After the Vuelta, acc. to Saronni, Sky approached Froome and offered him TEN TIMES the amount Lampre had on the table. Upon further interrogation, he reiterated that he was not being metaphoric, and that the money was in fact 10x more. He concluded with the obvious: no other team in cycling can currently offer what Sky is throwing around.

TFWIW

Thats something I heard recently, not that specific but simply that no team can compete with Sky's wallet.

[67-59]

Think they'd be offended if we nicknamed them the Yankees?

Or maybe they'd better understand a Manchester City reference....

[CunegoFan]

Thats something I heard recently, not that specific but simply that no team can compete with Sky's wallet.

No team can compete with whatever else they have as well.

[GuyGadois]

Think they'd be offended if we nicknamed them the Yankees?

Or maybe they'd better understand a Manchester City reference....


Maybe more like the Miami Heat or Chelski. The Yanks actually have a good development of young players.

GG

[jpw]

During the RAI Sport coverage of the Tour today, I picked up a curious bit of information that I thought I'd share. Giuseppe Saronni said on air that they had an agreement with Froome prior to last year's Vuelta; he was supposed to join Lampre, and the money was agreed. After the Vuelta, acc. to Saronni, Sky approached Froome and offered him TEN TIMES the amount Lampre had on the table. Upon further interrogation, he reiterated that he was not being metaphoric, and that the money was in fact 10x more. He concluded with the obvious: no other team in cycling can currently offer what Sky is throwing around.

TFWIW

This has to be put in a commercial context. If Froome came from Italy Lampre could and would have offered quite a bit more, and Sky less. Wiggo isn't an up and coming rider, and so there has to be a line of succession in place.

[MattTuck]

This has to be put in a commercial context. If Froome came from Italy Lampre could and would have offered quite a bit more, and Sky less. Wiggo isn't an up and coming rider, and so there has to be a line of succession in place.

+1. how marketable a rider is to the sponsor's customers is as big a determinant in compensation as their palmares.

[1centaur]

What is 10x the market minimum for a Pro Tour rider?

[54ny77]

Probably about 2/3 the annual gross for a full time Starbucks barista....

Live the dream.

What is 10x the market minimum for a Pro Tour rider?

[1centaur]

30,000 Euros is minimum salary for an experienced Pro Tour rider. Chavanel supposedly gets 800k Euros, and Sky would pay Froome less than that, so there's a lot of room for 10x greater salary than Lampre was offering to someone who looked to be on the edge of washing out of Sky (as said many times during the Vuelta). Let's say 50k went to 500k; 10x bridges way too little with somewhat too much, but doesn't signal that Sky is way out of range. I suspect another team would have paid Froome at least 300k Euros after the Vuelta. And BTW, Sky's salary doesn't look so bad now; someone who can REALLY TT and climb in the top 10 is very rare.

[tsarpepe]

FWIW, during the telecast, the commentators suggested that the Lampre figure had been 100k (which would mean that Sky offered in the neighborhood of a million). Saronni laughed without saying whether this is or is not off base.

[Fixed]

peanuts compaired to american team sports
cheers :)

[jpw]

FWIW, during the telecast, the commentators suggested that the Lampre figure had been 100k (which would mean that Sky offered in the neighborhood of a million). Saronni laughed without saying whether this is or is not off base.

Froome signed a three year contract.

Wiggins gave an interview recently and stated that the public would be a little bit surprised if they knew the salary figures at Sky, implying that they'e not that high.

I'm not sure, but I can well imagine that Contador and Boonen may be the highest paid riders at the moment along with Evans. Then it's probably Cavendish, Cancellara, and one or two Italians.

[jpw]

peanuts compaired to american team sports
cheers :)

True. Engineered for television though.

[Lovetoclimb]

When Sky was crushing the Dauphine Vaughters tweeted something to the effect of: "why be surprised from a team with several million+ € riders and plenty of 500k€ riders."

Apparently he has some assumptions or insider knowledge of Sky's contracts.

[tsarpepe]

peanuts compaired to american team sports
cheers :)

This may well be (and is!) the case, but if other cycling teams can't afford to pay the same money to their riders, the advantage is real regardless of the peanuts.

[acorn_user]

Think they'd be offended if we nicknamed them the Yankees?

Or maybe they'd better understand a Manchester City reference....

I don't think a SKY - Man City reference is apt at all. Sky is basically the British Cycling road team. That organisation (Brailsford et al) is largely responsible for developing Cavendish, Wiggins and the other track guys in the first place. It's not like they appeared out of nowhere and dropped a ton of money into buying out people they had nothing to do with.

[FlashUNC]

When Sky was crushing the Dauphine Vaughters tweeted something to the effect of: "why be surprised from a team with several million+ € riders and plenty of 500k€ riders."

Apparently he has some assumptions or insider knowledge of Sky's contracts.

Considering how Wiggins left Garmin for Sky, I would imagine he does have some direct knowledge.

[ClutchCargo]

Maybe more like the Miami Heat or Chelski. The Yanks actually have a good development of young players.

GG

Ahhh, the comparison is apt nonetheless. Yanks are paying their top six guys this year more than the entire payroll of all but 4 other major league teams (2 of the 6 are homegrown btw).

[67-59]

I don't think a SKY - Man City reference is apt at all. Sky is basically the British Cycling road team. That organisation (Brailsford et al) is largely responsible for developing Cavendish, Wiggins and the other track guys in the first place. It's not like they appeared out of nowhere and dropped a ton of money into buying out people they had nothing to do with.

Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP)
Edvald Boassen Hagen (NOR)
Berhnard Eisel (AUT)
Sergio Henao (COL)
Michael Rogers (AUS)
Rigoberto Uran (COL)
Konstantin Sivtsov (BLR)

There may be plenty of British participation on Team Sky, but it's hardly as though they're doing it just by developing young Brits. And even some of the Brits who were originally developed on the track within Great Britain were bought back from others - Wiggins and Cavendish were both with HTC-Highroad before they came to Sky.

Maybe not as extreme as Man City...but not as far away as you imply.

[Jason E]

Think they'd be offended if we nicknamed them the Yankees?

Why would ANYONE be offended with such a comparison?!?! Go Yanks! :)

[DAG]

With that knowledge, might cheer for these Sky dudes as well...

[MattTuck]

Whether you like or hate the USPS team, they were the most prolific tour winner in the last 30+ years. If you were trying to put a team together to win the tour, the USPS strategy seems like a logical one to emulate.

[false_Aest]

No team can compete with whatever else they have as well.

You mean Victoria and Shanaze right?

[Black Dog]

Sky is getting some good value from it's pricey riders. BMC, not so much. Thor and Gilbert have had awful seasons; big pay checks and big disappointments.