Are They The Next US Postal?

recently met an aussie woman who runs a pro (div. 2) cycling team called flanders-iteamnova.<br /> <br />www.iteamnova.com <br /><br />she's got a great idea. to fund the team, flanders-iteamnova sells yearly subscriptions to cycling fans. for around US$110 you get a team jersey, socks, gloves, hat, h20 bottle, newsletter, etc. you'd pay that much off the rack for pro kit, plus you get the satisfaction of helping this up-and-coming team. phil liggett has signed on, so it seems legit.<br /><br />the team's plan is to qualify for the TdF by 2006. with sponsors pulling out of pro cycling faster than cipo in a final sprint, it's good to see these blokes taking a new approach. maybe some american teams oughta try this! whaddya think?<br />

 

it is too bad that companys like mapei will not be sponsering teams this year. brilliant idea by flanders to try to raise subscriptions. this is grass-roots cycling at it's best. football teams like fc barcelona also do this to create revenues and interest supporters. ;D

 

I they just held a training camp in geelong and members could attend, you cant do that with ONCE. they may not be superstars yet but give 'em time <br /><br />cheers!

 

That is great sounding, I wonder if they would mind if someone copied the idea here in SA. We have a huge cycling population yet very little corporate sponsorship even relative to whats happening in the rest of the world