Oh you Armstrong haters must really hate this!

[plectrum]

Barça have an attitude to shirt sponsorship that is historically noteworthy. They have continuously refused to advertise corporate sponsors on the shirt since the club's founding.

On 14 July 2006, the club announced a five year agreement with UNICEF, which includes having the UNICEF logo on their shirts. The agreement will see Barça donating US$1.9 million per year to UNICEF (0.7 per cent of its ordinary income) to the FC Barcelona Foundation, and rejecting significant money offers to be the first shirt sponsor of the football team.

The club has done this in order to set up international cooperation programmes for development, supports the UN Millennium Development Goals and has made a commitment to UNICEF’s humanitarian aid programs through the donation of one and a half million euro for the next five years.

Companies that Barça currently has other sponsorship deals with include:
Nike - Official sponsors
Coca-Cola - Official sponsors
TV3 - Official sponsors
Audi - Official sponsors
Estrella Damm - Official sponsors
La Caixa - Official sponsors
bwin - Official Betting Partner
Acer - Official provider
MediaPro - Official provider
NH Hoteles - Official provider
Vueling - Official provider
Babybel - Official provider

 

[poulidor]

True that... but there's nothing from stopping Livestrong being the primary sponsor.

Unicef once got primetime placement on Barca FC shirts... and I'm sure they used lots of our donated money to do so.

That said a lot about what are your "facts" or your "clues".

 

[swampy1970]

Indeed Swampy ... were you saying something about facts and old ladies?

BTW

I agree with all your confirmations but ....

I am a sofa cycling fan and didn't know about Livestrong back at the 07 tour. It may had existed but it was in my opinion far smaller and less effective than it is now.

Leipheimer may have wone some races but was never in contention for a Grand Tour victory. I can never remember tuning in expecting to see Levi on the podium. I know you can state 3rd place in 07 but this is after Ras and Vino were excluded/injured/both, it was by chance rather than expected.

Contador wasn't top dog he was a cyclist with potential.

Now

Livestrong is getting quite popular in terms of its message and the positive marketing this brings.
Lance's comeback is probably attracting more interest than when he was competitive.
Contador is probably the leading road cyclist in the world and should breeze the tour de France

Difference?

Oh there is one other thing ... in 07 Armstrong stated that funding was not possible and now he is stating funding theoretically should be possible.

The Livestrong maybe seemingly more popular to you now probably means that either Lance's return to the sport that re-peaked the interest or you're spending too much time in here Back in 2004, during the height of popularity for those little yellow wristbands, you had moviestars, Olympians and even Presidential candidates wearing them... it was quite the rage.

Levi never in contention for a Grand Tour victory? What do you think the Vuelta is, a Sunday clubrun? A podium in that, a win in the Tour of Germany and a win in the hardest leadup race to the Tour (the Dauphine) puts him down as a possible for the Tour - which when combined with his 3rd in the Tour puts him right up there with Vino but neither of them, imho, have what it takes in the big mountains during the last week of The Tour to get the job done. This years Tour looks a little light on the massive mountain stages though so things could be different for Levi.

Vino and Ras's things weren't items of chance.

Contador - when you figure that he's only been a pro for a 5 years and one of those was pretty much out due to his operation, you don't have that much time to 'shine' as it were. But he was Spanish under 23 time trial champion, despite being known for his climbing skills and was signed to ONCE (the pro team) youth cycling team at the age of 16. The lad has always been good on a bike and it wouldn't surprise me if he won as many Tours as his fellow Spaniard, Indurain who had a way less spectacular start to his career...

 

[swampy1970]

No. UNICEF didn't pay for that advertising. Barça have them on their shirt as a good will gesture. I posted a link to a story about it in my message on the previous page.

Obviously I didn't read that. LOL. There wasn't too much in the way of footy related news here in the US back then - thankfully Fox Soccer Channel solves those issues and I get to watch my team play Barca at the end of the month... The lack of 'football' here also means that cool news like this doesn't make the papers.

 

[Scotttri]

I think a Livestrong sponsored team is a great idea if alowed. **** just look at the amount of talk it's gaining here, multiply it by millions ( the people who avidly watch the sport of cycling ) and by even more the contries the brand name will be seen, I think it'll more than outlay the cost in sponsorship by the greater amount it'll recieve in donations from this extended promotion. Just my two bits!!

 

[adamastor]

I think a Livestrong sponsored team is a great idea if alowed. **** just look at the amount of talk it's gaining here, multiply it by millions ( the people who avidly watch the sport of cycling ) and by even more the contries the brand name will be seen, I think it'll more than outlay the cost in sponsorship by the greater amount it'll recieve in donations from this extended promotion. Just my two bits!!

Without having recouped my statement here, ONCE was a non for profit organisation for blind people in Spain, right? They got a lot of visibility through their presence in cycling. Cycling is a very cheap platform for this kind of initiative...

 

[wolfix]

trek makes its living selling bicycles to americans who don't know better. when armstrong "retires" to his greatly reduced riding schedule as he has promised, how many bicycles will trek sell when the american no longer rides to promote the brand? this is the same question trek had to ask themselves a few years back and they didn't get on board with lance's dream then. unless of course, you admit the possibility that lance wasn't very serious a few years back in founding a team and was more interested in getting thrown out of austin nightclubs and nuzzling matthew m.

"Now if they do not clean sweep the 3 x GC I will eat my hat."

by the bye, what race are you betting this action on? the giro?

TRek is a mainstream bike company. Lance's sponsorship has very little to do with sales of Trek. I doubt if 1% of the purchasers of a Trek has ever heard of the Giro, or anything else related to professional cycling.{except the TDF}
Trek is actually getting a better part of the US market share today,then in years past, when Lance was winning 7 TDF's. Even though their sponsored rider won more Tdf's then any other rider in the TDf's 100 + history,the "Lance" part of their advertising budget was still minimal, when looked at overall.

 

[slovakguy]

TRek is a mainstream bike company. Lance's sponsorship has very little to do with sales of Trek. I doubt if 1% of the purchasers of a Trek has ever heard of the Giro, or anything else related to professional cycling.{except the TDF}
Trek is actually getting a better part of the US market share today,then in years past, when Lance was winning 7 TDF's. Even though their sponsored rider won more Tdf's then any other rider in the TDf's 100 + history,the "Lance" part of their advertising budget was still minimal, when looked at overall.

i think you're being a bit naive or simplistic about the relationship between trek, armstrong and the public they are trying to sell bicycles to. even if these new riders do not know what the giro is, where it is contested, or that armstrong consistently absented himself from this race during his previous career, trek will do quite nicely with the greater number of photos of armstrong on a trek. it is the same marketing strategy that puts corporate logos on nascar hoods or footballers' shirts. as far as their increasing sales numbers, you'll need to dig up which models are boosting their bank accounts. are people buying the high end madone or the entry level cruisers? trek made great strides by undercutting the competition by moving manufacturing off shore.

 

[NJK]

The Livestrong maybe seemingly more popular to you now probably means that either Lance's return to the sport that re-peaked the interest or you're spending too much time in here Back in 2004, during the height of popularity for those little yellow wristbands, you had moviestars, Olympians and even Presidential candidates wearing them... it was quite the rage.

Levi never in contention for a Grand Tour victory? What do you think the Vuelta is, a Sunday clubrun? A podium in that, a win in the Tour of Germany and a win in the hardest leadup race to the Tour (the Dauphine) puts him down as a possible for the Tour - which when combined with his 3rd in the Tour puts him right up there with Vino but neither of them, imho, have what it takes in the big mountains during the last week of The Tour to get the job done. This years Tour looks a little light on the massive mountain stages though so things could be different for Levi.

Vino and Ras's things weren't items of chance.

Contador - when you figure that he's only been a pro for a 5 years and one of those was pretty much out due to his operation, you don't have that much time to 'shine' as it were. But he was Spanish under 23 time trial champion, despite being known for his climbing skills and was signed to ONCE (the pro team) youth cycling team at the age of 16. The lad has always been good on a bike and it wouldn't surprise me if he won as many Tours as his fellow Spaniard, Indurain who had a way less spectacular start to his career...

Leipheimer maybe winning the TDF basically shows you what you can do with a win at all costs American attitude in my book. I saw him finish 3rd at the TOS with Sevilla and Heras and wasn't he just a decent rider nothing special before Postal. It shows you a bit of grit and preperation can do

 

[jimmypop]

Leipheimer maybe winning the TDF basically shows you what you can do with a win at all costs American attitude in my book. I saw him finish 3rd at the TOS with Sevilla and Heras and wasn't he just a decent rider nothing special before Postal. It shows you a bit of grit and preperation can do

Lulz.

 

[Scotttri]

Leipheimer maybe winning the TDF basically shows you what you can do with a win at all costs American attitude in my book. I saw him finish 3rd at the TOS with Sevilla and Heras and wasn't he just a decent rider nothing special before Postal. It shows you a bit of grit and preperation can do

" Preperation " Is the key word there