<
[email protected]> wrote in message
news:
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benjo maso wrote:
> "B. Lafferty" <[email protected]> wrote in message
> news:[email protected]...
> > http://iht.nytimes.com/protected/articles/2005/09/14/sports/bike.php
>
> "The paper [l'Equipe] is owned by the same corporation that runs the Tour
> de
> France, which made millions of dollars from American tourism and corporate
> involvement during the Armstrong years".
>
> I didn't know that. I always thought Armstrong made millions of dollars
> because of the Tour, but it seems to be the other way around. But how? Do
> the American tourists pay money to see the Tour? Is one of the officials
> "partners" of the Tour, the four companies investing miillions in the Tour
> American? Skoda/Volkwagen perhaps? Or is it Crédit lyonnais,
> Aquarel/Nestlé
> or Supermarché Champion? Curious.
>
> Benjo
And you don't know who benefits from the Tour's success? Can it
really be, the authority on the sport? Aaah, but you are just being
disingenuous. How clever.
Of course the ASO benefits of the Tour's international succes. Without
television rights the Tour would never make any profits and the more
countries are interested in the Tour the better for the ASO. So from time to
time an American or Asian victory can be very useful. Sure. I know that and
I have written it already several times. And if Vesey had been mentioned it
that in that way the ASO is is benefitting financially, he would be
completely right. But no, he didn't. Two possibilities: he doesn't know it
or, knowing that the profits óf an ARmstrong victioy aren't that big (a
French victory would probabbly much more favorable), he thinks it's
necessary to embellish it in such a way (American tourists

)) that he can
present the Equipe as ungrateful. In other words: he is ignorant or
disingenious. I am only pointing it out.
Benjo