2013 Lessons identified

[Mirek]

The money in cycling is peanuts compared to even Rallying.....


I’d say the new relaunched ERC has been a bit ‘hit & miss’ – some events have had good entries, good TV coverage, others not so. Ideally, the top ERC events should be live on TV; Ypres, Sanremo, Zlin, Corsica.....sadly, most of them haven’t been.
Also, in an ideal world the best European events would be in the ERC – not those who can pay the fee – but that is just a fact of modern life.

Agree but on the other hand... how do You define the best? There are things we see like the tradition, stages, entry list etc. but there are also things we don't see like the organization level, safety, communication with promoter and FIA, relation with local authorities, financial backing etc.

[shaperzrally]

The money in cycling is peanuts compared to even Rallying.....

How come then almost every cycle race is on live for hours and hours... With all the doping scandals they still able to find sponsors for broadcasting live. I simply don't understand it.

BTW Eurosport is planing six rallies (ERC) for 2014 with live broadcast. The format will be the same, four stages live per rally.

[Mirek]

How come then almost every cycle race is on live for hours and hours... With all the doping scandals they still able to find sponsors for broadcasting live. I simply don't understand it.

I'm pretty sure the audience of major cycling races is much bigger than of ERC. Personally I also don't understand how somebody can find watching cyclists for hours interesting but it is like that. For example in a village where I'm originally from there is nobody going to rallies but quite a lot of people who go to cycling races like Tour de France or Vuelta...

[shaperzrally]

How come then almost every cycle race is on live for hours and hours... With all the doping scandals they still able to find sponsors for broadcasting live. I simply don't understand it.

I'm pretty sure the audience of major cycling races is much bigger than of ERC. Personally I also don't understand how somebody can find watching cyclists for hours interesting but it is like that. For example in a village where I'm originally from there is nobody going to rallies but quite a lot of people who go to cycling races like Tour de France or Vuelta...

Don't get me wrong! I am not against cycling at all, but In my opinion there are a lot of common between a road cycling race and a rally broadcast. The cost of one hour live must be the same. How hard can it be to find a title sponsor to the ERC itself with a budget wich covering the live broadcast fee... If cycling federation (or the races) can do it...

[Jarek Z]

I'm pretty sure the audience of major cycling races is much bigger than of ERC. Personally I also don't understand how somebody can find watching cyclists for hours interesting but it is like that.

Exactly. Major cycling races are followed by much bigger audience than ERC or even WRC. Which is a proof that a sport discipline doesn't need to be exciting to be shown on TV. Another example is golf. It is also not exciting, but is watched by thousands of viewers.
The constant stupid changes made by FIA in recent years, that are supposed to make rallying "more attractive", do nothing good for our sport. It is not followed by more fans and it is not becoming more popular. Cycling and golf hasn't changed for years and they are followed by millions.

[Sulland]

As many have commented, one big issue is Cost for total series.

When a team sits down these days to plan 2014, they look at cost of National series, ERC and WRC2/3, and what they get for their budget.
Very few will then end up with that it is better to drive medium size rallies around Europe, in a championship that is still trying to find its form, compared to the WRCircus, when the total cost btw ERC and WRC is not that different.

If they are to make a good reputation, they need to get down to aprox 8 rounds, and 5 counting. Then ERC will be a good alternative to start to get international experience.


If FIA also start using their head and see that they need to let organizers alternate btw ERC and WRC, to keep the organizations alive and kicking, then ERC will get a boost !

[shaperzrally]

I'm pretty sure the audience of major cycling races is much bigger than of ERC. Personally I also don't understand how somebody can find watching cyclists for hours interesting but it is like that.

Exactly. Major cycling races are followed by much bigger audience than ERC or even WRC. Which is a proof that a sport discipline doesn't need to be exciting to be shown on TV. Another example is golf. It is also not exciting, but is watched by thousands of viewers.
The constant stupid changes made by FIA in recent years, that are supposed to make rallying "more attractive", do nothing good for our sport. It is not followed by more fans and it is not becoming more popular. Cycling and golf hasn't changed for years and they are followed by millions.

Agree but I think not only those watching the golf and/or the cycle broadcasts whom are enthusiasts of that sport, but also those whom like to travel but can not afford it. For example with the Tour de France they can virtually travel across France, see castles, rivers and everything. It is a cheap roadtrip... This could be the same with rally broadcasts.

And speak about interesting sport broadcast... What about snooker? That sport(?) has huge live broadcast time on Eurosport and you watching two penguins with sticks, trying to sink some coloured balls for hours.

[Mirek]

As many have commented, one big issue is Cost for total series.

When a team sits down these days to plan 2014, they look at cost of National series, ERC and WRC2/3, and what they get for their budget.
Very few will then end up with that it is better to drive medium size rallies around Europe, in a championship that is still trying to find its form, compared to the WRCircus, when the total cost btw ERC and WRC is not that different.

If they are to make a good reputation, they need to get down to aprox 8 rounds, and 5 counting. Then ERC will be a good alternative to start to get international experience.

I don't agree. WRC2/3 is more expensive than ERC (per event definitely - higher entry fee, more traveling, longer events etc.) and what You get back? Where is any footage from WRC2/3? Where is Your car and result shown? I just checked videos from Alsace on wrc.com and there is none dedicated to supporter championships. PC/2WD and ladies always have at least some short footage in videos from ERC. in WRC You fight somewhere down the field and nobody seems to care about You. In ERC You fight in overall results. No WRC driver doing superally will pass You when You stay on the road.

In my opinion ERC despite some mistakes is much more privateer friendly than WRC. WRC on the other hand is prestigious, that's clear.

[RS]

I agree with Mirek^^

That is not ERCs problem. A few years ago in IRC we had factory or quasi-factory teams from Skoda, Peugeot, Abarth, Proton competing.

And 'FIA ERC' arguably has more kudos than 'IRC'

For me, this years ERC has been some way off the heights of IRC, but much better than recent years of ERC. In other words; a good start but I hope one day it will get back to IRC levels.

[miniwintz]

The money in cycling is peanuts compared to even Rallying.....

If you look at the big picture, I don't think this is true.

Of course team budget in cycling is nowhere near team budget in rallying, but sponsors are much more keen on financing bicycling (and its broadcasting) than they are for rallying. Despite all the doping scandals, cycling is still a "noble" sport, like athletism, running, etc. Rally cars (in the mind of marketing specialists) produce tons of CO2, destroy our roads and annoy people with their insane engine sounds. Of course it is biased, but we're not here to debate that.

Cycling is more socially acceptable, that's why it gets all the attention from the broadcasters. And if rallying doesn't make efforts into becoming that (i.e. with limited emissions, limited noise, etc.), the situation will not change. The other solution would be to look into alternative broadcasting methods that cost less for the promoters and that are more interesting to the fans and rally amateurs.