Saxo Bank taking over for CSC
Posted on 10. Jun, 2008 in Bike Racing, Sports Business
A lot of major teams are looking for new title sponsors for next season and Riis Cycling (aka Team CSC) is the first to provide some good news: Saxo Bank! Hopefully, the fact that Riis was able to replace CSC within 3 months is a good portend for High Road, Gerolsteiner, etc.
Saxo will come on board immediately as a co-title sponsor with CSC starting with the Tour de France, then become sole title sponsor for 2009-2010 or 2009-2011 (the team’s press release is unclear). According to Wikipedia, Saxo Bank’s revenue comes mostly from White Label Services, where Saxo quietly provides back-end infrastructure that Citibank and others re-brand and use to service their customers. Obviously, now that they’re sponsoring the world’s #1 cycling team, they’re trying to reach out and establish their own brand. I’m a big fan of Bjarne’s program and this seems like a great fit.
The bank also reportedly (i.e. it says it on Wikipedia without a citation) distributed 10,000 copies of Atlas Shrugged as a marketing initiative, which is a bit odd. The book’s Objectivist philosophy teaches that the highest purpose is to pursue one’s own self-interest, which isn’t exactly in line with Bjarne’s philosophy of being “the team that takes its staring [sic] position in the team rather than the individual.” We’ll see if Team Saxo Bank can provide as eloquent a rebuttal to Objectivism as did one of my favorite video games, Bioshock.
Ayn Rand aside, this is great news for all involved and for pro cycling generally.
[...] ich verdiene dran. Nur bin ich so frei, auch mal zu sagen, daß es sich nicht rechnet. Interessiert eh keinen, wenn das Projekt ins Rollen gekommen ist. Die Manager, die die Studie bestellt haben, [...]
I think that’s spam but I’m not entirely sure. I don’t get so many comments, so it can’t hurt leave it up…