Saw this. I don't know why it had to be cancelled.
My questions surround the sponsorship angle. If they knew the Schaden family were not going to sponsor this year, why weren't other contacted immediately ? Why aren't other sponsors stepping up ? Surely the state can take some of that new "green tax" and sponsor the race. I mean, there are tons of companies to be contacted to put up the sponsorship and purse money. I just don't get it.

News this morning here in CO said they have lost millions each year on the race - they being the organizers. Really bummed to hear this since it's been a fun event we have made a point to go see the 3 times it's come through our area, both as stage finishes and the next day as starts. Kids (and adults) looked forward to it.

---

**********************
Harry: "I expected the Rocky Mountains to be a little rockier than this."
Loyd: "I was thinking the same thing. That John Denver's full of shit, man."

Disappointed but not surprised, the race has sounded like it has been in turmoil pretty much from the moment last years ended.

Hope they really do manage to comeback next year.

What makes you think potential sponsors weren't contacted immediately?

I can almost certainly guarantee that the organizers were looking for sponsors from the get-go. Finding sponsors is an incredibly challenging task.

---

Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

The Boulder NIMBYs are so relieved.

I'm pretty bummed it's done. It was one of the best races that I've been on the start line for.

9/10

I agree with the 9/10, even though "one of the best" is pretty great to slip in. To get a 10/10 would require something like, "and it was one of the best races that I have done. I guess it just makes my win there just a bit more special."

I think a "privileged" or possibly "blessed" would have worked well.

"and it was one of the best races that I have done. I feel privileged to have been able to win a stage at this beautiful event."

I'm not sure if it was just the coverage that was getting to sent to Australia that was terrible or if the picture quality was bad everywhere. This event used to be shown live on pay TV (Fox Sports) but half the time the picture was frozen with a message saying sorry for the inconvenience, then they dropped the coverage and it went to FTA where it remained the same terrible live picture quality.

Last week I watched all seven stages of the US Pro Challenge. All through the race the tv announcers were saying that the race was losing it's sponsors, that they were looking for new ones, that the race was for sale and that it might not back for 2016. It' a shame that they couldn't get the state of Colorado to step up. They have been trying to find someone though.

A race like this is very expensive to put on. Just how does a successful stage race make any money?

---

---------------------------
''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

Being a Denver guy, really disappointed to see this happen. That said, I do understand. The economics of putting on the race are tough.

Why should the state of Colorado "step up"? I have no idea what the state of their budget currently is, but dumping millions into a bike race would not please me as a taxpayer.

---

Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

Perhaps I should have typed ''State Dept of Tourism''. That race is a great advertisement for people to visit Colorado. But you say yourself that you have no idea what the state budget is like. For all you know, they may be so flush with cash they don't know what to do with it.

Do you pay taxes in Colorado?

---

---------------------------
''Sweeney - you can both crush your AG *and* cruise in dead last!! 😂 '' Murphy's Law

I used to pay taxes in CO, but unfortunately no longer. My place of residence is kinda immaterial to the point.

CO has a LOT of reasons for people to visit the state....and a bike race is probably kinda low on that list. The target audience for that race already has a pretty good idea that cycling in CO is awesome and the state is a cycling Mecca.

In addition, most races already extract financial considerations from both the state and local municipalities (permits, road closures, personnel, hotel rooms, etc) so it isn't like the state is sitting on the sidelines. IIRC, the (former?) governor was instrumental in starting the race.

According to reports, the race has lost more than $20M in the last few years....that ain't really a compelling case to expect more public financing.

---

Chicago Cubs - 2016 WORLD SERIES Champions!!!!

"If ever the time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin." - Samuel Adams

I wonder how the economics of the Tour of Utah compare? Their title sponsor looks to be a car dealership coupled with a strong list of featured sponsors.

https://www.tourofutah.com/partners/index

As much as I like cycling, I'm sure most American's would rather watch a football game or even a tennis game than a bike a race. If I owned a company with money to be put towards advertising, I imagine it would be way more profitable to put the money towards a NFL game vs a bike race (assuming the product had nothing to do with either sport).

---

OlympicHopeful.com - Interviews with aspiring Olympians | Strava
Supported by: Skechers|Zwift|Squirt Lube|TYR|Rubber Ducky Sunscreen|Riplaces|MultiSport Canada|Joshus Bikes
“More often than not bad luck meant bad plans” -Joe Abercrombie

Tour of Alberta is following that plan. Lots of folks here this winter...

Banff will likely be a stage host in 2016. Looking forward to seeing the action again!

---

___________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

If you are selling ski passes and hotel rooms it makes sense but random consumer products not so much.

---

___________________________________________
http://en.wikipedia.org/...eoesophageal_fistula
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cerebral_palsy
2020 National Masters Champion - M40-44 - 400m IM
Canadian Record Holder 35-39M & 40-44M - 200 m Butterfly (LCM)

I have to agree with Power13 here. It is not the responsibility of the State or the Tourism Boards to buoy this race. The larger issue with an event like this is the revenue stream is solely based sponsorship and media rights. I can speak with experience on organizing an event and can tell you it shocked me the US Pro Challenge survived beyond year one. Not because of lack of organization or lack of support from avid cyclists or the state communities, but because it is growing increasingly difficult to put on events around the country. Costly and logistically.

In my opinion, for whatever it is worth, the greatest challenge that faces our sport is not a flat rate of growth, or not enough youth races, or not enough draft legal races. It is that over the next 5 years we will see a fallout of events that are closed up due to communities closing their doors to events like a triathlon, cycling, or running event. I travel this country and hear at city meetings the same tune of the city leaders managing the boiling over of their constituents due to the impact these events have on their day to day.

I will be speaking about this more on our IM Boulder Facebook ( https://www.facebook.com/IronmanBoulder ) page soon on how we combat this, but to the point of why the US Pro Challenge is gone this year and maybe for good, it is not entirely because of lack of money. If an event like that wants to survive it will need to utilize large population density routes to grab attention (attention = money). Inherently there will be large community impact, which in turn costs tons of money.

As a sport we have a great challenge in front of us unrelated to growth. It is directly related to availability of places to race. We have to adjust our personality as a sport and be the sport people love to have in their towns. Events need to be held to the fire by the athletes when they leave a community damaged or beat up. I plan on sharing more on how we will be challenging the State of Colorado athletes on the topic of personality change on our FB page soon, but thought since it was relevant I would share my opinion on this post.

Again, let me be clear, that event was well run and the communities did their best. This is just an overarching theme I have noticed in my experiences across this country. I believe we can do some great things as a sport, we just need to adjust the perceptions of those making the decisions on our permits for races.

DC
IM Boulder Race Director

---

DC
Dave Christen
IRONMAN Race Director and Operations Manager
dave.christen@ironman.com