Wow, that is a huge bummer, well at least the UCI has the racing in China and a new race isn Saudi Arabia, lots of cycling fans out there

Surprised but not surprised. Sagan won't be the only fresh face at Giro.

Makes you wonder if LA is the only guy who got filthy rich (or who will ever get rich) riding a bike?

Just seems like the sport will never make it to the Formula 1, Pro Tennis, PGA, NFL, MLB, NBA, Premier League level. Maybe because it can't charge spectators for its biggest events?

The toc was cancelled because California passed a law requiring an equal length/pay race for women. Very few sports have been able to make a women's league profitable.

That was the first thing that crossed my mind, but how do you know that is the case?

The toc was cancelled because California passed a law requiring an equal length/pay race for women. Very few sports have been able to make a women's league profitable. //

I would be very surprised if this had even 1% to do with the cancellation, otherwise how is there still football, baseball, soccer, basketball pro mens teams?? Nice try though..


I'm pretty sure that they just did not make any money, or enough to make it worth while. I know in the past they had trouble getting cities to pony up the start fess for having the race start or finish in their cities, sometimes even having to basically give that perk away. In the TDF that is a big deal, and a huge revenue source, cities fighting over getting the race for a day, not so here. So after some sponsors that probably are not that big in the grand scheme of things, you might have a tiny bit of TV revenue, but probably not nearly enough to offset the production costs. Nowadays many sports have to pay to be on TV cable channels, just so that they can rev share in commercials, and give their sponsors enough eyeballs to make their investments worthwhile.


Unfortunately cycling does not enjoy the fan base that Europe has, and thus the associated sponsor and advertising dollars. Will be sad to see it go, we have had at least a 1/2 dozen now spring up, get big, and then disappear in my cycling lifetime. Anyone remember the Red Zinger or Coors Classic? How about the tour de Trump!!

wouldn't surprise me... but I doubt anyone owns up to that being the truth.

yes, though i wish that whatever the truth is, it would be acknowledged - how is anyone to learn and improve things going forwards otherwise?
if it is that law then we need it publicised so that politicians stop making feel good laws that actually destroy what little we have.
if it is other factors then people like the UCI need to know and have other people know so that they are pressured to improve the situation

The race supposedly brought in around $300M per year to the CA economy, and yet the organizers could not make money. They sound like crappy business people or crappy negotiators.

Come on Monty, you live there. Either you have your head in the sand or did literally no research on why this would matter for the tour of California, but not for basketball, baseball etc.

This only matters for events on public land that have a men’s and women’s field. Not to mention it’s about prize money. Those sports don’t have prize money.

Prof Fate wrote:

The toc was cancelled because California passed a law requiring an equal length/pay race for women.

I don't know why the ToC was cancelled. But you're wrong about A.B. 467. It only requires equal prize money, not equal length. I'll post the full text of the law below (it's not long). Also the ToC started paying women equal prize money to men back in 2018.

So you may need to go back to the drawing board and come up with a new rationale for which you claim to seem absolutely sure about.




I'll set aside that for a moment, and point out that most *men's* cycling is not profitable for the race promoter, outside of a few of the really big ones. AEG did this on essentially the "charity" of Amgen and other sponsors. Not because of business fundamentals like selling media rights or selling tickets to controlled venues.

First, I'm not a Californian or a lawyer, but I have read the law. And while I agree that the biggest reason has to do with making money or finding sponsors, it's certainly plausible the new law had something to do with the cancellation. The key verbiage (from my perspective) is "use of public facilities". That's where bike racing is different from pro football, baseball, etc. The roads are clearly public facilities. I don't know enough to know for sure about the stadiums, but my limited understanding is that they're usually owned by a team that plays in them or the owner of said team - albeit often with a very sweet public financing/giveaway component.

You also made salient points about the European fan base and the disappearance of races in the USA. We could add Tour de 'Toona. I still have a DVD of Red Zinger and Coors Classic races!

Highly unlikely. When the law was being debated, some activists, including female cyclists, wanted clauses added requiring equal lengths for some events and venues of equal quality. Those were all rejected in the final text.

I don't think it's brought in $300m in 14yrs let alone per year. AEG has done a great job keeping this event alive when the economy was not favorable. My group is going to miss working the event next year.

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Shawn
TORRE Consulting Services, LLC
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This is the quote from the Business Wire article.

This only matters for events on public land that have a men’s and women’s field. Not to mention it’s about prize money. Those sports don’t have prize money. //

And guess what, neither does cycling. In the grand scheme of things, the winning golfer and a medium/ big tourney, gets more than all the riders over the entire TOC. Same with the TDF, the prize money is so insignificant to the overall operation, it is hardly worth mentioning. The biggest 3 week cycling race in the world, with the biggest stars, and all together they make what one Tiger Woods would make all alone winning a golf championship. LeBron makes more in one game then they make, so don't tell me it was about prize money. Lucky for cyclists that they don't live off what they can win at races, but actually winning those races is what pays the bills through the year.


My head is not in the sand, I see this clearly for what it is, a money losing proposition in a dwindling sport. What they need is the same thing as super league, a rich benefactor to just foot the bill, and never expect anything other than a great race in return..

I agree it was only about pay but by consequence, it is also about distance. I can't imagine anyone being OK with women getting paid the same amount for 3 days of racing as men with 7.

I just can't picture any other reason they would have to cancel it. The timing is too obvious.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

Pretty sure most marketing/economic impact figures are inflated by around a factor of 10 or so.

Think about it, if the ToC brought in half that 300mil number, the state legislature and governor would set up an organization to run it themselves

First of all, women's don't get paid the same amount. They get paid far less. This is just the prize purse, of which only a tiny fraction of all riders get any. Prize money is a pretty small percent of compensation, except for some superstars riders.

Also women got paid the same for the past 2 years, and there was no vocal complaint. So other than the ToC predated the writing of the law by a year, and then the implementation by the full year, the timing is obvious. :)

Plus the ToC could have just cancelled the women's event entirely and not been subject to the law. But they didn't.

We really have no idea what their rationale is. There are myriad difficulties in putting on a race. Permitting, police overtime, myriad sponsor relationships, media production. Races get cancelled every year, in many countries.

I don't think it makes sense to reflexively blame women.

Kind of sucks, but it's truly hard to see how professional cycling is a sustainable product in the US compared to the grand tours in France, Italy, and Spain. Triathlon exists as a sport because of the amateur athlete. I would bet triathlon would continue to be a sport where the promoter made money if the pro field got eliminated. Very few triathletes are fans of the sport as far as I can tell...we the SlowTwitch are the NERDs and the minority.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Not blaming women. I would blame the organizers but seeing what you said above, I guess blame is misplaced. Poor me for not researching more and fire-typing. Actually now I'm kind of pissed at the legislators for allowing such a simply loophole as cancelling the women's race.

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

It wasn’t an “if”, it was a “when”. I believe the recent Cali fair play regs were the final straw.

Purely speculation but I think the main points are:
-rising costs for permits, police, etc. not being covered/written off by the local governments
-going world tour and axing most of the American teams/riders. Look at the result that this has had on the American UCI Continental teams.
-not wanting/willing/able to give the men and women the same caliber of racing.

That's a bit of a shocker, actually really enjoyed watching the ToC.

Big loss.

Good riddance. The maker of EPO sponsoring a grand tour for junkies and addicts.

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Eric Reid AeroFit | Instagram Portfolio
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