September 5/05 11:02 am - Press Release: GESTEV & 23 Degrees Sports Management

Posted by Editoress on 09/5/05
 

Courtesy GESTEV Inc & 23 Degrees Sports Management S.L

Further to recent communications and rumours in the arena of international mountain bike racing concerning the role of our two companies, GESTEV and 23 Degrees Sports Management, in our joint venture on the UCI World Cup we would like to make the following points very clear, as we understand them.

• While it is true that the previous exclusive arrangement has ended, which entailed the management, TV and marketing rights for 2006-2010 UCI Mountain Bike World Cup, it has only ended in the sense that it is no longer exclusive in the area of marketing and television, and the management rights have returned to the UCI for now. In agreement with the UCI, we are free to continue working on finding solutions for marketing and television, and should these solutions be satisfactory to all parties, the management rights will be returned to us.

• Since signing the letter of intent at the end of January this year, we have worked very hard in the following areas, work that we feel has already proven to be beneficial for the World Cup, particularly in 2006.

1) Calendar coordination with other major events and series. This includes frequent discussions and negotiations about dates with the organisers of the NORBA Series in the USA, Maxxis Cup in Europe, and other major events, to ensure there is a coordinated travel path between these events and the World Cup for riders, teams, press etc.

2) Suggestions for specific rule changes for the improvement of the World Cup for next year, which have already been received by the UCI.

3) The identification, visitation and coordination of the various candidate venues for 2006. Our research and contacts for these potential venues have been passed onto the UCI for their consideration in putting together the 2006 calendar.

4) Of course, after the main point of identifying the possible dates and venues, our task was to establish a TV distribution and production strategy for this project, which has been done in cooperation with major agencies.

5) Preparation, production and widely distributed sponsorship packages which has been coordinated with the assistance of highly respected international marketing agencies and agencies that specialize in the fields of TV production and distribution.

In conclusion, both of our companies fully understand the administrative need the UCI has in taking back the management rights at this point in order that a calendar can be fixed as soon as possible for 2006, with the bare minimum plan for global marketing. However, we remain fully optimistic and in fact, certain, that the media interest in our sport is returning to the high levels of some years back, and we expect in the coming weeks to be able to formalize a TV contract that will be global and extensive in nature.