The earnings of cyclists in a stable format could only dream of them, since no one will pay for losses or non-prizing places. And no athlete could win all competitions in a row. Accordingly, we can conclude that organizers of cycling races and manufacturers of component materials always receive stable and large earnings, since cycling and inventories have always been, are and will always be.
What is considered the main reason for the closure of the club?
We all know very well that back in 2015, when the team was just created, it got a sponsor, in honor of which the crew even changed its name. All five years there was one sponsor, which could be called a rather rare occurrence. In 2019, the sponsor announced the end of the team’s funding, and due to the inability to find another sponsor, Roompot-Charles were forced to stop their activities altogether. Later, the facts became known why such a loyal sponsor suddenly refused to finance the club. Since 2015, this sponsor has spent more than €300m on the crew and cycling in general. He did his best to somehow change the principles of organizing cycling in the professional segment, he tried to develop his club. But as it often happens – everyone burns out – both athletes and ordinary people. The sponsor became frustrated with the impossibility of changing something, although the team was successful, and decided to stop sponsoring the Roompot-Charles cycling crew.
Club betting has become too low
For the first couple of years after a new team appeared on the horizon, bookmakers did not yet know the full power and ability of the riders, which meant that quotes and odds were often overpriced and inflated. Of course, bettors liked it, because this situation provided a huge opportunity to earn many times more from scratch. Over time, the Roompot-Charles team has become more and more familiar and predictable to bettors, but also to bookmakers who are increasingly lowering odds and correcting quotes for betting. Thus, bets on this crew have become the most common and have lost great demand and popularity. This directly and indirectly affected the reputation of the club in general, which partially led to real consequences.
The expenses and income of the club did not converge
Each year, the Roompot-Charles cycling team was given an annual budget, money that could be spent on club needs throughout the year. Such amounts are called crew expenses. The expenses include – more than half is wages, a third of the money goes to travel: gasoline, cars, air tickets, a personal bus with a driver can be bought for the team, which also needs to be serviced regularly. And that’s just for basic expenses. You could already count at Roompot-Charles about 40 million a year of expenses.
What about income? The main part of the income is the money of sponsors and owners of cycling clubs, this happened in the situation with our crew. There are also technical race sponsors that can bring in a few percent per year of the revenue budget. For winning cycling events, cyclists also received cash rewards from race organizers. But, taking into account all the income balance items, last year they could not cover all the expenses and the functioning of the club simply went into the red.
Roompot-Charles will forever remain in the hearts of the fans
As they say, nothing goes unnoticed, and the crew is still alive in the hearts of fans and bettors. I am very pleased with the fact that all the cyclists of the club were able to find excellent teams for themselves thanks to their abilities and professionalism.