Scrambled Names – Opportunity Lost

What is the value of a sports team’s name?  Take the Yankees, the Red Sox or the Dodgers.  These famous American baseball teams have changed owners over the years, and the Dodgers even moved across the country.  But their names have remained constant.  Fans have been buying their name-branded merchandise for generations.  Advertisers pay a premium to be associated with those names.  When such a team is for sale, a huge part of the value is allocated to the bundle of intangible assets known as “goodwill” of which the protected name is a major component.  Can you imagine if those teams changed their names every year or two depending upon the changing landscape of advertising sponsors?  The New York Wheaties become the New York Bud Lites, and then the New York Nikes?  The Dread Pirate Roberts understood this concept perfectly!  And what if the same companies advertise with (sponsor) multiple teams?  You could end up with the Boston Geicos and the New York Geicos.  How confusing would that be?  Just think of the lost revenue opportunities from not having a time-honored name?  The Yankees brand by itself is a veritable “golden goose.”  Tossing that name aside in favor of a new sponsor’s name would be financial folly – not only for the team, but even for the sponsor.  Association with the Yankees name itself multiplies the effect of the advertiser’s exposure as a team sponsor.

Yet the above scenario is exactly what happens with professional cycling teams.  Many of them change names every year or two, as sponsors come and go.  There are four Tour de France teams sponsored by lottery systems, and three of them have used or still use the word “Lotto” in their ever-changing names.  It’s almost impossible to keep them straight.  From one year to the next, it is very hard to tell which teams are new and which ones are successors to teams from the previous year.  For die-hard fans who follow all the teams through all the season-long races, maybe this is not a problem.  But for the millions of TDF-only fans – those who only tune in each July for the “Grande Boucle,” the annual name scramble makes it very hard to develop lasting team loyalties.  Forget the fans.  What is the impact on revenues?  It seems to me that the teams and their advertising sponsors are squandering a huge financial opportunity by failing to create and capitalize on a powerful and enduring brand name.

That’s my soap box.  For more information on the ever-evolving names of the teams, see my prior posts at the following links:  http://tourdefrancebypapaduck.blogspot.com/2012/06/pro-cycling-teams-in-general.html and: http://tourdefrancebypapaduck.blogspot.com/2012/06/more-tidbits-on-teams.html

Now, here is the list of teams invited to compete in this year=s Tour de France, along with a few notes:

17 UCI-Qualified Teams:

     AG2R la Mondiale (ALM), France.

     Astana Pro Team (AST), Kazakhstan.

     BMC Racing Team (BMC), USA.

     Etixx Quick Step (EQS), Belgium.  Recently, Omega Pharma Quick Step (and lots of other names – including “Lotto” – before that).

     FDJ.fr (FDJ), France.  Recent name sponsor BigMat is gone.  FDJ is the French lottery. 

     IAM Cycling (IAM), Switzerland.  New team since 2013, sponsor is a Swiss asset management firm.

     Lampre – Merida  (LAM), Italy.  Name has changed frequently over the years.

     Lotto – Soudal (LTS), Belgium.  Formerly Lotto-Belisol, and a long list of other name changes. 

     Movistar Team (MOV), Spain.

     Orica GreenEDGE (OGE), Australia.  Fourth year in the TDF.

     Team Cannondale Garmin (TCG), USA.  Merged from Garmin-Sharp (USA) and Cannondale-Liquigas (Italy).  Both teams have a long and confusing history of name changes.

     Team Giant Alpecin (TGA), Germany.  Formerly Dutch team Argos Shimano.  Another old team with a long and confusing history of name changes – and now a nationality change.

     Team Katusha (KAT), Russia.

     Team LottoNL Jumbo ( ?  ) Netherlands.  Formerly Belkin, Blanco (blank), Rabobank, Novell, WordPerfect, and other names.

     Team Sky (SKY), Great Britain.

     Tinkoff – Saxo (TTS), Russia.  Formerly Dutch team Saxo Bank, with other names over the years.

     Trek Factory Racing (TFR) USA.  Descended from RadioShack (USA) and Leopard Trek (Luxembourg).  Two old teams (USA & Lux) hot rivals, with long list of former names; merged a couple of years ago with Luxembourg registration.  This year changed to USA registration.   

5 Wild-Card Teams:

     Bora Argon 18 (BOA), Germany.

     Bretagne Séché Environment (BSE), France.

     Cofidis Solutions Crédits (COF), France.  Slight name change.

     MTN – Qhubeka (MTN), South Africa.  New team since 2013. 

     Team Europcar (EUC), France.  An old team under various names; has new name and new vision for development of French riders since 2011.

4 Teams that have disappeared:

     Euskatel - Euskadi (EUS), Spain.  Basque team with distinctive orange kits (uniforms).  They folded for lack of funding, and declining results.  Basque riders with their wonderfully unpronounceable names can still be found on other teams.

     Liquigas - Cannondale (LIQ), Italy.  This team has merged with the US team Garmin.  (See list of 2015 TDF teams.)

     Vacansoleil (VCD) Netherlands.  Folded end 2013 when sponsor withdrew.

     Saur - SoJaSun (SAU), France.  Folded end 2013 when sponsor withdrew.

Jeff Louder (BMC) on the verge of winning Stage 4 (Park City) Tour of Utah 2010.  BMC is one team that has kept its name and image consistent over recent years.

Langeveld, Clarke & Vachon, leading the breakaway at Stage 12 (Lyon) Tour de France 2014.  They are riding for Garmin-Sharp, OricaGREENEDGE and Bretagne-Séché-Environment respectively.  For 2015, Garmin merged with Cannondale and now goes by "Team Cannondale Garmin."

  

Astana (light blue kits) riding together in the peleton to protect their GC contender Vincenzo Nibali (yellow jersey third from right) in Stage 12 (Lyon) Tour de France 2014.  Nibali ended up winning the GC prize that year.

Ladagnous and Gallopin riding for two of the lottery sponsored teams - FDJ and Lotto-Belisol, Stage 12 (Lyon) Tour de France 2014.

The BMC team car following the peleton, Stage 12 (Lyon) Tour de France 2014.

The Trek team car following the peleton, Stage 12 (Lyon) Tour de France 2014.