TMobile has left the building
but leave a nice parachute package for "Team High Road" ... ?
With a contract not to expire until the end of 2010, the deutscher telekom giant yanks the rug out in the blink of a lid. hmmm, wonder why they're leaving procycling so quickly?
funny enough, weren't there some ridiculous derSpiegel rumors of Stapleton sneaking private-eyes all over the TMobs undies, trying to snoop what the corporate giant might have known about doping of riders, etc etc etc.
well, grind away rumormill ... gring away. yes, let the beer wet, moustached and old-spicey world of pro-cycling gossip run rampant with this meh-blockbuster bit of knews.
all i know is ... somebody got a nice fat 1-year ticket to race it big on the Euro scene without need to meet obligations of a presenting sponsor.
... the team will be funded for the 2008 racing season under Staplteon's sports management group. and that means all those riders and staff will have paychecks.
good.
now just stay off the performance enhancers, kids.
10 comments:
I don't get it - Is Stapleton paying or is the TMO money in the bank? If he's paying does that mean there is a second American team in the ProTour? VN and CN both just republished the same press release which was very upbeat given they lost at least 30 million dollars.
Another team deep pockets.
Just cuz I can't resist, here a a couple of spins:
1. Stapleton was snooping so he could wave complicity and hypocrisy in T-Mobiles face if they threatened to pull.
2. Stapleton was snooping to see whether he could continue his crusade with a dirty sponsor.
3. Stapleton was not snooping, but T-Mobile got Armstrong-nervous nontheless.
I hope that it is not number 1. I'd like to think that this guy is legit. Plus, he is a local boy with a house in the hills. Maybe I could hook up a job with him if this academic thing does not pan out.
Holy f-in eff!
I quote Geddy Lee:
"Big money goes around the world."
seems to me that VO5 could take over sponsorship of this team, and there would still be equal drama and snooping of underwear
"I don't get it - Is Stapleton paying or is the TMO money in the bank?"
Almost certainly a buy-out deal. The contract was s'posed to run until 2010, pretty hard to imagine they could just walk. Given the blah blah about Stapleton asking questions of past riders, I'd bet he drove a pretty hard bargain. Good thing, that'd be a whole lotta talented bikey racers with no contracts.
My money says T-Mobile will still pay the contract per original agreement (what's 10mm +/- a year amoungst friends) for 2008 and maybe 2009. I am sure Stapleton put the the "lawyer beat down" on them. T-Mobile agreed to let Stapleton rename the team (no sponsor name allowed). If a new sponsor shows up, T-Mobile is relieved of payment and the new sponsor opens the checkbook. T-Mobile wants their name off....and now!
Perhaps you don't know that Stapleton is worth over $500 million.
That may be why he's ale to field a team?
Perhaps?
Oh yeah, also, Stapleton used to be the CEO of T-Mobile USA after the Western Wireless/Voicestream takeover.
I'm sure that they had a bit of a settlement as well.
He probably got 10 mill out of them.
"My money says T-Mobile will still pay the contract per original agreement (what's 10mm +/- a year amoungst friends) for 2008 and maybe 2009. I am sure Stapleton put the the "lawyer beat down" on them."
Sounds about right to me. I doubt very much Staples is diggin' into his own pocket.
I think its Dr-Nitros #3.
or maybe it was #2.
Dominance seems to really depend on dollars...
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