ABSTRACT

Sponsorship and media coverage are historically linked to cycling. In the 1930s the Tour de France started appealing to private companies to finance the race and the teams: the Publicity Caravan was born. This tendency to look for a private fund was increased by the fact cycling is the only free professional sport: the audience does not pay tickets to watch the race. The organization depends on TV rights, marketing rights and local communities fees (mostly for the Tour de France) to balance the race’s budget. But since the 1980s financial stakes have become more prominent, hence the sport economists’ growing interest in cycling. In 2003, to top it all, Le Tour is a centenary

• Regulation and control of sport events • Internationalization • Development of a closed league • US model • Sponsorship • Marketing and merchandised products

event, part of sporting heritage, present in the heart of every Frenchman, every Frenchwoman. It continues to move with the times: 73 per cent of those interviewed were convinced that it will still be around in 100 years.2