Sports manager Team Dimension Data
“Financial fairplay is definitely an issue. Cycling is not a prosperous sport. If you see how teams and organizers have to survive, it would be very strange if you should tell companies that they should sponsor less than they actually want. It can not be that a company says that it wants to sponsor 50 million euros per year and that it is then told that only 25 million euros is possible because this is the limit. How do we keep it fair? Various solutions are possible. I myself came up with the idea that you should work with a limit of 15 million euros. If you have more money, you can use 50% (an additional 12.5 million euros) for your own team. The remaining 50% (also 12.5 million euros) goes to the other teams or to a fund that helps distressed teams at certain times. After all, WorldTour teams are still disappearing because they are unable to complete the budget. Or you divide the amount of money that you have above the limit of the five richest teams among the five poorest teams. In this way you level out the competition more equally. When there is a fair fight in the races, it only benefits the attention of the sport. The dominance of one or two teams only ensures that the public turns away from cycling.”
Sports Director Deceuninck-QuickStep
,, No, absolutely not. As a sport we must want to move forward. You can’t afford to refuse money from companies who want to invest in a cycling team. Certain teams will always be better than others. You can be in favor or against Team INEOS, but it is clear that they have a good business plan that will get potential sponsors enthusiastic. They may set a new standard in cycling. Due to their higher budget, the amounts of money invested in other teams may have increased in recent years. It is one of the most ridiculous ideas I have heard from the UCI and ASO that there must be maximum budgets for teams. We must want to move forward. “
Sports Director Mitchelton-Scott
“To be honest, we all dream about the budget of Team INEOS. Salary caps, in whatever form, could be an advantage. Every American sport has implemented this to keep the competition as attractive as possible. You could imagine that a team can only spend a certain amount on salaries. In Australian Football, two key players are kept outside the salary and budget cap. In this way the Australian teams, of which the overall budgets are much smaller, can compete somewhat with the European clubs. For that reason, for example, FC Sydney was able to buy Alessandro Del Piero from Juventus. There are more options available to gain more equality amongst each other.”
Team Manager Trek-Segafredo
“I am in favor of the luxury cap. There should be a maximum amount that a team can pay in salaries. If you want to spend more than this limit, you must give an equivalent amount to the other teams. This can then be divided among the other teams, giving you a bit more balance in the competition.”