Q&A WITH FRANCOIS RIBEIRO, HEAD OF EUROSPORT EVENTS

Why has Discovery and Eurosport Events decided to partner with the UCI on this brand new initiative?

Eighteen months ago, JB Perette [President & CEO of Discovery International] suggested Eurosport Events expand its portfolio and look to strengthen the cycling vertical that Discovery is building at Eurosport and GCN - a true ‘Home of Cycling’ for fans. 

Track-cycling is the pillar Olympic sport for UCI, which accounts for nearly 60% of gold medals in cycling at the Games, but we thought Discovery could improve the narrative of the sport in between the two summer Games. 

We proposed to the UCI that the current Track-Cycling World Cup be reformed into a new elite series which every year will feature the best men and women sprinters, from November to February, in an ultra-dynamic and media friendly “UCI Track Cycling World League”. 

The Discovery Group (with Eurosport, Eurosport Events and GCN), will harness its global scale, extensive media platforms and promotional expertise to help grow Track Cycling. As a global promoter, Eurosport Events will play a central role in delivering a full chain of value with a large scope of responsibilities and will work with GCN to promote the new property to our cycling fan base amongst our wider cycling portfolio. That is 110 professional events, over 2,500 hours of coverage, 200 days of live cycling….

For the first time, the Discovery Group is going beyond its broadcasting role and is becoming the promoter of a world-class cycling competition.

You have traditionally promoted motorsport events, why have you decided to become so heavily involved in cycling?

It is the first-ever step Eurosport Events has taken into an Olympic sport - we are importing the promoter business model to UCI which we are successfully running with the FIA and FIM.  Our promoter “know-how” is not exclusively related to motorsport: Eurosport Events’ core business is to partner with international sport federations, contracts with venues, organise logistics, produce world TV feeds, distribute content, drive communications, and monetise all commercial rights around the events we promote. 

We are truly convinced about the audience and popularity of the sport - track cycling is the number one rated in cycling discipline at every Olympic summer games, but the sport is not visible enough every year outside of the UCI World Championship. 

The UCI World League will help revitalise track cycling, addressing the lack of narrative between the Olympic Games with a simplified format that is 100% focussed on the most spectacular individual sprint categories: the Keirin, sprint, elimination and scratch.

Why has Eurosport Events agreed a collaboration for such a long period of time?

The contract duration was a key element of our discussion with UCI. We agreed an eight-year contract which will bring us beyond the Olympic Games in Los Angeles. Time is of the essence when it comes to establishing a new property, build an IP and recoup an investment.

Does Discovery / Eurosport Events plan to expand the number of events it operates in the future?

Eurosport Events’ road-map will see the number of international events go from 30 to 60 international events in the next two years. Besides the UCI Track Cycling World League, last month Eurosport Events launched the first ever all-electric touring car championship. After a promotional tour in 2020 across Europe, Asia and USA, PURE ETCR will run its first full season in 2021 as a perfect complement to Formula E. Our aspiration is to engage with motorsport fans by offering them all the key PURE RACING ingredients: high performance cars, best touring car drivers, on-track intensity and emotion.

It’s a landmark moment for Eurosport Events and for Discovery to become a main stakeholder into the electric racing segment, not only as a broadcaster but also as a promoter. Eurosport Events has also won a tender to become the promoter of the FIM Speedway GP World Championship from 2022. An announcement will follow on this news in the coming months.