Bike Championships struggle to find sponsors

Doha, QatarDoha, Qatar.Mass start Men Bike World Cup 2016.Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB scanpix

To date, the organizers of the cycling World Championships in Bergen only managed to find just over half as many sponsorship money as they planned. Now the ambitions are cut.

Initially the plan was to bring in NOK 33 million from local sponsors, but the result is only 18 million so far.

Therefore sponsorships cover less than one tenth of the total cost of the event, which currently has a price tag of nearly NOK 200 million, according to Bergens Tidende.

– I must honestly say that we would like to have a few more sponsors. We are working intensively to achieve this, says President of the Norwegian Bicycle Federation, Harald Tiedemann Hansen.

The ambition is now revised to NOK 25 million, but with only five months remaining before the bike party, six to seven million still has to be found.

According to the President the downturn in the oil sector is the largest single reason why the sponsors are absent.

– We had negotiations which had come a long way when the oil downturn began. They were then put on hold and came to nothing.

The total budget has been reduced to 135 million, but the newspaper’s analysts have calculated that the total cost related to the World Championship is still at NOK 195.5 million.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today