Welcome to the 2024 Pinkbike State of the Sport Survey. This anonymous survey is designed to highlight key issues and riders' perspectives on the sport that we, pro riders, and Pinkbike readers all love so much. We surveyed the best riders in the world to hear their thoughts, ideas, concerns, and criticisms on mountain biking in 2024. Now, we're breaking down what we've learned. We're now publishing a series of articles that break down sections of the results, and you'll see the results in full shortly. This year, we introduced the public survey, which will help gauge public views on the sport and should make for some interesting comparisons to what the racers say. Stay tuned for that. To read the introduction to the survey click here, and to see all the other currently published SOTS articles click here.
OverviewThe 2023 season marked a big year of change for the competitive side of mountain biking as, for the first time, all three major disciplines of Downhill, XC and Enduro would be organised and broadcast by the same company. After gaining both the broadcast rights and the duty to organise the events in
February 2022, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) had the big task and launching its rebranded "World Series" in 2023 after Red Bull's stint as the official broadcaster.
After a full year of racing, we have checked in with some of the world's best riders and a four-thousand-strong group of race fans to see what people are feeling ahead of the second season of WBD-led racing.
To start the general overview comparisons between the rider and public surveys, we first look at how much confidence is held in WBD's plans for racing. Looking at the data, it is clear that the riders surveyed are slightly more confident in WBD, but they are still very much undecided with 45% selecting that they felt neutral on the topic. The stats from the public survey of over 4,000 responses were significantly more negative with an equal percentage selecting 'Strongly Disagree' as both negative options in the pro rider survey. Of course, while it's important to keep race fans onside as they are the ones who pay for race coverage, without the trust of the riders there would be no product to sell.
The results play out similarly when we asked if paid coverage would lead to better investment in the sport. While we saw a similar positive response from both surveyed groups, there were more undecided votes in the rider survey with once again a negative swing in the public response. It is worth noting that after just one season it is unlikely we will see any financial benefit from paid coverage, so this will become a more interesting statistic to follow in future years as we hopefully start to see the payoff of WBD's vision for the sport.
One aspect of last year's organisation that we heard several complaints about was the communication between WBD's race organisers and the team, riders and the public. It is interesting to see our figures from both surveys track with this as both riders and race fans hold mostly negative views of the communication from WBD. In the rider survey, just 14% think there has been adequate communication about this year's racing with 65% leaning against this. The public survey saw an even bigger swing as just 6% had a positive view of the communication with 72% holding a negative opinion.
Since the takeover of World Cups in 2022 by WBD, one thing we have seen mentioned a lot is its vision for the sport. With that in mind, we wanted to know what the riders and the public think about the vision and whether it will make it easier for the best riders to come out on top. Once again, the rider survey was mostly undecided on the issue, although 37% disagreed with the statement. The public survey saw only 4% agree with this statement, 33% were undecided and 63% were at some level of disagreement.
Perhaps the biggest change to the structure of a World Cup race weekend under WBD was the inclusion of Semi-Finals helping to break up the top 60 men and top 15 women into 30 and 10 riders for smaller, more broadcastable finals. In both the rider and public survey, the opinions are quite evenly matched with the majority thinking the inclusion of the semi-finals is either poor or very poor. While it may not seem like it from the Pinkbike comment section, the public survey held a slightly better opinion of Semi-Finals than riders. There were 10% of respondents who thought they were either good or very good and 17% thought it should stay in the schedule. While some do want it to remain at Downhill World Cups, it's very clear that most riders and race fans do not want semi-finals as part of the weekend schedule.
One point worth adding here is that without semi-finals, what would replace it to cut the field down for finals? While we did see 60 and 15 compete in the Red Bull days only the top 30/10 would make the broadcast so with 30/10 in finals now we are still seeing the same number of riders on screen without the potential to miss seeing a race-winning run. From the response to our survey, it's clear the riders both want to remove the semi-finals and go back to a larger field, by doing so will come with a new set of issues with riders who may have featured in a semi-finals broadcast now not being shown on screen at all.
How do Race Fans Feel About WBD After 1 Year?After looking at how the riders feel after one season of racing with WBD, it is time for the numbers you have all been waiting for. The public reception of the new broadcasts. First up we asked you if you paid for last year's racing and we found that of the thousands of responses only 1,300 paid for the racing last year. 2,737 said they did not pay for WBD's 2023 race coverage.
To make a fair judgement, we have decided to show both the full responses total and those who paid for 2023's coverage. While both groups lean towards a negative reception to WBD's first year on the job there was a jump from 15% to 29% in satisfaction from those who did pay last year.
Digging slightly deeper, we found it even more interesting that of those who paid last year, 58% will likely or very likely pay up for another year. 28% of this group said it would be unlikely. These figures are quite different to the complete set of public responses as that found only 18% would pay again with 67% saying they would probably not.
How do Riders Feel About WBD After 1 Year?After taking a look at the public data, we will dive into some of the opinions of the best riders in the World. First up is how riders rate the broadcast coverage of World Cups from WBD. It's clear that while there is a not insignificant proportion of 40% who think it was poor, 65% think it was acceptable or better. As a first year of trying to broadcast and organise multiple World Cup disciplines, it was always going to be tough with plenty of growing pains as the organising team expanded from just focusing on the EWS. 2024 will see them back for a second season with hopefully a plan on how to tighten things up and hopefully they will have paid attention to the feedback from teams, riders and the public and will look to improve some areas where they may have been lacking last year.
In our first comparison of data between the 2023 survey and the 2024 edition, we can see that overall rider confidence in WBD has fallen with those agreeing with the statement 'I have confidence in Warner Bros. Discovery and its plans for racing' falling from 37% to 17%. The number of undecided riders has also dropped from 50% in 2023 to 45% this year. Riders who do not feel confident in WBD and its plans have risen from 13% to 38%.
After its first year at the forefront of World Cup racing the number of riders who feel nervous about WBD's involvement has dropped slightly. In 2023 we had 54% of respondents feeling nervous about WBD controlling the broadcaster rights, for 2024 and after a season of racing this has fallen slightly to 51%. This was with two different samples of riders so it should be taken with a grain of salt but it is good to see at least some change in how the riders are feeling.
As we already discussed previously communication from wBD seemed to be one of the bigger issues last season and this is reflected in the rider opinions between State of the Sport surveys. in 2023 before the season began 18% thought there was adequate communication and 57% not. This year the data shows after a season of racing only 14% feel it's adequate, with 65% disagreeing that enough has been shared by WBD ahead of this year's racing.
To shift to a positive note, we found that the young racers are loving the new addition of broadcast coverage for Junior and U23 World Cup racers. It was a long time coming, but it is great to finally be able to watch the future of the sport take on World Cups. To make its inclusion even better, the Junior and U23 racing was free to watch on YouTube making it accessible to everyone.
Finally, we have included below some unfiltered comments from riders about their views on WBD race broadcasts, organisation and potential ideas for Enduro coverage
Do you have any comments about Warner Bros. Discovery's race organisation or coverage? | Would be beneficial to have an easy-to-use live streaming platform that is more reasonably priced. |
| I haven’t got much to say, pay for view sucks. |
| It's good that they show the Juniors. |
| Terrible job on enduro coverage |
| Push more for Enduro!! |
| Really great coverage of everything except enduro. Enduro needs live coverage, doesn't need to be all the stages but something live. |
| I like that they covered the U23 races, but do not prefer them over Red Bull. |
| 2023 felt very rough and ready. It needs to be tidied up for sure, and the relationship between WB/Discovery and the teams/athletes needs to be much better. |
| I think they did a good job for their first year, commentary could improve and would be nice to see some money invested into the riders (prize money etc) |
| Not enough information before the event and the Enduro future looks pretty bad |
| Bad communication with athletes |
| They suck hard. They don't care or communicate and they lie over and over. |
| Enduro coverage is extremely poor, they are killing the sport by trying to make it multi-stage downhill, instead of true enduro. |
| It is worse than ever! It looks like a big show, but the streaming is boring and shit. The fans can't get to the track, because there is a 3-meter gap. In Snowshoe, the half of the track was closed for the fans! Unbelievable!! It brings nothing to our sport!! |
| It is pointless to show only top 3 riders if there is no fight for position but at the same time a bit back there are battles going on. |
| Great for juniors to have coverage however junior coverage could be better such as the use of all the cameras and angles on track not a test run for elite coverage. |
| It would be more interesting to also see the riders in the back from time to time and to have a bottom line where all the riders are shown, like in Cyclo-Cross |
| Semi finals - what even. Paying for the coverage when our sport is not big enough to have enough people paying to watch, we are not f1. The commentators, not good enough, not hype enough, they don't know enough about the sport to make a good show |
| Higher team registration fees and race entry fees without improved media coverage, especially in the Enduro discipline. |
| More than this box will allow……women are not treated equally nor are privateers, I’ll leave it at that. |
| They went better with filming during the season, but not good commentators |
| It's not available for free in Australia |
| Big shame that they stopped GCN. Often don't care about the riders and teams. |
| Pls do a better training schedule. Fair between men and women. |
| Not sure if they are listening to riders. |
| Considering the amount of people and the notoriously high of the company it should be better in terms of quality coverage, cameras… |
| The coverage itself is good, although I preferred Red Bull as a broadcaster. The horrible things for me with Warner Bros are the decisions they make to "make the sport bigger" by cancelling the best World Cup venues like Lenzerheide or Albstadt (in the future even more) and going to places where we have no spirit of the sport, no community but enormous costs and efforts for teams. I am sure if there will be any World Cup in places like Abu Dhabi many riders will decide to not take part in these World Cups (including me). Additionally, we can say that the communication between ESO and the teams is a nightmare. |
| Don't cover only the top 5 riders. There are a lot of really good battles from position 5 up to 15!
- There’s never any information before a race
- The coverage of Enduro is awful. It really feels like they don’t care. |
| Always just the best few riders are showed |
| Great that U23 was free, awesome for the younger riders to get coverage and exposure. |
| They are in a place where they need to answer the calls and listen to the public. I really hope they recognize their responsibility over the sport and steward it well. |
| Drones are distracting for racers and should not be a way to cover riders. |
| Scrolling position/time bar at bottom of screen for entire duration of race to show all riders on course. IT'S SIMPLE JUST DO IT SO MY MOM KNOWS HOW I'M DOING |
| Protected riders for finals besides semi-finals is so lame and unfair towards every upcoming rider. |
| Not much Enduro content. The commentary of the Dh is not as in-depth and on-point as it used to be. Some of the commentators do not do a good enough job of knowing the riders and what they go through. Having riders like Aaron Gwin was an amazing jump forward and gave a personal and practical side of the commentary that is important and missing. The drone quality is not good enough. |
| Worse than before, semi-finals are terrible, and more expensive |
| As an athlete not much has changed for me. I do think it has been more difficult for team managers to prepare for the races because Warner Bros. has a difficult time sticking to any schedule. |
| Terrible for giving us information, I need this now to plan the season yet I don’t have much information at all. Get Redbull and Rob Warner back for coverage |
| On certain tracks and races, I felt the camera angles and commentary could be better. |
| The media coverage side is a little poor but I think the worst part of it all is the organisation and unknown at WorldCups |
| They really dropped the ball for Enduro. Coverage got worse when already it wasn't that good. |
| Coverage in Enduro is very poor! |
| They need to listen more to us riders |
| They have forgotten Enduro, coverage is poor and boring to watch. They need to tell the interesting stories from each race. A rider who overcame adversity or had a big crash or mechanical should be covered even if that rider isn't a top 5 rider. |
| There was no coverage of Enduro World Cups. We have seen it done in the past with pro stage runs filmed at EWS in 2021.
The commentary is shit! |
| Coverage and commentating way worse than before, a lot of schedule changes and not much communication is a big problem |
| More “fun” coverage is needed for EDR please. I quite like the DH coverage |
| Ideas sound good but the way they performed those last year was very poor, especially for Enduro. DH and XC haven't been great either, but at least junior racing was pushed. |
| More fixed cameras down the track and less drones (they are distracting. more education (rider profiles, history of the location, background information) and hype for the race and riders. more like Formula One if the sport wants to grow, more personable social media and interactions with the audience |
| Cover some enduro. Ffs and bring back going to new locations like how Enduro was brought up. We get pushed to a second or third-class race when we are at the same venue as XC and DH. Like an afterthought. |
| Brutal for Enduro putting us on Thursday nights and treating us as more of an afterthought. consistent schedule changes and still no mention of a world champs for enduro. Terrible short-sighted schedule basing us 100% in Europe. For DH commentary was horrible and at best it was equal to Red Bull's previously free coverage. |
| In XC, we want to see more riders than just the top 2 or 3 on TV |
| I think they are understaffed and a lot of the staff they do have is inexperienced in mountain bike racing. A lot of the issues stem from this in my opinion. |
| I think the coverage has been overall pretty good, the accessibility to that coverage has been a bit worse. The race organization has definitely not been as good, definitely seems like it was a year of learning and hope that they can have things a bit more together and dialled this next year. |
| Redbull was better for fans and organisation |
What would you like to see from Enduro World Cup coverage? | More live information, more on-site content |
| Can’t think of anything, live coverage is just not possible. Enduro doesn’t need it |
| More race day content, more live content (updates etc), more info updates to the public. More media coverage over all. |
| Live TV in the way it’s possible! |
| More live runs |
| Live coverage, showcasing those outside top 5 pro men and women, u21 coverage |
| More in-depth or live coverage, although I see that it's not a very good sport to be broadcast |
| Live streaming on the last stage like rally sport, and the faster start last |
| More video coverage. |
| More insight videos, better highlight videos and at least a try to bring up a live stream. |
| More detailed race recaps focusing on more of the field and finding the stories in the race rather than just reading out results of the top 3 |
| More external media coverage not just videos from UCI. |
| More than just the top 3 riders |
| More of it
More coverage of more riders
More interviews in the videos. Especially at the bottom of stages |
| At least 1 broadcasted stage (maybe we can do this stage twice), more live coverage, better live results system maybe an app |
| Short recap videos similar to rally that follow the top 20 and highlights throughout the day. Enduro is an incredibly difficult sport to broadcast and as a community, we need to appreciate it will never be like DH or XC |
| More of a recap of the stages and how the day is going then live stream the last stage for the top men and women so people at home can get excited as they know who is doing well based on the recap then they can watch the final stage like a dh race |
| Final stage coverage like a DH race. Get cameras up and have a live timing going. Make the finish exciting. People follow live timing and if there is a video stream of the end of the race it would be exciting to watch. |
| More insights, line choice, vlogs, interviews... |
| More stories about hardships and drama that some of the riders face during a race day. Tell the stories that are different inspiring and interesting. Just the same old boring monotone recap doesn't draw a returning audience |
| Race riding footage |
| The events are great but we need more communication from the organizer to confirm the future of the sports. I am confident we will have World Champs this year which is a good recognition for our sport but we need to improve communication and coverage. We should keep the focus on EDR instead of the Ebike races |
| Individual recaps of e-Bike and Enduro; Maybe live coverage of the last stage (if they do a re-seeding); Insights of some Teams and athletes as a side content next to actual race coverage (like they did in previous years) |
| Anything better |
| Live timing that doesn’t crash at crucial moments, GoPro or insta360 attached to the top 5 in each category to toggle between stages, a filmer and commentator following the race and interviewing between stages, one fully filmed pro stage |
| More independent media covering all aspects of the race weekend. We rely too much on WBD at the moment when it is not only them that is responsible. Although they could shine more light on riders and less on their presenters. That goes for Eurosport cycling globally in my opinion. |
| Interviews at the bottom of every stage. |
Statement from Warner Bros. DiscoveryWe contacted the World Cup organisers and broadcasters Warner Bros. Discovery for its comment on the State of the Sport data and were provided with the following statement.
| Our long-term and trusted partnership with the UCI was formed to enable us to work closely together to continue investing in the sport, help it grow, reach new audiences and to benefit the entire mountain biking community. We have a proven track record of supporting the continued development of different sports and unlocking their power to inspire new and old fans alike.
Significant investment has already been made in the way the sport is presented, from course marking and safety to brand implementation, live data, global promotion and the new additions of interactive LED surfaces at start and finish lines.
We have embarked on a long-term road into a new era for the sport. We’re on track and proud of achievements after 2023, our first year. We’re also proud with the fast progress we’ve made, including securing record online audiences during last year’s Enduro and E-Enduro World Cup events and managing record highs in rider, nationality and team attendance at all events in all racing formats. In 2024, our second season, we have launched a larger than ever before international calendar, kick starting with a double header for cross-country racing in Brazil.
We've also made strides to improve the broadcast product for fans all around the world. Through the use of live drone cameras, large scale and micro live cable cameras, the launch of live TV shows in more 20 different languages, live data streaming from bikes on course, first ever free-to-air broadcast of the U23 cross-country and junior downhill racing at all rounds, improved viewing experience with significant changes done to the way racecourses are presented and an increase in the number of cameras deployed around each and every racetrack. Using our unprecedented reach across live sport, we have also integrated mountain bike into live broadcasts of some of the largest sporting events in the world, bringing a whole new audience to this exciting sport.
We are still near the start line and have a lot of good work to do ahead of us. Our incredibly experienced international and passionate team continue to work tirelessly 365 days of the year to grow every aspect of mountain biking, a sport we love.—Chris Ball, Vice President of Cycling Events at Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe |
Member since Mar 16, 2017
Our long-term and trusted partnership with the UCI was formed to enable us to work closely together to continue investing in the sport, help it grow, reach new audiences and to benefit the entire mountain biking community. We have a proven track record of supporting the continued development of different sports and unlocking their power to inspire new and old fans alike.
** CITATION NEEDED - WHAT SPORTS HAVE YOU DEVELOPED? YOUR OWN (CHRIS BALL'S) SPORT OF ENDURO HAS DEMONSTRABLY GONE BACKWARDS FFS!! PLEASE NAME SOME OF THESE OTHER SPORTS, OR IS THIS STATEMENT MADE UP?
Significant investment has already been made in the way the sport is presented, from course marking and safety to brand implementation, live data, global promotion and the new additions of interactive LED surfaces at start and finish lines.
** COURSE MARKERS DON'T MEAN EYEBALLS ON TV'S IF YOU CAN'T ACCESS FOOTAGE
We have embarked on a long-term road into a new era for the sport.
** THE ONE WHERE IT GOES DOWNHILL, BUT NOT ON A BIKE
We’re on track and proud of achievements after 2023, our first year.
** CLEARLY YOU DO IT FOR THE PARTICIPATION RIBBONS. IF YOU'RE PROUD OF YOUR EFFORTS LAST YEAR, THERE'S NOT MUCH HOPE.
We’re also proud with the fast progress we’ve made, including securing record online audiences during last year’s Enduro and E-Enduro World Cup events and managing record highs in rider, nationality and team attendance at all events in all racing formats.
** WBD HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ENTRY LEVELS - THAT'S ENTIRELY ON PEOPLE WANTING TO RACE, FOR EXAMPLE IF RED BULL WAS STILL THE BROADCASTER THEY TOO WOULD HAVE SEEN THE SAME ATHLETE NUMBER INCREASE, HOWEVER WITH THE THINLY VEILED PLAN TO REDUCE RIDER NUMBERS IN AT LEAST DOWNHILL, HOW CAN THIS STATEMENT BE ANYTHING BUT SNAKE OIL SHIT. SO IT IS ALSO GOING TO BE WBD'S GREATNESS WHEN THE RIDER ENTRY NUMBERS FALL THIS YEAR?
In 2024, our second season, we have launched a larger than ever before international calendar, kick starting with a double header for cross-country racing in Brazil.
** ITS NOT LARGER THAN EVER BEFORE THOUGH IS IT? NO OCEANIA RACES, ONLY ONE AMERICAN AND ONE CANADIAN ROUND. I MAY BE OLD BUT THE GRUNDIG DAYS WENT ALL OVER THE PLACE.
We've also made strides to improve the broadcast product for fans all around the world.
** AND NOW HIDE IT BEHIND PAYWALLS, OR IN THE CASE OF SOME COUNTRIES, DON'T EVEN BROAD CAST IT ANYMORE. YEAH, PROGRESS!!
Through the use of live drone cameras, large scale and micro live cable cameras, the launch of live TV shows in more 20 different languages, live data streaming from bikes on course, first ever free-to-air broadcast of the U23 cross-country and junior downhill racing at all rounds
** I'LL GRANT YOU U23 and JUNIOR WAS A STEP FORWARD, BUT THE REST IS NOTHING MORE THAN WHAT THE PREVIOUS BROADCASTER DID. SHIT, THE PREVIOUS BROADCASTER HAD THE CAMERA MAN IN THE FINISHING CORRAL DOING FLIPPY SPINNIES WITH THE CAMERA,
improved viewing experience with significant changes done to the way racecourses are presented and an increase in the number of cameras deployed around each and every racetrack.
** SO MY EYEBALLS HAD MORE TO SEE, BUT MY EARS ARE BLEEDING AND MY BRAIN MELTING FROM THE AWFUL COMMENTARY
Using our unprecedented reach across live sport, we have also integrated mountain bike into live broadcasts of some of the largest sporting events in the world, bringing a whole new audience to this exciting sport.
** CITATION NEEDED - SOME EXAMPLES PLEASE. ANYONE CAN MAKE BS STORIES UP AND TRY TO PASS AS FACT WHEN THEY ARE IN FACT NOT...
We are still near the start line and have a lot of good work to do ahead of us. Our incredibly experienced international and passionate team continue to work tirelessly 365 days of the year to grow every aspect of mountain biking, a sport we love.
** BUT ARE TOO BLIND AND TOO FULL OF HUBRIS TO LISTEN TO ANYONE OR ANYTHING OTHER THAN YOUR OWN FARTS.
So Chris Ball may literally be underperforming in his role. Wouldn’t it be terrible if he lost his job?
CB- Yeah yeah.......it was about how I-I mean we are doing now we own mountain biking
WB- Annnnnnd?
CB- Oh yeah......everyone thinks I-I mean we are doing an amazing job and everything is brilliant. No complaints.
WB-Ummm are you sure?
CB-Of course...I mean you always get one or two jealous haters.....you know how these Gen Z lot are....all pronouns and avocado toast.......youknowwhatImean.Sir.
Wb-Ok keep doing......you know whatever it is that you do.......what's your name again?
I wish I was wrong here... but is my duty to speak according the intel I gathered ...
Also, whoever wrote this is a legend.
"Scrolling position/time bar at bottom of screen for entire duration of race to show all riders on course. IT'S SIMPLE JUST DO IT SO MY MOM KNOWS HOW I'M DOING"
I love watching sports of all kinds, including a lot of car racing. The last 10-15 riders down the track at a world cup race is one of the most exciting things you can watch anywhere, genuinely. Its like great Supercross race levels of excitement, but it's almost every single World Cup race instead of like 15% of them. It is so cool to see these riders push the limit further with every single run.
The failure of world cups is purely a failure in management and marketing. The athletes and teams are doing amazing jobs. The sport could be huge, but the people running it just seem to accept mediocrity.
How can this not be available in all the countries of the world?
WBD own a significant chunk of NZ media, yet are closing news channels and not providing any apps to watch sports. If Chris Ball had integrity, he'd resign from his position at WBD for how this has been mismanaged.
Hopeless, short-sighted, money-grabbing cockwombles.
Not to mention the cutting/producing. We got extended pointless coverage of Minnaar post-puncture and Finn (I think) post-crash slowly making their way down. Which was to the extreme detriment of the rider following them, of whom we saw about 10 seconds total.
Finally all of this was streamed FREE on YouTube. Guarantee the audience was 1/10th of what a UCI World Cup gets currently. There is no reason that Discovery can't do something similar on Enduro and Marathon races let alone XCC and XCO, they are just choosing not to. If they want they could put this up for free on Discovery+ with ads to pay for it. It was crazy to see the difference in coverage though and really put it into perspective.
Again, let me be clear, I'm in full support of filtering out poors out from our sport. Aluminum makes me sick and I've always encouraged recycling programs to prevent second-hand sales of my tri-annual carbon bice, but as far as I'm concerned, the more time poors spend on the couch watching cycling, the less time they clog up my trails and prevent me from komming.
ucimtbworldseries.com/news/max-to-welcome-live-cycling-in-the-us-in-february-2024
Why would you repeatedly mention how proud you are, when you know that the audience (riders and fans) is upset about the whole thing? If anything you should be humble and mention the shortcomings and mention how you are addressing it. Seriously... probably would have been better off not responding.
He's just play politics now. There's no one that wouldn't describe the Enduro implementation/scheduling/coverage as abysmal.
It kind of feels like the house of cards has come crashing down with the reduction in industry investment and the inability of the "Squids" to market Enduro like they had originally. The conflicting WC schedule certainly isn't helping those original Enduro pushers from covering the sport as they once had.
At the end of the day, if you're expecting sports governance to rank high on the integrity and ethics scale, you're probably going to be severely disappointed. Doesn't Chris Balls wife also work for the UCI?
See you guys in 2030
I put up with GCN+ ramming all the other cycling content down my throat last year because at least I could still watch the racing. I’m a super fan who won’t be watching the racing this year because it not available in my country. I’m hurt, angry and disappointed.
What is the measure of success if everyone who participates and watches has negative feedback?
Pinkbike- the only other cohort missing from this survey is the bike brands. I note that Chris didn’t mention reducing bike sales and general industry woes in his defensive statement. If riders and watchers are all pissed off, how are they supposed to sell more bikes?
It’s like WB just started high school and dumped all their existing friends because they are going to be really cool and make lots of new ones. Seems like a dick move to me.
This is the main problem I see, Chris has gotten himself a very, very nice position, and is now all about the revenue and the corporate results. He consistently seems to ignore valid queries and just spouts positive PR bullshit.
From a man that created a fantastic thing (EWS), its disappointing
I get the athletes have a different perspective, but I don't know how anyone on the inside is looking at their metrics and the viewer poll here and think that they're doing anything but kill this sport.
But seriously, balls statement i utter BS?! Ball stucks balls deep in his own arse. What a bellend.
Discover this dick, bitch.
The idea of making the World Cup events more for top-tier racers is fine, but that doesn't work unless there are well established feeder series in place to support it. To implement the former without establishing the latter is a recipe for killing the sport.
Unfortunately, I can see a rider-strike similar to Slopestyle happening at some point this season.
If ThreeNow can screen SVG in Nascar, then you'd be hopeful of the MTB turning up, BUT, ThreeNow is free, so it's not going to happen unless WBD wants to have NZ as the only free broadcast in the world, that anyone can VPN into.
Same People "I'm not prepared to actually *pay* anything, dont be ridiculous"
I watched the whole season. I enjoyed it just as much as I enjoyed 2022. And every other year before that.
And p*ssed off by the blatant price gouging by the UCI and WBD. Last year 12 months GCN+ subscription, for all of MTB, Road Racing, BMX etc and the documentaries was $49 USD.
It wasn't until 24 hrs before this race that the UCI dropped where you can subscribe for the rest of the world and for MTB alone its now $69 USD!! You price gouging Bellends
I want quality - not quantity. It seems like Discovery thinks that more time spent in front of the screen is what people want these days....it what good for them...at least.
It is also fasinating that the respons from WBD feels like they havent been doing anything that makes this MORE viewable. I mean safety in form of new course markers that all racers seem to hate more than the old ones was one of their top arguments. Come on. We need some passion back. Not some marketing dept that does not know anything about the audience and thinks they know what they are doing.
Also - what is the data they have used to make all these decisions? Or are all decision made out of "pure instinct", or what they have done so succesfully in other sports?....?!?
It's like they sent out a very imbigious form to all the teams and the data was interpreted in the inverse way.
WBDform:"Is the current(already high) fees for competing to your satisfaction - yes or no."
TEAMSAnswer:"What do you mean by this? Like are we happy right now or do we want a change for the better?".
WBDform: " Just a simple yes or no will do."
TEAMSAnswer: " Well..I guess "no" then".
WBDform: "Thank you."
Later that same day at WB HQ. "THE RIDERS HAVE SPOKEN. THEY ARE NOT SATISFIED WITH " current fees for competing". THEY WANT IT EVEN HIGHER."
I’m also slightly confused at how all those who didn’t get to watch a race because they chose not to pay can have a valid opinion on a broadcast they didn’t watch.
Same nonsense the WSL (surfing) tries to pull with its fans. Just corporate BS.
Yes they had a few issues last year but that's all part of the new process in getting better. Honestly Redbull coverage was sketchy at best, constanly cutting out, missing on screen splits, watching nothing for mins on end. And the cost thing isn't an argument, you get way more coverage now than previously with Redbull.
Let's just see how it is this year, maybe then those moaning will have a vaild point but for now just shut up and watch or don't bother, pretty simple.