Team Behind the EWS To Lead Future World Cup Organisation with Warner Bros. Discovery

 Even the few minutes of video the media squids did for vitalmtb were better coverage. So sad, next year dh will be fucked as well

 Remember the glory times :

youtu.be/BGnesPG48Eo

 DH and XC lend themselves more to better TV coverage in that the same sections of track are used, whereas enduro is spread out over a much greater area.

 @MantaHai: Yeah I really enjoyed these videos back then, they were much better

 It sounds like Warner Bros Discovery teams will be the ones behind the coverage with the EWS team taking on the organisation of events, so coverage will be different to the current setup for Enduro.

 Unfair to judge their potential to cover DH from the woeful EWS coverage, they have had slim resources and enduro is very much not TV-friendly. But what they better not do is try to use their existing EWS media team to start DH coverage from scratch. That will likely be a shitshow. Draw on some of the RB talent and combine with Eurosport's talent and expertise to make it better. And they better get a move on with tapping-up Rob Warner if they want to retain any goodwill at all from the fans.

 @MantaHai: Yeah man, Cuny was relly good at the end as were the vids and then this DUI happened or whatever ended his involvement in EWS. But I did not get it. The first vids with Rick were also not bad, when he was riding the tracks with Chris Ball before the event. I was really eager to follow the evnts at that time. And then idk what happened and it is indeed a bit boring atm and there is no real build up in excitement over the course of the weekend or even before, like there is with WC DH. WC DH is doing that so well atm, better than ever. Always delivering some interesting bits with rising intensity until race day. Chris Ball has a huge task, let's see what he can do, I am not all negative tbh...

 Amateur Hour these guys. GTFOH.

 I think that EWS races are most complicate to present on media. Different stages at different areas... the organization and production to present great content on these races must be a challange and one of it's kind. I really like how they did till now. With more money and a bigger team and support on the logistic they will do a great job. Maybe W.B. realized what an amazing job they did, with the team and what they are able to create with a bigger team. I hope they do not dictate them to much. Otherwise also the EWS races will be commented from Rob, who just acts like... loud is good, and the filming will look like ski races, same as the DH races do today. that is just boring, and has no own culture.

 i hope Redbull steps forward and creates its own MTB events xc enduro DH away from UCI and chris ball, events which we want to watch for free while running side events which weekend warriors can enter to be involved

 @stubestrong: Imagine if RedBull did a DH series with more public interest and more prize money than the UCI worldcups and all the pros would stop riding the uci one haha

 This PR has nothing to do with the coverage of events. That was sold to Discovery a little while back. What is great about this PR is finding out that Chris Ball will be back organising Downhill events. Back in the late 00's and early 10's Chris was the UCi technical delegate for gravity and the World Cups went from strength to strength. Really excited to see him back in the Downhill world and I've no doubt he'll make a huge positive impact. Say what you like about the EWS coverage, but Chris and his team took a brand new racing concept and built a hugely successful global race series around it in just a matter of years. There are not many sports where a brand new racing discipline can compete against a long-established one for viewership and race-importance in such a short space of time.

 @edspratt: and when you say behind you mean behind a pay wall

 @edspratt: But that means the GMBN children and that’s the worst

 @stubestrong: That would be probably the best thing for the sport! Putting all race coverage behind a pay wall is only going to hurt mountain bike racing. Just when the youth are really starting to look at it as a "real" sport like football or basket ball. We all love it but in the big picture MTB racing is still really fringe in North America at least.

 @timlake: did you just say EWS competes with WC DH for viewership?

You friends with these guys or what? Cuz EWS is a mystery.

 @MantaHai: thanks for that
I'd just been reminding the show in the early days and wondering if I was feeling nostalgia or if it really was an interesting presentation.

 This is great news for all those covid era youtubers that were starting to get a bit stale with the return to normal. Guess what, you will be the ONLY decent race insights!

 @stubestrong: Yeah, then the athletes who participated in the "Red Bull Cup" will be banned from participating in the UCI, since this already happened with E-MTB cups.
Same conflict going on in the PGA tour at the moment, where participants from the Saudi funded tour are banned from PGA now...given that MTB does not pay as much as Golf and these athletes won't ever make a fortune, they better not shit where they eat.

 @dick-pound: And? You’ve seen how much pro downhill racers get paid. If you’re not regularly making it onto the stream there’s a massive drop off in earnings. Red bull should do a series with only the best guys like the champions league on legendary tracks which wouldn’t t be suitable for a World Cup along side the WC series. UCI has no problem with hardline.

 @ArturoBandini: I also like the course previews and even the Instagram stories they used to do during the race. It’s a sad day when Instagram is preferable to the “live timing” or whatever EWS called that abomination on their website.

 All those authorities who open their mouth here upon... Hope you'll resign if the show is not going as promised... And show your pockets... The damage will be huge...

 @stubestrong: A World "Hardline" series would be nice.

 @chakaping:

yeah maybe a good way to improve EWS coverage is to focus resources on one stage, I'd rather get 1 stage of good coverage like in DH, than a bunch of choppy short clips of all stages.

 @thenotoriousmic: Yes, but Red Bull sells soda and they can decide from one day to the other to drop the circuit while UCI won't.

 @chakaping: EWS coverage was better a few years ago.

It went downwards the last couple of years and so I stopped following it except for Instagram and WynTv. Although I'm actually very interested, even took part myself a couple of times.

Same goes for the race as a participant. The EWS races are getting shorter and shorter, with less stages but still cost the same entrance fee.

Vid Persak and Texi even said that in Petzen the good stages will be E-Bike only.

Or Zermatt in 2020: one stage was fire road + pedally flow trail - what a shit.

 @JustGivinerrr: UCI will never grasp how important free Redbull coverage is for the sport with good commentators, paywalls lower consumer interaction rolls into brands getting less exposure.

Then uci & chris ball will find rider channels gain far more exposure then the event as brands start dropping event sponsorship and move funds into a few racers which offer more exposure for less money then backing the event.

 @JohSch: It was the same at the Scottish EWS rounds. I raced it in the first two years and it was over two days on tough tracks with 1500m a day. It was really well organised as it was ran by the local race organisers.

I raced it last year and it was one day of racing on easy tracks that we've all ridden a hundred times before and it was £150 for a day. The whole event was really disappointing so I didnt even bother going this year.

For half the price I can race on a harder course with the local race organisers and in a much more relaxed and organised environment.

I'm not sure whats happened but I feel like since the EWS started working with the UCI its lost its soul.

 Rob Warner??

 @chakaping: Warner is a non-negotiable man, he has to be calling the races!

 @JohSch: Couldn't agree more with you here, I don't want to diss Chris Ball because having a premier international Enduro series is great. However, the shite coverage and questionable tracks mean that pro Enduro riders aren't getting good media attention. Less media = less pay, so only a handful out of the hundreds of EWS riders can earn a living.

I'm especially concerned because arguably enduro is the MOST marketable segment of the mountain bike industry, trail & enduro bikes are the ones we consumers actually buy.

I know we hate to hear about roadies, but they are evidence that the coverage of multi-day stage racing can be plenty marketable. Roadies are buying the bikes they see on TV, and the athletes are getting paid on the other end.

And we have to stop investing in E-Bike racing, I'm sorry but when the next economic downturn comes around we're going to look like rich pricks, leave that market to equestrians and golfers. It's just not consistent with the sport's image.

 @enduroNZ: I don't mind paying for good content. My biggest fear is NZ being geoblocked. We're one of a very small handful of countries blocked from most the road cycling under their umbrella.

 @bashhard: @redbullbike

 @liam-mail: probably going to have to get a vpn, sheesh, more money.

 @ryanandrewrogers: Mountain biking is the definition of a rich prick’s sport. Cmon.

 @skill7: EasyWorldSeries, less stages less climbing less tech… we just gone full corporate

 @edspratt: "The EWS team (Enduro Sports Organisation) will be working alongside Discovery Sport Events to provide the organisation, media production and broadcast".

Whatever "working alongside" means let's hope the media production and broadcast is a world away from the homebrew amateur hour that is the EWS official coverage.

 @chakaping: Rob Warner is one of the Warner Bros, right?

 Does Rob have a brother?

 @boozed: Yep, his bro Rich used to race as well BITD

 No Rob Warner, and I ain’t watching!

 If you see the cops coming - warn a brother.

 @FUbob: HAHA Nobody gives a fvkk who the DA is in the Wild West - least of all the cops who self-defunded their own desire to do a damn thing.

 @FUbob: I live here - do you? The criminals don't care - you'll see. You started this with your 'dirty commie' trolling. Fvkk all DAs. This is an MTB site.

 @FUbob: @suspended-flesh: you guys look for any excuse to spew this shit on here. bicycle website. Do I need to spell it out for you? This is a bi-si-cull web-sight, go write a column for the post if you think your opinion is so righteous you toddlers

 @ryanandrewrogers: Lighten up, pops.

 @suspended-flesh:
* Francis

 @FUbob: St. Francis of Assisi?

 Oh no what? That is so said. Rob is a legend and definitely one of the reasons why watching the worldcups is so epic. Sad times ahead

 Can't imagine a WC without Rob. Would be the end of an era.

 "He also said the internet would explode, but reckoned a week later they would all move on."

By move on do you mean stop watching?

 I can do without Clownio, but a downhill WC without Rob Warner is no good.

 Quite frankly I can't see myself watching without Rob commentating.

I know he's not the be-all and end-all of the sport but 50% of my enjoyment of the current Red Bull feed is his commentating.

Nevermind eh. Bring on 2031!

 I was going to ask him the same thing at Snowshoe but you beat me to it. My days of getting up early to watch the WC are numbered.

 What, you don't think Neil Donahue is a suitable replacement for Rob Warner
/s

 What. The. Fuck. My weekend morning routine is get high as fuck at 7 or 8 AM and listen to Warner scream his head off. This is so sad.

 Rob has lost his mojo for commentating races over the past couple seasons. Lately he'll just be talking normally then screams when a split comes up no matter what the time is, then goes back to talking normally for a bit. Like the old Top Gear guys, he's been playing the character of himself for a bit now.

 @justinfoil: But I like that character.

 @pisgahgnar: he’s hyped on DH. He’s legit hyped on DH. Walking the track in Snowshoe last year he had fan-level excitement, orders of magnitude more invested than when Sal Masekela showed up the day before Rampage and knocked out his interviews, for example.

I love Warner too but there’s gotta be a bunch of people in the scene who could be acceptable. I’m much more concerned with access. This shit must be live!

 @owl-X: That's the question. I won't be surprised if it's just a recap after the event. In their mission statement they seem to be more interested in story telling than live coverage. They mention mountain biking almost as an afterthought.
www.digitaltveurope.com/2022/03/25/discovery-launches-home-of-cycling-push/#:~:text=2022%20is%20set%20to%20be,and%20208%20territories%20via%20GCN%2B

 @commental: I read that part too, but cannot imagine they’d axe live coverage of the racing.
Now you got me scared!

 @vtracer: nothing wrong with the Don z it's just that GMBN make him do them shitty videos

 @commental: I am trying to see the bright side. The release starts with this: "The broadcaster will produce more than 600 individual broadcasts including over 1,200 live hours of cycling" and yes they mention mountainbiking as a bit of an afterthought, but that is because this press release is about their summer 2022 plans "This is going to be an incredible summer". They will only produce some MTB content this year, 2023 is when they will own the rights to all of it.

 same routine.

 @pisgahgnar: man, you should come over...

 @pisgahgnar: I wish I felt more hopeful, I guess time will tell. Last April Discovery announced they were going to bring live coverage to EWS races. You would hope a company with their massive resources would do a better job 13 months later than they did in Scotland last week if they were really invested in that, their coverage was woeful.

 @vtracer: I love Neil, I think he’s a great presenter. But for commentating races, Neil is a calm English breakfast tea with some biscuits, where Rob is a coked up grizzly bear wearing pit vipers going through your garbage can. I want Rob to join me on me WC DH mornings while I slam beers at 4am screaming at Loris “ka ka bap bap vroom!” While trying not to wake my wife.

 At least it can only get better from here

 @LDG: I wouldn't bank on it.

 Where is the "investment Discovery did last year on EWS" they mean into someone's pocket, right?!
This is so f*cking hilarious...
Let's hope let's hope if we see this huge change from night yo day...

 Exactly. To me, EWS feels completely created by the industry to have a format in which pros ride the bike type we all buy. But it makes for a terrible spectacle! And even worse coverage. I can't see EWS ever being something watchable.

 Discovery/Eurosport took over rights for climbing world cups this year and they've totally f*cked that too. For the last decade IFSC were broadcasting free on Youtube and developed a genuinely great commentary team. So far Eurosport have produced two World Cups with commentary from a second string darts pundit and two with no commentary at all. Outside of road cycling, tennis and Skiiing they just don't seem to give a toss.

 @wingguy: that's not good. Maybe we'll get Carlton Kirby on the DH commentary?

 @wingguy: wowwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!

Thanks dude... HERE IS THE BULLETPROOF!

Again another outdoor sport they want to destroy....

This is not casual guys!...

Wake up! All athletes and media jumping to an alternate championship next season before it's too late!

 @chakaping: Which is worse, him or maybe Ed Leigh? Tough call.

 It is Friday…

 There was coverage of the EWS?!

 Good call; that is something I've wondered about since the RB loss of the MTB World Cup.....get Gee and his team looking for other venues, say a 4-5 round series?? It could work of the money is there.

It's similar to motorcycle Enduro; the normal EnduroGP, but we also have Hard Enduro shown on RBTV, and with a few RB sponsored rounds Red Bull Romaniacs, Red Bull Erzberg Extreme, etc

 @Starch-Anton: I would happily pay a subscription fee to follow a breakaway series that disconnected mountain biking from the fcking UCI.
Sign me up!

 @lestooge: or fat people drinking redbull could pay for it?

 @Starch-Anton: I'd honestly be much more willing to pay for a subscrition for that than for the absolute garbage that WB/Discovery has been producing.

Also, what @lestooge is saying. The less UCI, the better. That organization is rotten to the very core. Literally. With their president cuddling up to and possibly taking bribes from literal dictators.

 @CM999: Some Monster riders have ridden in Hardline and Rampage

 New innovation, preview a day after the race

 @dragsdabrakes: It's called Spoilerless Broadcasting™

 This. Companies and outlets like GMBN are to be avoided like the plague. There's enough of them who have no integrity and will literally say anything you want them to say as long as they are getting payed enough. We don't need people like that in our sport.

 @Muscovir: I'd just like to point out that RedBull are the biggest and most-sophisticated marketing organisation in the action sports world - and pay many high-profile athletes to shill their unhealthy fizzy caffeine beverage.

 I used to think Redbull coverage was the best, but then my wife put me on the spot, she compared it to NFL pass and F1TV Pro, and RedbullTV is lightyears behind, it was free yeah, but modern sport coverage can do so much better if properly done.

I am honestly hopefull that Discovery/Warner can pull something off, and if it is good i will pay, this will get the neg props cuz people dont like change. But come on there was a lot of complaining on the last years, plus redbull bias was keeping people away too.

On the other hand if Discovery doesnt take the project with the current commentators they will only make their hurdle to overcome way higher, so might as well open up the wallet right now and secure Rob, Claudio and Elliot.

 @Narro2: wake up. Look at the coments above what they did to climbing...

Is MTBiking helping to sell more Gas and Tobaco?...
Then forget.

Ahhj makes people healthier and happier hanging around woods eating mushrooms and buying less expensive shity cars...
Sure they wanna make MTBiking snagging the audience of their big shows...

 @Narro2: discovery they don't give a f*cking shit about MTBiking... You'll see ...

 @PauRexs: hahah, take it easy man, no need to curse or be so bitter, you are most likely right, it is very easy to be pessimist anyway...

 @chrismac70: Rampage, Hardline, sponsoring athletes and providing free race coverage. Can you name a mainstream company who's done more for MTB than Redbull? I can't think of one and I'm grateful for what they've done for the sport. I'm also saying that as someone who's never bought their product.

 @Narro2: there was no cursing… not that anyone needs a f*cking reason.

 @Narro2: Comparing Redbull's bike coverage to modern mainstream sports coverage is kind of silly. For one covering a race that runs the length of a mountain, through all kinds or rough terrain is not easy.

But more importantly the amount of money in sports like Football and F1 just dwarfs that of mountain biking. Expecting Redbull to provide free coverage on the same level as something like the NFL is just ridiculous.

Also how was Redbull bias keeping people away?

 @Narro2: I agree with you about how good the coverage is on F1TV. The challenge I face is streaming channel cost fatigue. As a cycling fan in Canada I can't get one package that will provide coverage of all of the races, the road season gets chopped up between FLO and GCN. At the beginning of the pandemic I forked out the fees for FLO, and was floored to find out that my coverage of the Tour was being interrupted by advertising, and the post and pre-race commentators sucked. I must as well just save my money and get a VPN and watch coverage in Flemish. The first year's coverage of Dirty Kanza was 8 hours of Frankie Andreu talking from a desk in Emporia, Kansas.

Cycling at best is a very niche sport, the race organizers are going to benefit from the revenue that streaming provides, but if I were a sponsor of a cycling team I would seriously wonder why I should spend my money advertising in a medium that few people at least in North America watch.

My guess is that these guys are all looking at the success of the F1 & Premier League coverage and think that they can duplicate that success with cycling. My bet is that in 2-3 years none of them will make any money and cycling coverage will once again return to those days in the '70's when you got a once a week dose of the Tour de France on Wide World of Sports. This move is good for the UCI, and likely horrible for the sport. Red Bull wasn't perfect, but its not bad. I'll save my money and spend it on more expensive bike parts.

 @sino428: I agree man, Redbull did as much as it could free of charge, in order to get to the level of the mentioned services some sort of customer payment is needed, which imo was the next step. It is too late now though.

 @arghana: expecting income from cycling streaming to be at the levels of F1 and European soccer is just too high of an expectation, I understand how suits are but nah, they will never get those numbers and they know that.
On the other hand cycling is no longer a niche sport imo, it is a growing sport actually, discovery/warner is just trying to Capitlize the current sport streaming success at its corresponding level of course and there is nothing wrong with that.
My bet is that the first few years it will suck but after the 4th year numbers will start to grow. I watch Monster Jam with my daughters, the app is pretty good and the streaming is not bad . It is a redneck sport but it is a discovery IP, they are nowhere at the levels for F1 but they have been streaming for years.

 @Narro2: From what I've read Discovery seems to be looking to follow the RedBull model and provide free streaming of those events, I could be wrong as this is the interweb after all.

I would argue your point about cycling being a growing sport, it was when it had a North American Marquee rider in Lance Armstrong, but no one has come along to match him (and I'm not a fan, but he was a showman), and I don't think cycling is back to those halcyon days. I'd be curious to understand the viewership of Monster Jam, you raise an interesting example.

 Constructive criticism is good, and should be learned from. They've gone down the wrong direction with the new coverage - though it's only 1 round.

If they can't provide any live coverage, they need to improve the race highlights show; the latest one wasn't good enough - too short to tell a story.

 +1 But gotta say the DH-footage has been worse from Red Bull this year as well. Zooming so it's impossible to see and get perspective of what some of the riders were doing! It was worse during the first round but still there in FW. Also some of the drone footage isn't usable but they still use it.

 @LDG: Still 1,000,000 times better to watch than a 10 mins segment of Neil Donahue.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EfuWGSqjdc

 @LDG: absolutely this, why would you zoom in on a technical section so the riders crank and rear wheel fill the entire screen?! I want to see what the rider is doing through the section, it does not make it more exciting or intense to only view a part of the bike as it rattles through a section. It's like they've tried to go for action film style fast cut and camera flying about to generate 'intensity' but we want to see the actual riding!

Imagine if during a football match they zoomed in so the ball filled 85% of the screen and you just saw a foot come in from one side, a lot of green fly past in the periphery and then netting and everyone shouting. You'd have no idea how the goal had happened and it would be awful, not exciting.

 @LDG: great comment. Thinking the same!

 @LDG: great comment! Thinking the same.

 @hambobet: Pulling your own teeth out would be more enjoyable than that Neil segment

 @GrandMasterOrge: so agree! Nothing more frustrating than that zoomed shots! As you said we want (need) to see both the bike, the rider, and the riding field to enjoy and understand wath's going on!

 @CM999: come on, don't hate that much. be constructive. Neil even made a insta story due to all the hate here.

 Personally I'll be amazed if any of those things happen.

 I don't think "more rounds" is within the scope of the broadcast rights holder

 @pmhobson: they are organising the series as well now. And there have been whispers about more rounds in future.

 @chakaping: Yes, they're doing the lot! Promoting, organising, broadcasting, etc Everything is on them.

 @chakaping: Schladming, New Zealand, Australia, BC and some West Coast US action please.

 @inside-plus: Out of interest where would you say was the best venue for a WCDH in NZ?

 @commental: Queenstown.

 I'm a TV exec and honestly buying a big rights package without understanding why people like it is dumb AF. Yeah companies do it but if all you do is look at revenue data soon that revenue won't be looking good.

 ....that vision is that many of us, having watched mountain biking for years, won't be able to watch it anymore, because it is either not available in our region or behind a paywall. Plus it's going to be presented by some hosts, not knowing the difference between a saddle and a pedal .....at least that is my expectation...but I am open to be positively surprised otherwise.

 Came here to say the same. Grabbing my popcorn.

 So at least some possibility that they rehire the current production company then?

In practical terms how would the current Red Bull coverage likely work? Would the same trucks, cameras, operators be attending all the European rounds (with perhaps just a few key people going to North America to head up a local team)? Are operators full time employees, or just contracted for the key weekends? Would they be working other sports (football, etc) the rest of the time? When you watch RedBull coverage do you think these operators understand mountain biking, or is the fairly predictable nature of it (one competitor at a time down a set course) mean that any half competent camera operators could film it after a few hours?

 @bykeco: They could hire the same production company but I doubt they will as Discovery Sports will have their preferred people/production company. They might poach a producer or director but everyone in this industry thinks they are better than everyone else and can do a better job without understanding what the viewers actually want.

I haven't worked in Europe but worked on World Cup/Champs in Aus and other Red Bull(MTB and other) in Aus and the US.

The broadcast facilities provider that does the WC coverage is the biggest in the world and they have trucks and gear absolutely everywhere. In an ideal world you would use the same truck/flyaway everywhere but with the big breaks between races makes it hard compared to every weekend sport.

90% of the crew will be freelance. The only full time people on site will be some people from Red Bull, a few people from the production company and tech crew for the facilities provider. The director, producers, replay lead and maybe the broadcast engineer/techs will be the only ones to do every round. If the budget is there to travel the same crew to every event they will. Operators will do any work, sport, studio, news.

The director is in control of what the camera operators do, they tell them what shots and look they are looking for. The cam ops do get a bit of creative control but not much. Once again budget sets what level of operator you get as all the good ones will be booked on season long contracts with the other major sports and studio shows for top dollar.

 Respectfully, you're 25 years too late on this idea that growth is always better...

 It's already growthed

 Richard Cuningam is the big forgotten guy in all this story... He was doing great with few resources... Bring back that guy and give him descent budget or direction and we are saved...

 This has been a take over by Agenda 2030... You'll see... MTB show getting too popular... We want people closed at homes and cities... Let's buy rights and kill it slowly... I WISH I'M WRONG! Sadly know too much about their plans ...

 @PauRexs: 10010001110001010001110101101010010101001110101011011011000011010101010101

 @owl-X: Your comment is offensive to those who are non-binary.

 All that will get stopped. Discovery haven't paid out $$$$'s for 8 years so people can watch it elsewhere. The Red Bull filming restrictions will seem like nothing compared to what's coming.

 Are there YouTube vids of major sports like soccer or F1?

No. Even highlights on television have to pay and wait a couple of hours/days to give the pay wall company enough time to monetarise

 @watchmen: Well then there is something good in having Outside involved, as they have far more clout to deal with whatever bullshit Discovery come up with. Here I am actually think, f*ck maybe Outside isn't such a bad overlord after all. We will see.

 @inside-plus: Outside will pay the Uci for coverage rights which will then go behind the paywall. They're not in this for sh$ts and giggles.

 Why ? You can't expect companies to do things for free all the time ? Sure they use advertising, but what if it doesn't cover it ? You have to pay for food, cars, bicycles, why not to watch coverage of your favourite sports ? I rarely watch Premier League football nowdays but i pay for Champions League and MotoGP along with Eurosport which comes as part of my Sky TV package. Realistically though, we do have to pay for these things, either as a consumer through advertising, or a direct subscription. Otherwise... well, there's no racing at all then.

 @weeksy59: I too like to pay to watch ads /s

Seriously though, if there's an option to just pay for mtb coverage, especially per event, I might justify it. Maybe. Or maybe I'll just go and ride my bike. No way I'm paying a subscription that includes anything else that I'm not interested in.

Same reason I do not pay for anything like Sky TV or any other TV package. Frankly, I do not understand why anyone is willing to waste money on this completely outdated model of content consumption. All the "TV" I need is available either for free (i.e. for ads) or in a model where I only pay for what I'm interested in. Those old school TV packages from Sky, Virgin, BT etc. seem so strange to me. Paying for loads of pointless fluff to get a few little bits of material you actually want to see.

 @bananowy: I agree with the theory and logic... but without alternative options, i don't see a choice. I can't watch MotoGP any other easy way.... so i pay for BT sport.

 @weeksy59: Yeah I guess it comes down to how important watching MotoGP is for you; if it's key to your happiness then fair play. Watching mtb races is not THAT crucial to me, so I'm just gonna happily live without it if I don't like the payment model.

 @bananowy:

Exactly what I think. I support capitalism 100% but every one decides for them selves what a product is worth and what they want to pay for it. I was not willing to pay the (high) price to watch motogp and I will not pay to watch DH.

 @mikaeljc: I'll begrudgingly pay if the coverage is worth it. I have a feeling it won't be.

 @weeksy59: I dont expect to get things for free (but sure like it when I do). The issue for me is I only kind of enjoy watching downhill when the weather is crappy or I have some free time but I dont like it enough that I want to pay for it. So if it moves behind a paywall I will continue on with my life and probably not miss it.

 I don't mind paying for things I want to watch. I just have a feeling these races may end up on some kind of larger package or subscription where we'd also have to pay for a bunch of other shit we don't want to watch

 @sino428: You mean you aren't excited about being able to watch 90 Day Fiance on catch-up?

 @commental: If they just required a simple Discovery+ subscription I'd be fine with that. I think those are only $5 a month. I'd probably pay that to watch the World Cups. I just feel like its going to be on some kind of premium sports package or something.

 This is a valid viewpoint. If they are able to shake up the bidding process for hosting DH WC rounds, or vary the criteria for selection, that could be a breath of fresh air.

 @chakaping: Must be within a poseidon's kiss distance of an International Airport to host a DH race.

 to be fair, that was pinkbike's coverage, also to be fair, GMBN/EWS was equally as bad

 Something I noticed from Long Live Chainsaw, is how good all of the World Cup footage they pulled from Redbull was in big screen quality high def. Stevies legendary runs were captured so well by the Red Bull team, those runs are priceless now and they really did the sport a great service capturing them so well.

 HE'S CARRYING GOOD SPEED!!!!

 @suspended-flesh: HE'S BEEN DOWN, THERE'S DIRT ON HIS SIDE!

 Look, there is a simple solution. Get Cathro to do it all himself.

 Same story with GMBN. Getting people into the sport generates more money than pleasing the old dudes that hang onto stuff for way too long.

 @mwysel: Outside can just make their own DH worldseries hosted by Cathro on the best tracks with bigger prize money and a leopard print winners jersey.

 @inside-plus: I also settle for fluorescent orange zebra print

 It really tanked it with Covid tbh, I think there must have been some logisitcal changes obviously with restrictions at events and with not being able to get the right people to the races to make it work. Since those people would have found a new job and now there isn't anyone to fill their boots.

 Warner is still under contract to Redbull and has stated he won't be going to Discovery according to a comment on this thread. It's far more likely there will be a new commentator who knows nothing about DH. If you've ever listened to Carlton Kirby commentating on road cycling you'll know what I mean.

 @commental: blimey....not good then

 @commental: I was feeling positive about next year until you mentioned Kirby.

 Ews is part of the package discovery have bought

 I hate to tell you, but commercialisation is needed in MTB; it has very few big sponsors. 9 World Cup rounds in a year is far too few....

 Hmm, I'm betting it will be on Eurosport Player/ GCN......which means subscription.

 @Starch-Anton: Woudn't be the end of the world for me.... I like watching all cycling so could then watch the roadie stuff too, but i'd really prefer/hope it's on the main Eurosport... but with things like TDF/Vuelta, Tennis and BSB/WSB, you may well be right and that may be optimistic of me.

 @weeksy59: I'm already subscribed to Eurosport player, so it's not an issue for me; but the main Eurosport concentrates on the more popular sports; tennis, snooker, BSB/WSB, etc Can't see them putting MTB on instead of them.

 The general public can currently watch for free on RBTV if they want to, fact is, the general public aren't really interested. All this move will achieve is a reduction in hard core fans watching the sport.

 @commental: Yes but they'd need to be aware of it's existence to know it's on RBTV, very few people outisde of 'us' know.... but if it's on the adverts between the tennis, cars, whatever they may think "oh lets have a watch of that" at the moment, how would 'bloke on the street' even know RBTV and MTB even exist to watch ?

 @weeksy59: Popularity in the sport didn't explode last time it was on Eurosport, what makes you think it will this time?

 @commental: Arguably more and more certainly in Europe these days are interested in cycling that back in those days, with the covid boom in cycling becoming far more mainstream and accessible i think it's got a higher chance of being watched than it previously may have been.

 @weeksy59: I wish I shared your optimism.

 @commental: It actually did though. The last Eurosport stint was when mtb teams had big sponsors from outside of the industry and good racers earned almost motocross money. Of course it was never on the scale of mainstream sports but there sure was an mtb boom a couple decades ago.

Not saying this current move is good (it sure isn't for me as I enjoy the free coverage from RB and won't pay for Eurosport subscription so likely no world cups for me) but admittedly if new people are to learn about mtb's existence it's not going to be from RB.

 @bananowy: Yeah, that's the issue; there are no big 'non bike' sponsors. (apart from Mercedes) The sport needs to grow; both in number of rounds, and more sponsor money. 9 rounds a year isn't enough, is it?

 @Starch-Anton: Adding in 12, 15 rounds whatever not only affects the series though but also the competitors expenditure, it's hard enough i bet for privateers to afford Fort William then straight to Leogang, without then adding in something 2 weeks later in somewhere else that's 2000 miles in the cheap van they're driving, espeically with spiraling fuel costs on top now days. It would increase the overall series i 100% agree... but could price some of the less fortunate individuals out of the market.

 @bananowy: I wonder what their reasons were for stopping coverage. I think we're in a bit of a bubble here and on the other dedicated MTB sites, the majority of people I know who ride don't really follow WCDH. Only one of my friends who doesn't ride (but has a backgound in motocross) watches it. I also know a fair few people who watch all the road grand tours and classics (even people who don't cycle themselves), but have no interest in DH. I'd be surprised if that changes in any meaningful way, even if it ends up back on Eurosport.
If people outside of MTB are likely to watch anything related to our sport it's more probable that they'll go for things like Rampage.

 @Starch-Anton: ...which in turns means I won't be watching.

 @Starch-Anton:
I'm sure you will be right, personally I have GCN subscription , currently paying £40.
If it's all included that's fine by me.

 @weeksy59: to be honest I’m not interested in a series that’s affordable for privateers to do. This is supposed to be the elite top 20 ish in the works. There needs to be a better set of content based series that privateers can afford to do like the ixs series that feeds the WC and pro circuit

 @chrismac70: the peo circuit can't just be the elite of the elite though, otherwise what's the incentive for the nearly elite, where's the progression for them? We all love a bit of Cathro and Wyn for example but based upon the last few years we'd not even be aware of their existence using the top 20 logic, think of all the guys who's miss out, like them, or Fairclough, youngsters like Charlie Hatton etc.
They've got to have a realistic goal to work towards.

 I also hope Bart and Rob continue with the XC. I think that pairing is better than Rob and anyone else.
Bart is able to provide incredible insight and notices things in the race that I think most people just wouldn’t see, myself included.
When I hear Rob commentate the DH it’s highly entertaining but listening to Bart on the XC I feel like I’m learning something.

 You obviously haven't watched Naked and Afraid.

 “I'm David Smith and behind me is the EXTREME sport of Downhill M T B.”

“Tell me about this high tech device?”
“It's a pedal.”

Nice one UCI

 Why? Do you not like watching awesome coverage of bike races?

 PPV wouldn't even be the worst. My guess is that to watch mtb you'll need an annual subscription to a package deal including cheese rolling, underwater rugby, disc golf and other thrilling disciplines.

 @bananowy: I'd pay for a subscription to watch cheese rolling to be honest - Rob commentating that would be lit!

 But do you like tacos?

 Redbull gave you free coverage of the WC for 10 years.