Has the UCI sold cycling’s soul to Warner Bros. Discovery?

There’ll be no more of those spangly glitter balls, alcopops-infused 1980s disco, swirling Ibiza rave lights, or shots of Lycra-clad Darth Vaders battling it out on the boards of the après dark velodromes of Europe.

Well, at least we won’t be treated to any more of that bemusing psychedelic stuff gracing our TV screens in the form of the short-lived UCI Track Champions League, anyway, after cycling’s governing body and Warner Bros. Discovery announced this week that they are pulling the plug on those fancy light shows (and the track racing that followed them).

2024 UCI Track Champions League, London (credit: Mathew Wells/SWpix.com)

The four-round Track Champions League was first introduced by the UCI in 2021, in partnership with promoter Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), in a bid to offer a glitzier, shorter, more easily understood track cycling format for new fans, complete with snappy, condensed, exciting races, primetime broadcasting schedules, and those dazzling pre-race lights shows.

However, the format’s ill-fated grand finale in London last December – marred by Katy Marchant’s horrendous crash over the barriers and into the crowd, which saw that night’s racing and effectively the whole series called off early – has proven to be its last hurrah.

On Monday, it was revealed that, after four years of the Champions League, and with a new Olympic cycle underway ahead of LA ’28, Warner Bros. Discovery has told the UCI that it is ditching the series to “redefine its involvement in the promotion of track cycling” by “revitalising” the Track Nations Cup.

Emma Finucane and Matt Richardson, UCI Track Champions League, Paris, 2024 (credit: Mathew Wells/SWpix.com)

So, what does it all mean? First, there’s the obvious – from 2026, the UCI Track Champions League and Track Nations Cup (the last round of which took place last week in Konya, Türkiye) will revert to a much slimmed-down three-round series of the original Track World Cup, which is quite a blow for the sport.

Why and how did this happen? Most likely, it was simply not profitable for WBD to promote and broadcast the events live.

Therefore, with WBD being a commercial entity who have invested a whole lot in the rights to do just that, if it’s not working for them then they won’t keep doing it. Or they will decide to restructure and trim it back, which is understandable in any business scenario.

2024 UCI Track Champions League, Paris (credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

The bigger question, I guess, is this: Has the UCI sold major league bike racing out?

While that may sound a tad dramatic, the signs are clearly there. We’ve all experienced the consequences of WBD’s huge pay-for-view price hike for cycling recently – a decision which surely bodes ill for the overall health and future of the sport, or at least for the dedicated enthusiast, young hopefuls, and those in far flung regions who no longer have any access beyond YouTube highlights to watch professional bike racing (in many countries, TNT is simply not available).

This whole broadcast debacle – and the backlash to it – has been covered extensively in recent months, so I’m not going to rake over those hot coals too much. However, it is hard to argue with the theory that the UCI have somewhat slipped a gear in their approach to the sport.

2024 UCI Track Champions League, London (credit: Simon Wilkinson/SWpix.com)

When you look at the overall situation, the UCI do seem to have handed out a whole lot of power and influence to WBD, who seem to view cycling purely as a business entity (which is understandable), and one they perhaps slightly over-speculated the commercial value of – at least in certain corners.

Throw in the huge price hike for viewers, the mid-term sidestep away from the Track Champions League, the restructuring of the UCI MTB World Series, the dropping of e-EDR (e-bike enduro) from that series, the registration price hikes levied on teams and sponsors, and it all gets a bit messy.

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It has to be said that WBD have certainly upped the stakes when it comes to their coverage, the MTB World Cup drone footage (albeit first introduced two years ago) is superb. And the Champions League was definitely entertaining – mostly down to the lights, amazing footage, and those Darth Vaderesque visors (all that was missing was Jean-Michel Jarre in the track centre and Wout van Aert dancing with Peter Sagan).

Luz Daniela Gaxiola Gonzalez (Mexico), 2024 UCI Track Champions League, London (credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

And despite apparently not proving profitable, it did shine a light (excuse the pun) on track racing, in a way you simply don’t get when sitting through hours of pursuit and sprint rounds of a World Cup, which aren’t exactly the most dynamic spectacle to watch.

Of course, the times they are a-changin’, and cycling at the pro end is relatively big business now. It’s hard to blame WBD for trying to package it in modern entertainment terms – including thumb-flipping TikTok style – and for them it makes sense. For the rest of us, well that’s where it all gets a bit tricker.

There is more short form, online, and live cycling available than ever before (not all down to WBD) – the latter if you can afford and wish to pay for the live coverage, which is almost impossible to provide for free – though a more reasonable price point would be welcomed.

Plus, it’s hard to deny that watching 20 seconds of spectacular crashes, dog chases, and epic race finishes on your phone, all while carrying out your morning duties (which is where much of this stuff is consumed – and muted) has its appeal.

2024 UCI Track Champions League, London (credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

Where does the sport go from here? It’s hard to say, but for now it would seem that the UCI have handed over something of a broadcast monopoly to WBD, at least in many areas of the sport, including the organisation of the mountain bike and track World Cups.

Could it stretch beyond this in the future? Is it feasible that Paris-Roubaix may be paused while the riders take on observed trials in the Arenberg Forest, and that the final laps on the historic old velodrome are run off ‘devil take the hindmost’ style, followed by podium dance-off deciders…? Probably not, but it would be entertaining.

And entertainment seems to be what it’s all about now (and always has been to a certain extent), along with the financial returns it brings. But what happens when WBD’s current terms of engagement end? Will they just walk away from a potentially non-profitable and restructured venture, and what would happen if they did?

Would you blame them? Not really. We imagine, and hope, that these finer terms and all the potential scenarios and deals were examined at the time by the UCI, who we hope have the overall future of the sport – from grassroots level to Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel – at the top of their agenda. We hope.