If you ask most people why they love the sports that they do, most will have been inspired by watching the sports they love on TV. Be that watching rugby with parents, football down at the pub, Wimbledon in the summer; free sports on TV are a vital part of peoples lives for entertainment. In addition to this, being able to watch sport is one of the key inspirations to getting people involved in their chosen sports which leads to a healthier, more active society.
For me, I have always had a love of cycling. I first got the bug by watching the Tour de France on ITV and latterly Eurosport. I soon had a collection of cycling heroes who I aspired to be like. I saved up for my first bike and have not stopped cycling, albeit now as a middle-aged man in lycra past my prime, since.
Unfortunately, we have now seen the end of the Eurosport with it being merged into TNT sports. Not only will fans of the Tour de France no longer be able to watch the most important competition in the road cyclist’s diary for free; I fear that the visibility of cycling being even less than it is now will be a further hammer blow to the future of the sport.
Free-to-air coverage means that people do not have to pay to watch the event in question. We have seen the demise in the take up in other sports when their events move to a wholly subscription-based system. Adversely, we see a spike in people getting into all manner of sports when you have fantastic events like the Olympics which increase the visibility of the 43 events that it hosts.
The reason why I pushed for debate on this, is that the lack of free-to-air coverage for cycling has coincided with the end of Britain’s cycling boom. Of course, there is a pipeline of fresh young talent who I have no doubt will make us all proud, but I fear that this will be the straw that breaks the camels back and will create irreversible damage to the future of one of sporting success stories.
Cycling is so much more than just a sport. It has changed lives and saved lives and given people both purpose and freedom. Britain has led the way internationally but, like all things, its continuing success depends upon the next generation being willing to pick up the torch. To do that, children need to be inspired, and parents need to be enthused.
Many of the parents who I represent will no longer have that opportunity to get enthused if they are having to shell out over £31 a month on yet another subscription. For those of us who are already hooked on the sport, we might see this as a necessary investment. However, there is little chance of attracting many new fans nor cyclists at all with this price tag attached.
With neither the wealth, following nor visibility that sports like football have, action must be taken and taken now. Of course, I understand that the remit that the Government has is limited but I do want to see pressure being put on broadcasting companies. We must ensure that cycling has a strong grass roots movement, and that active travel infrastructure is invested in. All of this and more must be done to secure our Union Jack-clad winning machine that British cycling was not long ago.
We must get the future of British cycling back on track
