Sun, Feb 11, 2007 page23

• Discovery Channel ends sponsorship

  • NY TIMES NEWS SERVICE
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  The Discovery Channel will drop its sponsorship next year of the professional cycling team that was formerly led by Lance Armstrong. The decision by Discovery leaves the top US team scrambling to find a primary sponsor at a time when the sport is in turmoil because of accusations of widespread use of performance-enhancing drugs by riders.

  The team will continue to ride under the Discovery Channel name this year, beginning with the Tour of California, a one-week race that begins on Feb. 18 in San Francisco.

  But the search for a primary sponsor for next year comes as team officials acknowledge that some of the team's current, lower-level sponsors have expressed doubts about their continued affiliation with the sport because of doping.

  Officials from both Discovery Communications, the Maryland-based cable-television company that owns the Discovery Channel, and Tailwind Sports, the corporation that owns the cycling team, said on Friday that Discovery's decision was not related to the sport's doping troubles.

  Rather, they said, it had to do with a corporate restructuring by Discovery Communications and its chief executive, David Zaslav, who was hired in November.

  That restructuring led to the resignation of William Campbell III on Monday as president of Discovery's US-based television networks. Campbell initiated the cycling sponsorship three years ago.

  "We have decided to aggressively shift our focus and resources to support our core business goals and objectives," Discovery said in a statement.

  Annie Howell, a spokeswoman for the company, said in an interview that cycling's doping troubles "were not a part of the decision," adding that the team had "deep respect" for Johan Bruyneel, the team's race director, and other team officials.

  Bill Stapleton, a part owner of the cycling team along with Armstrong, Bruyneel and others, said on Friday in a telephone interview that the owners hoped to attract another US company as the team's lead sponsor.

  Nevertheless, he said, the announcement last summer that Floyd Landis, the winner of the Tour de France, had failed a drug test during the race "took the wind out of a lot of people's sails" around the sport.

  Several of the team's lower-level sponsors "expressed their displeasure and doubts about continuing" in the sport, he said.

  "Nobody asked to be let out of their contract," Stapleton said. "What we said to all of our sponsors was that Floyd wasn't on our team and we have never had a positive test. We understand it's a suspect environment right now, but we answered all their questions."

  He said any new sponsor would have the right, as did Discovery, to withdraw its support if any of the team's riders failed a drug test.

  Before Discovery began its sponsorship in 2005, the US Postal Service sponsored the team for eight years.

  The team has already talked to several potential sponsors, Stapleton said, but having one commit to spending more than US$15 million a year is not simple.

  "Right now, it's an easy `no' because of everything that has gone on in the sport," he said.

  "The good news is we have plenty of time. We have a number of target companies, and we've already talked with some of them. But I think it could be more difficult than the last time," he said of the team's search for a new sponsor.

  In 2005, Armstrong, who had already won the Tour de France six times, was still racing. Discovery made it a condition of its sponsorship that he would ride in at least one more Tour.

  Armstrong is now retired, although he has continued to be a public face around the team.

  Its racing performance fell off drastically last year, Armstrong's first year of retirement. At the Tour de France, the sport's marquee event, the team failed to place a rider in the top 10, although it won one daily stage and held the leader's yellow jersey for one day.

  After the disappointing Tour de France, Discovery won the team classification at the Vuelta a Espana. George Hincapie won the US championship road race.
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