Great MTB cinema
Back in February, the cycling world governing body UCI announced a historic change: from 2023 to 2030 inclusive, the Mountain Bike World Cup will be organised by Discovery Events and promoted under the Discovery brand. This means there will be a successor to Red Bull, whose contract with the UCI will expire at the end of 2022.
Discovery is backed by the sixth largest entertainment company in the world: Warner Bros. So far, mountain bikers have mainly recognised the US media giant from the big screen or games consoles. Although in some races it seems as if Tom Pidcock has supernatural powers, like Superman, or that Amaury Pierron can do magic, like Harry Potter, the appearance of Warner Bros. on the MTB stage came as a surprise to many.
What is behind Discovery?
At second glance, however, it becomes clear that Warner Bros. has some experience in dealing with sporting events and has also been involved in cycling for years. Discovery Sports Events organises around 50 top international events every year, for example in winter and motor sports.
In Europe, around 130 million people consume Discovery Sports content every month. This includes broadcasts of all major road cycling events with around 1200 hours of content per year. The most prestigious cycling race in the world, the Tour de Franceis under the auspices of the Discovery brand.
Discovery uses the Global Cycling Network (GCN) and Global Mountainbiking Network (GMBN) media platforms to successfully distribute not only road cycling but also MTB content. Discovery already provides media coverage for around 200 cycling events every year. Since 2020, Discovery has also been responsible for the organisation and marketing of the UCI Track Cycling World Cups and has brought the sport a significant increase in attention over the last two years.
Discovery joined the Enduro World Series (EWS) in 2021 and has been responsible for its broadcast and transmission ever since. From 2023, Warner Bros. will now take over the organisation and media distribution of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup for eight years.
TV broadcast of the 2023 MTB World Cup still in doubt
TV channels such as DMAX, Comedy Central and Eurosport are also at home under the Warner Bros. Discovery umbrella. Experts believe that a TV broadcast of the UCI Mountain Bike World Cup from 2023 is likely. Discovery did not want to confirm this to BIKE.
Worryingly, it is still unclear late in the 2022 season which channels will be used for the live broadcast of the events and whether this will remain available free of charge, as bikers have been used to from Red Bull TV in recent years.
It has been confirmed that presenting legend Rob Warner will remain with his employer Red Bull and will therefore no longer commentate on the World Cup next year. Back in the days when the online broadcast of the events could still be streamed via freecaster.tv, Warner went down in the history of the sport with his provocative comments and emotional commentary. The parting of ways between Warner and the MTB World Cup is therefore a source of great regret for many fans.
Larger MTB events with a festival character
The UCI's main reason for the significant switch from Red Bull to Warner Bros. is the strong growth of mountain bike racing. Due to the sheer size and immense reach of the media group, the sport is set to receive even greater international attention.
In recent years in particular, and especially in Europe, many newcomers have found their way to biking and the mountain bike market has also become increasingly attractive for interdisciplinary companies such as Warner Bros. Francois Ribeiro, CEO of Discovery Sports Events, has great words for this and speaks of global growth, more sustainability and modernisation.
This could be modelled on the Alpine Ski World Cup, for example. Discovery also wants to achieve the attention boost through larger events with greater impact. In the future, all races are to be bundled into large joint events with a festival character. The Enduro Sports Organisation (ESO) around EWS founder Chris Ball is to support Discovery in an advisory capacity with the implementation of the events.
The 2023 racing calendar
In 2023, for the first time in the history of mountain biking, there will be a joint World Cup calendar for all mountain bike disciplinesCross Country Short Track, Cross Country, Enduro and Downhill. The E-MTB disciplines Cross Country and Enduro are also included in this World Cup calendar. Discovery has already announced a new world series for marathon bikers. More information on this will be announced in September.
One of the advantages of the large multidisciplinary events is that there are no overlapping dates. The events are geographically closer together than in previous seasons. In addition to the stress of racing for professionals and teams, this should also reduce the ecological footprint.
The MTB world elite will be heading to a total of ten countries on three continents in 2023. Oceania will kick things off with the first EWS race in Tasmania. This will be followed by numerous races in Europe and the season finale on the American continent. The UCI MTB World Championships will take place around Glasgow in Scotland in 2023.
Next year's World Cup will comprise a total of 34 races at 15 events. These include classics such as Leogang, but also new venues such as Valkenburg in the Netherlands. In the long term, events in South America, Asia and Africa will also be organised to turn the racing series into a real "world" cup.
Jan Timmermann
Editor
