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Index on Sponsorship: T-Mobile, two wheels bad?

Friday, 10 August 2007

Turning a blind eye to the needles and the damage done.

This year’s Tour de France was all but ruined by drug cheats. One pre-race favourite, one race leader and sundry others were expelled in one way or another that points straight at all forms of doping.

And 26-year old Patrik Sinkewitz of the T-Mobile team was among them. His exclusion led directly to the cessation of live TV coverage by state broadcasters ARD and ZDF. Not great if you are a German-based team sponsor.

That alone might have led T-Mobile to think about its involvement in the ‘sport’ (click here) and it swiftly pulled out the rest of its team from Le Tour. Even more so since the last two great champions of T-Mobile or its parent (and earlier team sponsor) Telekom, Bjarne Riis and Jan Ullrich, are proven or suspected drug cheats.

So will T-Mobile give up on the world of gears and sprockets and pelotons? Not a bit of it. Association with a sport now centred more on steroids than stamina is a good way of reaching the vital youth market? That’s just lazy thinking, we now learn.

“We want to prove a point through consistency and stability which this sport is in great need of”, said Hamid Akhavan, Chairman of the Board of T-Mobile International and Board Member of Deutsche Telekom AG. “We want to continue our involvement in cycling and support it in its effort to become a cleaner sport".

“After intensive internal talks, but also after discussions with key representatives from the world of politics, media and sport, we decided to face the challenges and not to give in to the current problems. We knew that the chosen route would be difficult”, says Akhavan.

There are three little bits of sponsor’s nuance. Two are bizarre but borderline understandable:
• “For the first time in the history of the sport, the athletes and team management will make a personal financial contribution to tackle doping. Cyclists and management in the T-Mobile Team will contribute a certain percentage of their salary. T-Mobile International will then top up this total to one million euros and make it available for the fight against doping.”

• “The team will directly support expanded testing and better test methods, as has been done with both DNA and Blood Volume testing in 2007. To this end, the team management will meet with the responsible organizations, such as the World Anti-Doping Agency and the National Anti-Doping Agency, and other independent testing agencies.”

The third point is the killer:
• “Deutsche Telekom AG reserves the right to immediately terminate the commitment in the event of further doping cases.”

Yes, OK, but this statement serves as proof that if put on the spot, it would do nothing. That is exactly what it did (or more specifically failed to do) in July.

So now its cyclists will have to pay for their own doctors? Think about it, T-Mobile: that’s exactly what they’ve been doing all along.
Jim Chalmers