Just How the Colorado Standard upended professional biking's program version
Fred Dreier
August 29, 2019
Fast Talk podcast
The Colorado Classic developed a cost-cutting way to telecast the race that upended pro cycling's standard-- and also expensive-- program model.
Rain spurted down and lightning snapped overhanging as the expert peloton sloshed through the roads of Colorado Springs for the opening stage of the 2017 Colorado Classic.
Across the globe, thousands of fans tuned 악어얼굴 in to the inaugural race's real-time television broadcast and were greeted by a puzzling picture.
" I still remember this minute-- the TV electronic camera was simply concentrated on a shrub at the beginning line," says Rob Simon, the chief marketing policeman for RPM Occasions Group, owner of the race. "That was the only thing they can get an image of. We're paying all of this loan to be on TELEVISION, and also all we can see is a shrub."
For its inaugural version, the Colorado Classic was held alongside a two-day rock concert, called Velorama, as well as the entire package was greatly advertised as a disruptive option for pro biking's business challenges.
Yet the race still relied upon the typical design for transmission. The system, used at the Tour de France as well as Amgen Scenic Tour of The Golden State, to name a few races, is much too expensive and notoriously susceptible to poor weather condition. And also throughout the 2017 edition, the program was frequently washed out.
Memories of that wet day in Colorado Springs had a powerful effect on RPM's management team, and also assisted launch a years-long procedure to reimagine the race's online program. Simon and his staff examined new and low-cost innovation for transmitting online sporting activities. They established a method to overcome the imperfections positioned by the brand-new technology. And lastly, they bet on a live streaming model that dumped TELEVISION stations altogether.
" We invested a great deal of cash that very first year to relay it on [tv]-- we stuck with the old design and we weren't pleased with it," claims Ken Gart, chairman of RPM Events Group. "Last year we made a decision to innovate with online streaming. And also this year we took it an action better as well as the high quality enhanced and the expenses went down."
Now, the lessons learned by the RPM Events team might aid more races afford real-time broadcast. While the race's rock performance concept might have disappeared, the Colorado Classic's tv version could really interfere with professional cycling's service version.