It is "doubtful" that "crucial governance reforms for British Cycling" will be approved next weekend, "plunging the organisation into a financial crisis," former CEO Peter King said, according to Dan Roan of the BBC. King, who ran the governing body from '97-08, said that he "expected the proposals to be rejected" at an extraordinary general meeting of its national council on Saturday. The government warned British Cycling that funding is "dependent on adoption of reforms designed to improve governance standards across sport." But King believes that opposition among the organization's 130,000 members "will mean the board fails to secure the 75% majority required to vote through the changes." Sport England allocated £17M ($22.2M) to British Cycling to "boost grassroots participation," while UK Sport is set to invest £26M ($33.9M) for its Olympic and Paralympic teams' preparations for Tokyo 2020. But both sums "hinge on complying" with U.K. Sports Minister Tracey Crouch's governance code. King said that the board "now faces a fight to get the measures passed." King: "My original view was that the members would vote in favor of the proposals because of the threat of losing funding. But I think the feeling is now moving the other way, and from the meetings I've attended, I think it's doubtful" (BBC, 7/16).
