The U.S. Postal Service (USPS), one of the "most
recognizable national symbols" in the world, believes that
its sponsorship deal with the U.S. Cycling team competing in
the Tour de France "makes a lot of sense," according to
Laurence Zuckerman of the N.Y. TIMES. However, Zuckerman
writes that "[u]nfortunately for" the USPS, pro cycling is
"just not that widely followed in the [U.S.], where most of
its customers happen to be." Interest in cycling "is
growing in this country," but it is "still far from the
national passion it is in Europe." Zuckerman calls the
USPS's $1M sponsorship deal "cheap even if relatively small
numbers of Americans will notice." This year, the USPS
assigned a special team to use its cycling sponsorship to
"drum up business," and companies that have signed new deals
with USPS as a result include NationsBank and Nashbar. The
USPS "decided not to buy time" on ABC and ESPN's Tour de
France telecasts and instead plans to spend the money to
sponsor U.S. pro races. But, Zuckerman notes that ESPN has
still focused "a lot of its coverage on" the U.S. Postal
team, as team member George Hincapie's "early success has
helped" lift the event's ratings by one-tenth of a point, to
around 400,000 homes (Laurence Zuckerman, N.Y. TIMES, 7/17).
