Dave Coulson interview: breaking the mould with Cycling Sheffield’s unique geographical funding model

If money makes the world go round, it certainly spins the pedals of elite level cycling. The sport’s funding model, largely unchanged in a century, almost exclusively relies on corporate sponsors funding teams and races, in exchange for their brand being splashed all over the rider’s kit, team cars and road. With the sport in Britain going through a tumultuous time, including teams losing sponsors and races facing unprecedented running costs amidst a tough economic climate, The British Continental spoke to Cycling Sheffield’s owner and manager Dave Coulson about the Elite Development Team’s unique funding model, their relationship with sponsors, and alternative ways of finding funding. 

We’re trying to build a team that’s a bit like a football club. It has a connection with its city. You use a place to build a profile around and connect with that population

Coulson’s Sheffield based team will enter their 11th season in 2024, after starting life as Envelopemaster – Giant Sheffield, carving out a reputation as one of the leading development teams in the UK in that time. Following a traditional title sponsorship model for the first three seasons, the team rebranded as Cycling Sheffield for 2017, with a host of local sponsors under that umbrella. 

“We’re using what has been termed, not by me, as a geographical model,” explains Coulson. “We’re trying to build a team that’s a bit like a football club. It has a connection with its city. You use a place to build a profile around and connect with that population.” 

Coulson points to the Basque Euskaltel-Euskadi team as the best example of this from the sport’s professional ranks, where exclusively Basque firms fund the team. The ‘geographic’ model Coulson runs is commonplace in France, with many teams having a similar arrangement, such as Vendée U, where Cycling Sheffield alumnus Adam Mitchell will ply his trade in 2024. “Teams like us in France can’t have a commercial title,” he continues. “They can have lots of sponsors and big budgets, but they’re all named after a region. I’m still a long way from realising the potential I think the idea has. I’m ambitious but realistic. We’re still working with the same business model [as a traditional team], we’re just Cycling Sheffield and not ‘Smiths Bricks’ [for example]”. 

Running a bike team, bringing money in, and finding sponsors has never been easy. And I can’t see it changing significantly

Coulson currently has nine sponsors on board, having lost a couple over the course of the winter. “Running a bike team, bringing money in, and finding sponsors has never been easy. And I can’t see it changing significantly and becoming easier, ever,” says Coulson when asked about the potential to find new sponsors. “We’re not a bike racing country. It’s different to how it was, even ten or fifteen years ago, but we’re still not France, Italy or Belgium. [The geographic model] definitely increases potential, but it’s a lot of work. Cycling Sheffield, compared to the equivalent in any town in France, it takes a lot more work because ultimately we’re still selling a cycling team.”

Coulson makes sure to keep up good relationships within the city, proving that he is more than just a salesman and representative for the team. “I’ve put lots and lots of work in building connections and doing things which are often nothing to do with cycling, but engaging with the people of Sheffield. If you look at our Twitter [X] feed going back through the years, most of it has nothing to do with cycling. It’s about trying to build a brand people can see value in, and there’s a bit of integrity to it, it’s not just ‘we’re all about Sheffield, give us some money’.

“It’s another instance of how bike racing, on a commercial level, is. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg scenario. ‘If we had loads of money, we could do this’, but the reality is, you’re going to have to do all that to bring the money in.”

Coulson works with sponsors throughout the year and helps them get the most out their partnership with the team, using an example of an accountancy firm who use images of the team in their office and literature, providing a more subtle and interesting form of marketing in the shape of a conversation starter. “That’s what I put a lot of time into, trying to activate partnerships and help them use us. You can’t just put their logo on your jersey, phone them back in a year and ask for it again,” he says.

I work year round nurturing the relationships we have with sponsors, even though I know eventually we’ll lose them

“You have to nurture it, like any relationship. Any team that is successful, it is because things are done properly. I work year round nurturing the relationships we have with sponsors, even though I know eventually we’ll lose them, not because of anything I do, but because they’ve got a new CEO or will partner with a charity for example. When we lose a sponsor I’m all over them, saying thank you for what they’ve done. No matter how viable I can convince a sponsor we are, they don’t need to do it, do they?”

How does Coulson sell the team to potential sponsors? “If you’ve got bike industry sponsors, it’s really straightforward. It’s really easy to endorse a bike product or service,” he answers. 

“How we might be attractive to a major company in the city is through their CSR [Corporate Social Responsibility] policy. I might have seen a company has sponsored an event. That’s maybe over a day or a weekend, and if it rains, the potential is down 50%. If a company comes on board with us, it’s 365 days, and during that time, there’s loads of scope for us to make it work. 

“Every sort of company imaginable has been involved with cycling. However obscure the connection maybe, it’s working out how to activate that. It should be easier than ever before now because cycling is close to the mainstream, it does make the news.”

Even as a small team we’ve had races on the programme in the last few years costing in excess of £7,000-£8,000. It’s expensive!

Sponsorships are a two way street, and Coulson is careful to ensure that any partnership benefits the team, either by providing a crucial service or offering money to offset the running costs involved with an Elite Development Team. “If you’re running a big team, your race programme and wage bill are the two big things,” he outlines. “Obviously, a team like Cycling Sheffield, we’re not about paying riders. Even as a small team we’ve had races on the programme in the last few years costing in excess of £7,000-£8,000. It’s expensive! When you’re going to other countries with two team cars and there’s 8 or 9 of you, that’s a lot of bodies. We did a race in Italy [in 2022] and the fuel bill alone was £1500.

“One of the things I’ve succeeded in doing is getting sponsors that allow us to use the money primarily on the race programme. We’ve had a team vehicle sponsor for the past ten years, we’ve got bike sponsors, kit sponsors. One of the strengths of this team is what I’d consider essential assets, we’ve achieved through sponsorship. If you’ve got to buy a car, it’s a lot of money, then you spend more money to keep it on the road. If you’ve got to buy bikes, even if it’s trade, it’s a lot of money to tie up.

“If you want to do it properly and support riders, you need money,” Coulson concludes, revealing that not all sponsorship deals he is offered, he takes up. “You can’t run a team on products, which are often just supplied at trade. I’ve turned down a lot of product deals every year, because it doesn’t solve a problem, it’s just another sponsor I have to service.”

Despite being on the lookout for a vehicle supplier after their previous partnership recently ended, the team is secure for 2024, with Coulson looking to add sponsors to enable the team to race abroad, offering the riders vital experience and the chance to enhance their development.

We go abroad for stage racing because there’s not enough of that in this country

“We go abroad for stage racing because there’s not enough of that in this country,” Coulson outlines. “On top of that, even if there were more stage races in this country, it’s not where bike racing is. If you’re dreaming of being in the Tour de France, you’ve really got to go to Europe when you’re young. It’s for the race itself, the experience and result, but also helping them move on,” he continues, revealing that accommodation costs for such trips have increased, as well as Brexit making the trips more difficult. “It’s kind of acknowledged that France is, at the minute, the place to go, and with the passport nightmare, [ed. changes to the conditions for movement of people and goods into Europe post-Brexit] only travelling that distance makes it more practical and affordable.”

The team have tried various other forms of fundraising aside from direct sponsorship over the years, including selling supporter packages. Set up by a former sponsor and revamped for 2024, the packages, ranging from £25 to £150, hope to provide Coulson with the financial equivalent of an extra sponsor. “I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the uptake on that,” he says, paying tribute to the fans the team have made over the years, commenting that the team’s human approach to social media helps them connect with the public.

“It’s great, it’s making a difference – even £500 makes a big difference – it’s two tanks of fuel and a ferry crossing,” he continues, delivering a cautious message about relying on such funding mechanisms as opposed to cash sponsorship. “No team can survive on that revenue alone. Not even Ineos can sell enough merchandise.

The issue is, there’s nothing you can come up with that can create a large amount of revenue, and if it does bring in revenue, it’s not predictable or reliable

“Almost everything you see a bike team do, has been done before. I like to think I’m quite creative, but nothing is new. The issue is, there’s nothing you can come up with that can create a large amount of revenue, and if it does bring in revenue, it’s not predictable or reliable; so you have to assume it isn’t sustainable. I can’t say ‘if we sell enough t-shirts lads, we’ll be going to both those races in France this summer’. We need that money in the bank in January from sponsors. It’s worth doing, but it’s work – building it, promoting it, going to the post office.”

Coulson enters 2024 with the team having signed some of the most promising young riders on the domestic circuit, with three from the city of Sheffield itself. After a successful 2023 which saw James McKay finish third in the UCI 1.2 Rutland-Melton International Cicle Classic and move up to UCI Continental level with Saint Piran, the focus remains on development with riders looking up to the likes Ineos Grenadiers professional Connor Swift, who started his journey on Coulson’s team.

“It’s valuable, but I wouldn’t really say it’s essential,” says Coulson when asked about keeping riders from Sheffield in the team. “Sheffield United, not all their players are from Sheffield,” he points out, recalling a conversation with a potential sponsor who was concerned about the origins of some of the riders. “If the riders aren’t here, we have to look further afield. These riders we’re recruiting, they aren’t ten a penny. Last year, we had five riders from the city, which was unprecedented. For me, it’s great, because it looks good, it enables me to spend more time with them, they get more out of me, the working relationship is better and there’s a good feeling in the team, with this core of riders from the city”.

Coulson remains focused on developing young riders and says the future of the team is safe despite it being “in a different place to previous years” amongst a challenging climate for both the sport and economy.

“I always make sure the team has enough money to roll over,” he adds. “We’re never going to disappear because we’ve got no money. I won’t let that happen.”

Featured image: SWpix.com