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Paper reports Discovery to pull sponsorship plug
USA Today reported Friday that the Discovery Channel is expected to drop its title sponsorship of the cycling team that bears its name at the end of the 2007 season.
The decision not to renew the team’s contract at the end of a three-year contract comes only days after the firing of company CEO Billy Campbell, a strong advocate of the team sponsorship, on Monday of this week.
Campbell, who helped push the television network’s initial co-sponsorship in 2004, also pushed the company to assume full title sponsorship in 2005, when the U.S. Postal Service ended its support for the team.
The team is operated by Tailwind sports, a management firm co-owned by seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong and attorney Bill Stapleton.
Campbell, CEO at Discovery for five years, was replaced by former NBC executive David Zaslav.
The firing was part of a major management shake-up at Discovery, which also saw David Abraham, head of the TLC channel; Maureen Smith, head of Animal Planet; Dawn McCall, head of the international operations; and Pandit Wright, head of human resources, terminated this week.
Campbell was also said to be a major supporter of the team’s decision to hire Ivan Basso, despite ongoing questions surrounding his involvement in the Operacion Puerto doping scandal.
Zaslav immediately embarked on company-wide reorganization when he was named as Campbell’s replacement on Monday. Zaslav announced Tuesday that he would consolidate all production facilities into one unit and hire new, senior business for each of Discovery’s five networks.
Stapleton attributed the sponsorship decision to the changes at Discovery headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland.
"This would not have happened if Billy Campbell was still there," Stapleton told USA Today’s Sal Ruibal. "This is about their change in management."
