France's biggest sporting event of the year -- the Tour de France -- has been in progress since July 5 and will continue through July 27, and the good news, despite continuing incidents of doping that have plagued the Tour for many years (including yesterday's report of Manuel Beltran's positive test for EPO), is that corporate sponsorship is making a cautious comeback. The black eye of doping undoubtedly contributed to companies like T-Mobile and The Discovery Channel opting out after the last season. Recently, however, Columbia Sportswear and GPS maker Garmin International have signed on to be title sponsors of separate U.S. teams. Cycling's doping problem presents a calculated risk but ironically, a possibly attractive proposition for would-be sponsors. Title sponsorships, which reportedly have gone for anywhere between $3-$9 million, seemingly could be had for bargain right now. Columbia president and CEO Tim Boyle said "Now we could afford it. Maybe a year ago, we couldn't."
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http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121571232545543125.html
http://www.latimes.com/sports/la-sp-tour4-2008jul04,0,7866668,print.story
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/07/06/business/wbtour07.phphttp://www.oregonlive.com/printer/printer.ssf?/base/business/121367490949530.xml&coll=7
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