ASO and AEG Expand Cycling Partnership Agreement
Owners of Tour de France and Amgen Tour of California Grow Media PartnershipLOS ANGELES (April 8, 2010) – Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and AEG, owners respectively of the Tour de France and the Amgen Tour of California cycling races, announced that they have expanded their media partnership to provide unprecedented coverage of the Amgen Tour of California in 2010. In just four years, the event already has been established as the most popular race outside of Europe and will now take place in May at the heart of the cycling season.
Beginning with the upcoming 2010 Amgen Tour of California, which will be held May 16-23, ASO will assume responsibility for overseeing all aspects of the race’s television production. ASO will bring the award-winning Tour de France television production team to California, including Jean-Maurice Ooghe, who has directed the television broadcast for many Tour de France races. As part of the enhancements in 2010, the entire Amgen Tour of California will be shot and distributed in high definition, showcasing the picturesque landscape of California to a global audience, including Eurosport in Europe and the Versus network in the United States.
In addition to production of the broadcast, ASO will continue to assist AEG with the international distribution of the Amgen Tour of California television and digital media rights. ASO will develop, produce and distribute a portfolio of programming formats, including a daily highlights and recap package. In 2009, the race was distributed to more than 200 countries and territories and was seen live in more than 90 countries on some of the main cycling channels worldwide, including Eurosport in Europe, Versus in the United States, J Sports in Japan, SBS in Australia, Dubai Sports Channel in the Middle East and HiTV in Africa.
“We are pleased to be entering the third year of this partnership with AEG and the Amgen Tour of California and are looking forward to expanding the services that we will be providing to this year’s race,” said Yann Le Moenner, deputy managing director, ASO. “We are proud to be producing and distributing the broadcast images of the 2010 Amgen Tour of California on an international platform, demonstrating that our expertise is recognized not only in Europe, but worldwide. We are looking forward to providing services to other international sporting events based on the experience we have built over many years in the business.”
“AEG is delighted to grow our partnership with the Amaury Sport Organization, which is the world’s best organizer of bicycle races,” said Andrew Messick, president, AEG Sports. “We expect that ASO will provide viewers around the world with both an extraordinary documentation of the race and a showcase of the incredible beauty and diversity of the state of California.”
About the Tour de France
Running from Saturday, July 3 to Sunday, July 25 2010, the 97th Tour de France will be made up of one prologue and 20 stages, and will cover a total distance of 3,600 kilometers. For more information, visit www.letour.com.
About the Amgen Tour of California
The largest cycling event in America, the 2010 Amgen Tour of California is a Tour de France-style cycling road race, presented by AEG, that challenges the world’s top professional cycling teams to compete along a demanding 800-mile course through the state from Sacramento to Southern California from May 16-23.
About ASO
ASO is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Media Group “EPA”, Edition Philippe Amaury. Created in September 1992, ASO is specialized in the organisation of renowned sports events, such as the Tour de France, the Dakar Rally and the Paris Marathon. Over the last few years, the company has expanded, ASO having intensified its activities in cycling (Vuelta cycling, Tour of Qatar, Tour of Oman) and taken up new disciplines, such as golf (the Open de France, the oldest tournament on the European continent) and has launched the Merrell Oxygen Challenge (Out Door Event, trail and Mountain bike).
About AEG
AEG is one of the leading sports and entertainment presenters in the world. AEG, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Anschutz Company, owns or controls a collection of companies including facilities such as STAPLES Center, The Home Depot Center, Sprint Center, The O2, NOKIA Theatre L.A. LIVE and NOKIA Theatre Times Square; sports franchises including the Los Angeles Kings (NHL), two Major League Soccer franchises, two hockey franchises operated in Europe, management of privately held shares of the Los Angeles Lakers, the ING Bay to Breakers foot race and the Amgen Tour of California cycling road race; AEG LIVE, the organization’s live-entertainment division, is a collection of companies dedicated to all aspects of live contemporary music performance, touring and a variety of programming and multi-media production. For more information, visit AEG today at www.aegworldwide.com.
Media Contacts:
AEG
Michael Roth
+1 (213) 742-7155
mroth@aegworldwide.com
ASO
Christophe Marchadier
+33 1 41 33 15 35
cmarchadier@aso.fr
