The AusCycling team has signed a five-year deal with ARA Group, a private company that already sponsors a men’s and women’s continental team and is deepening its support of the sport by becoming the first title sponsor of the national cycling team since 2016.
ARA – which has operations in Australia and New Zealand across the four divisions of fire & security, electrical, property services, and products – will have its logo displayed on the national kit across all cycling disciplines from the Glasgow World Championships, where over 130 athletes will represent the ARA Australian Cycling Team across nine disciplines.
“As a young organisation that represents all cycling disciplines, securing our first major partner is a crucial step towards Victoria 2026 and Brisbane 2032 under AusCycling’s 10-year ‘United’ strategy,” said Marne Fechner, CEO of AusCycling which was formed in 2020 as part of an amalgamation of the mountain bike and BMX federations with the previously road and track focussed Cycling Australia. “We’re excited to be working with like-minded partners on the journey towards a home Commonwealth, Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“ARA’s commitment to social responsibility, including its contributions to conservation, arts and literature, and the Indigenous community, strongly resonates with AusCycling’s values. I’m looking forward to all the opportunities this partnership will bring.”
In recent years the Australian cycling federation has seen a significant drop in the amount of sponsorship revenue and even the combination of the varied cycling disciplines in 2020 was not enough to push it back to anywhere close to a peak of $1.95 million, in local currency, seen in 2016 when Gerry Ryan's Jayco was in its last year as title sponsor of the Australian team.
Sponsorship income was a little over half a million last year for AusCycling, which in 2022 had revenue of $28 million mainly from government grants but with a significant contribution also coming from membership fees. The organisation declined to outline how much the ARA sponsorship deal was worth, for reasons of commercial confidence, but did add that it hoped this would be the first of a small number of major 'whole of sport' partnership arrangements.
When Ryan’s Jayco signed the four year deal with Cycling Australia in 2012 it was touted as a multi-million dollar agreement and while the company may no longer be the title sponsor of the Australian team, its name and support is spread far and wide through the cycling community. That ranges from race sponsorship to ongoing support of the Jayco-AlUla men’s and women’s WorldTour teams plus there has also just been an announcement that the Australian businessman will also be partnering with the Hagens Berman Axeon, with Jayco signing a three year co-title sponsorship deal.
While there are also many other companies that invest in the sport in Australia, the broadening of ARA’s already considerable contribution – with the company having come on as a supporter of the Australian Cycling Academy (ACA) and its ARA Skip Capital team in 2019 – is a significant boost.
“It’s really exciting to see a business that wholeheartedly embraces the sport and that is committed to its growth, CEO, Edward Federman and the broader ARA Group, have shown a clear belief in not only our program but now the wider cycling community," said ACA CEO and former professional cyclist Matt Wilson. “It’s an incredible vote of confidence in cycling and the future of our national team program as we look forward to both home Commonwealth and Olympic Games in this next decade.”
ARA had already signed on for another three years with the ACA and its ARA-Skip Capital team, extending its support of the programme which provides vital racing opportunities both domestically and internationally through the the end of 2025. Some of those who have launched from ACA to the professional ranks in recent seasons include Ruby Roseman-Gannon, Maeve Plouffe and Cameron Scott and now those riders could potentially be wearing an ARA logo on their jersey once again at a World Championships or Olympic Games.
“Supporting the communities in which we operate is an important element of our success and we enjoy long-term associations with those community partners. We see this commitment to cycling no differently,” Edward Federman, CEO of ARA Group said.
“We want to share in the journey and it is our intent to support our athletes and enjoy their achievements in the green-and-gold ARA Australian Cycling Team uniform as we look forward to this exciting journey toward Brisbane 2032 and beyond.”
