Update (7:31 a.m. May 28): The Tour of Missouri is officially canceled. Our St. Louis sister paper, the Riverfront Times, reports that the announcement came in an e-mail sent to sponsors on Thursday.
"[W]e regrettably inform you of the cancellation of the 2010 Tour of
Missouri," wrote Steve Brunner, sales director of marketing agency KOM Sports. "While we worked honestly and diligently
through the process on a presenting sponsorship for Missouri Tourism,
things beyond our control have officially forced us to make a final
decision on the 2010 event."
Original story (3:45 p.m. May 27): Missouri Gov. Jay Nixon is about to lose the cycling vote -- if he hasn't already. The folks behind the Tour of Missouri say this year's five-day, 500-mile race is likely dead.
"I think that while Jay [Nixon] is in office,
we're going to be dormant," Tour of Missouri chairman Mike Weiss told our sister paper, the Riverfront Times.
Missouri doesn't appear to be living strong anymore.
Weiss and other Tour organizers have tried to meet with the governor and
The Tour of
the state's Tourism
Commission members for months only to be rebuffed.
"The fact the governor
of our state would never directly address our group, despite a
three-year history, 3,500 calls and letter from the General Assembly, is
alarming," Weiss told the RFT.
The race took a financial hit when tourism officials claimed they
couldn't afford to sponsor the race anymore -- a $1 million
contribution -- due to budget
shortfalls. Tourism had sponsored the race since its first year in
2007.
But Tour officials don't believe that's the real reason for
the bike race's likely death. They believe bad
blood between Nixon, a Democrat, and Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder, a
Republican, is the real reason problem. Kinder's strong support for the
Tour and his likeliness as a challenger to Nixon in 2012 probably didn't
help. Wonder who Tour fans will choose in that race?
The Tour
was slated to begin August 31 with more than a hundred cyclists coming from around the world.
In a release issued earlier today, Weiss and Tour vice chair Brent
Hugh
didn't sound hopeful for the Tour coming back once it's gone.
"Unfortunately, it's proven once these events are gone, they don't come
back."
Image via Hase.
Showing 1-6 of 6
Oh well, what did you expect? This is Missouri and the only thing it is known for is killing, rapig, robbing and fraud. Good old Missouri Government, they always know how to destroy the good things and promote urban decay. Swell call Gov. Nixon, maybe you'll get re-elected and have the extra time to destroy somemore good ideas. After all you wouldn't want to do anything good for Missouri at this point, it just wouldn't be like you and your staff, now would it.
This is a sad day for our community as the race is something that appeals to all ages and various cultures around the globe! It is like turning the 'WELCOME' mat upside down.
Ridiculous. As much as I love this city and state, sometimes I just can't stand it.
I don't get how an event which brings in far more money in tax revenue than is spent by the state is not a worthwhile investment.
Government would be lucky to have more situations like this.
It sounds stupid to not vote for someone over a sporting event but the Governer has handled this beyond poorly, bordering on ridiculous, and if he's willing to throw something away that makes so much sense because he doesn't like one individual, he's too much of a baby to be in Jefferson City and I'm not voting for him again. I wish I didn't the first time.
like
dislike
