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Into The Lion’s Den, New Race Brings Back Memories of the NCL

L39ION of Los Angeles’ Justin and Cory Williams have helped create an event coming later this month called Into the Lion’s Den, Powered by SRAM. The three-race event will be held on October 30th at the California State Capitol building in Sacramento, CA, with racing for Amateurs (1/2/3) and Pro Women’s and Men’s fields. The $100,000 equal prize money payout, including $20,000 in primes, the largest in US Crit history, will be sure to attract many of the top crit teams and racers in the nation to the invitational event. There’s a twist though that is bringing back memories of American crit racing from the early to mid-’90s.

The amateur and pro women’s fields will race as usual, but for the men, there is a “new” concept of racing for city teams, not rider’s trade teams. Riders will wear team jerseys that will include their name and number on the back, like other major pro sports. Rosters will be made up of up-and-coming riders, big names in the crit world, and National Champions and Olympians. Nothing has been said about any possible conflicts with trade teams or sponsors at this time.

If you’ve been around the crit scene since the 1990’s, this might sound familiar. The National Cycling League was started in the late ’80’s with many connections to the NFL, including the NCL commissioner and former players as owners, like Franco Harris.

Back then, the format was a little different from what we come to expect at a crit race. The format changed a little over the years, but in 1991, there were two halves that were made up of 12 laps, with sprints every 3 laps and a 15-minute halftime in between. On each sprint, the top four riders from each team scored points, along with points awarded to the top 10 riders at the end of the race. The team with the most points at the end won. Teams were made up of five riders, and you could sub one rider in at halftime, and only three teams raced. At the end of the season, two teams from each conference and two wild card teams made it to the World Title Race. At the end of the season, riders would get championship rings, similar to what you’d find on the hands of Super Bowl Champions. Check out Steve Tilford’s blog post about his time in the NCL and his championship ring.

Yes, a little odd by today’s standards, but they were trying to bring something to the masses that somewhat resembled a format they were used to with major pro sports. More recently, the World Cycling League/TeamTrak tried something similar in the velodrome with location-based teams like PA Lightning, Mexico Heat, Colorado Cyclones, and the Dublin Thunder competing in events in 2016.

“People aren’t going to stand around for an hour just to watch a blur of riders pass them for 20 seconds,” NCL Commissioner Peter O’Neil said in a 1991 LA Times article. “They want more. With this format, they can follow the race, they can root. We’ve made cycling a user-friendly spectator sport.”

Teams consisted of some top riders of the time, like Carl Sundquist, Steve Hegg, Greg Oravetz, Nate Reiss, Graeme Miller, Pete Pieters, Jeff Rutter, Joe Papp, Chris Horner, Steve Tilford, Adam Myerson, Danny van Haute, Nelson Vails, Kurt Stockton, and Frank, Mark, and Alan McCormack. Riders were only required to ride a few events and could still race for their trade teams. It was one of the first times that USCF riders were able to race non-federation races at the time. The NCL had brought up a lawsuit against the USCF, claiming the federation had a monopoly over riders, as there are stories about riders being suspended if they participated in non-federation events.

The league had television deals to broadcast the races across the country and rules stipulated that riders were to be paid between $50 and $1500 a race by their teams from sponsorship and television revenues, usually with all of their expenses paid by the team. It was a big change to racing back then as the league brought the sponsors and owners in, and the money flowed down to the riders. There was even talk about a possible college draft at one point.

Teams had names like the Pittsburgh Power, Houston/Austin Outlaws, Boston Banshees, LA Wings, Portland Thunder, San Francisco Shakers, Gotham Ghosts, Miami Wave, San Diego Zoom, and Seattle Cyclones. It started with three teams, blossoming to over 10 which were broken up into Atlantic and Pacific Conferences. Eventually, by 1993 the NCL even grew to include international teams like the Amsterdam Tigers, London Lancers, and Forza Milano, creating the Euro Conference.

“It’s not so individual anymore,” said San Diego Zoom team captain and rider Cosme Aguirre in 1991. “Instead of going for one rider, people are going for a city team. They can relate more to a city. They may have never heard of a rider, but if it’s a team, they tend to be appreciative. Even for the person who doesn’t know a thing about the sport, they will hear about a city team.”

Over 20 years later, William’s concept for Into the Lion’s Den shares similar views of the NCL riders.

“The City Team format will create a unique bond between fans, teams and riders”, recently commented Rahsaan Bahati, 10-time U.S. Champion, founder of the Bahati Foundation and Team Director for The Compton Team about Into The Lion’s Den. “I think Into the Lion’s Den is going to develop fans through community pride and inspire the next generation by showcasing their local heroes.”

Below is a video from the NCL Toronto race in 1994 featuring the Toronto Pride, Miami Wave, and Forza Milano.

There isn’t a whole lot documented about the NCL or its eventual downfall. The little you can find paints a picture of revenue downfalls that in the end just couldn’t be made up.

While the NCL and Into the Lion’s Den are very different, the City Team structure remains a similar concept between the two, and something that has even been thought of at the WorldTour level. With the current void of a national series with the recent events surrounding USA Crits, could we see the reemergence of something like the National Cycling League? Into the Lion’s Den could be a possible test of something old that has become new again.

If something like the NCL format would emerge, it would be a total shake up of how teams are structured now. Instead of a team being based on a main sponsor, it would bring more of a major pro sport feel with a city and team name. This could lead to more stability for fans finding their team and sticking with them long term like they do baseball or football. Sponsors would still be a big part of the equation, but without having naming rights, some might not be as interested due to less exposure. The way around this could be a hybrid approach of team names like the DC Diplomats p/b UHC or the Colavita Florida Hurricanes. I’m not sure having a sponsor on the front of the jersey like the MLS does would be enough of a draw.

The next question, is there enough support in cycling to have something like the NCL again, but also regular trade teams? Not all races/teams will convert to the NCL format. Some teams have greater ambition than just crit racing in the US. Sure, non-crit races could join up, but does that limit the event to just NCL teams?

There are a lot of questions that will need to be answered if this format is successful and many players will need to get on board in the beginning for it to work. It will be interesting to see how the sport evolves over the next five years as the Williams brothers and others push the sport to grow.

Tags: California, Colavita, Colorado, Cory Williams, Crit, criterium, Florida, Justin Williams, London, Mexico, Milan, Portland, Sacramento, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, sponsorship, SRAM, USA, velodrome, video
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