Originally Posted by
echappist
No idea what to make of USAC’s wholesale embrace of this indoor stuff
it does appear, however, that USAC was able to increase membership by doing this. Whatever foots the bill, i guess
Yeah, I think that's it. Once it turned out that there wasn't going to be much outdoor racing this year, they didn't want to (or couldn't afford to) have to be in a situation where they were returning license fees (the university I work for is $40 million in the hole for the year - mostly because of cancellations of elective medical/dental procedures at our hospitals/professional schools and athletics, but partially because of withdrawals, decreased enrollment, and housing refunds), so they figured they'd sponsor some online racing and maybe even pick up a few new people who otherwise wouldn't have because they don't want to race outdoors. If they can use Zwiftpower to reduce cheaters/sandbaggers (and maybe limit it to races with the cone of shame), they might be able to give their races an air of legitimacy. I doubt anything will go toward upgrades though. At least I'd hope not.