NachosGrande

Specifically, would one have to establish a nonprofit organization or can it be an LLC? What would be the pros and cons of one or the other? The club I am thinking of starting would be focused on races and training for races: Road, Crits, Cir. and even triathlons. I probably would not race all that much (maybe TT's at most), but I would like to manage the Team/club. I tried the search, and couldn't find the info. Please feel free to point me to links of this forum with said info. Thanks in advance.

carpediemracing 

Your questions are all over the place. Unless you're involved in doing them now it's very time consuming to create a non-profit (aka 501c3). It's a big deal to score a 501c3. A not-for-profit is easier but still a pain - I was part of one for a while and when I asked my (high level executive) friend how he got it all set up he told me that his legal team handled it. We were incorporated in Delaware for various reasons, blah blah blah. I didn't care, as long as I was protected liability wise I was okay with it. Now I'm an LLC. It might take 5 minutes to set one up if you do it yourself (fill out the forms at a bank if they need to be notarized, I don't remember specifics), a meeting or two if you use a lawyer. I did the latter because I didn't want to screw anything up. This is all business stuff and you really should talk to a business lawyer or someone like that who can advise you on liability and such. You're pretty exposed if someone, say, dies on you, and you really don't want to be exposed personally.

The assumption that USA Cycling makes is that you've already done all that LLC/Corp/Inc/etc stuff when you "register" a club/team. They just ask for the contact name, mailing address, and a credit card. To be able to race in a kit in USAC races you have to register your club/team with them, pay an annual fee, etc. That part is easy. The setting up of the club, meaning deciding the LLC/Corp/etc, is the hard part.

Not sure how triathlons work.

Most clubs/teams start because there's a sort of "current need", i.e. a bunch of guys really want to get a team going or someone wants to promote a particular product/thing/company/whatever and thinks a cycling team is a good vehicle for that. You'll need a compelling thing to attract riders to your club if you don't have a bunch of riders already eager to sign on with your future team.

dz_nuzz

When I started a team it was not that hard to start a 501c3 (non-profit). There are specific rules that talk about creating local sports teams. The thing with a 501c3 is that if you are under a certain monetary cap (About 4000$) there is lvery little paperwork. As soon as you go over that limit you need to start submitting a bunch of forms.

CDR is right that you should probably talk to a lawyer about it if you can but I have found that starting a small team where all you really want is a shared bank account that has a minimal amount of money rolling through it is pretty simple.

topflightpro

You also could just look at USAC's website, which has a whole page on how to start a club: Clubs - USA Cycling

NachosGrande

Thanks CDR. You answered my main concern, which was regarding liability. I should have made that clear on my initial post. I've read through USA-Cycling's website, and they didn't have the info I was looking for.

topflightpro

For liability, you don't necessarily need to go the LLC route. CDR also runs a business that puts on races and pays people. If you go the 501(c)3 route, which takes time but is not incredibly difficult, you can still purchase general liability and directors and officers insurance. My team's policies cost about $650 a year total.