At the Tour de France, One Family Wins Every Year
The Amaurys of Paris own the race, but won’t share any of the $170 million in media revenue. Sponsors and riders say their resistance is dooming the sport.
By David Segal
In recent decades, leagues and marquee events in virtually every sport have expanded in ways that have minted fortunes. The just-finished World Cup is expected to pull in $13 billion, double the sum of 2022’s tournament. It started with more teams and matches; interrupting games with “hydration breaks” that increased the number of television commercials; and enacting “dynamic pricing,” which sent ticket prices soaring.
The Amaurys — the matriarch, Marie-Odile, who is in her mid-80s, and her children, Jean-Etienne and Aurore — will have none of this.
Many have urged them to change their minds. Silicon Valley billionaires, European entrepreneurs and, most recently, Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund have all approached the Amaurys with offers. Some wanted to buy all or part of the Tour for immense sums. Others, like the Saudis, wanted to make it the crown jewel of a new league, one that would tie together a bunch of races and produce a multi-month season, like football or soccer.
All of these supplicants were given the same answer. Non...
The Amaurys don’t share because they don’t have to. (They don’t have to talk to the press, either; they declined a request for an interview.) Their company has a monopolist’s hold on the sport, with a revenue engine unlike any other. About 300 cities apply each year to become a stop on the Tour — the 2,000-mile route changes annually — and chosen ones pay A.S.O. about $160,000 for the honor. Local authorities and the French government also help cover the cost of road closings and about 28,000 police officers and firefighters...
Mr. Amaury ruminated about one of the offers he and his family had deflected, this one purportedly from a group of billionaires in Silicon Valley. “The Americans think everything is for sale,” he said.
For the whole article:
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/business/tour-de-france-amaury-aso.html