Companies not traditionally involved in BMX such as Levi’s, Nike, Target, Mountain Dew, and Ball Park have drastically changed the overall landscape of the sport in terms of awareness, size and scope of events and money invested into charitable donations. This large-scale corporate sponsorship is seen by many as a positive contribution. Others however, seem concerned that these new relationships somehow “dilute” the spirit and culture of the sport. Recently, I had the opportunity to speak with
Mark “Flip” Flipowicz of Albe’s regarding his views on corporate sponsorship and BMX.
How do you personally feel non-traditional corporate sponsorships have impacted the sport? Either positive, negative or both? Well, you can look at it both ways. I see a lot of my friends that get to ride their bikes as their "job" because of big corporate sponsors. Without the money coming in from these companies many pro BMX riders would have real jobs and not be able to ride as much.