MLS side Sporting Kansas City will continue to use Lance Armstrong's charity as name of stadium despite doping revelations
Sporting Kansas City's stadium will continue to carry the name of Lance Armstrong's cancer charity Livestrong despite him being labelled as a serial drugs cheat.
The Major League Soccer team's home ground is known as Livestrong Sporting Park and the club's chief executive Robb Heineman, speaking at the Leaders in Football conference in London, refuted any suggestion that the name would change even though the 41-year-old Armstrong was said to have orchestrated "the most sophisticated, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen" in a US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) report released yesterday.
Armstrong won seven Tour de France titles and, having overcome testicular cancer, set up the Lance Armstrong Foundation cancer charity - also known as Livestrong. He has now been stripped of those titles by USADA and banned from cycling for life.
"The reason we did the partnership was for everyone affected by cancer and the 80 million members of Livestrong worldwide," Heineman said.
"That is how we think of the relationship with the brand. The Lance information is less relevant around our partnership.
"It is really about the 28 million cancer survivors worldwide and what we can do to support them.
"It is more around the mission with that brand and the relationship we have with the brand.
"It truly is about helping those afflicted with cancer and the lifestyle they live with every day."
PA
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