hey, did you know that wera thinks.....

[ScubaSteve]

  I think its TLC airing the poker championships this year. Hell espn airs a spelling bee what the heck is that all about. the last time i checked espn was a sports channel so why air stupid crap like that or lumberjacking or any other "sport" like those. I agree the discovery channel thing might work i know that the Sunshine Channel here in Florida airs Hooters Pro Cup which is below Busch series racing for nascar. They air races from all over the eastern US we might want to check into that. They mgith do some coverage for us

[Steviebee]

I just coudnt imageing racing in front of a crouwd of spetators.   WOW would that be cool..


MotoGP races gets 75 -100 thousand spectators !!!
AMA      races gets 11-20   thousand spetactors !!!


Why ?
One reason (among others !!)  A lot more europeans use motorcycles as a means of transportation !!!  Rememeber  guys 1! there cheap ! and fuel efficient !!

Its not like that here in the states !!  Motorcycles are seens as a status symbol/hobbie/whatever  not a viable means of transportation (there dangerous remember, (no comment))

[Dawn]

FYI

I edited mbmotorsports post and removed s_minella post.  The tone and language was inappropriate.

Dawn  

[spyderchick]

The tone and language was inappropriate.

Well, imagine that? :o :o :o Racers who use "inappropriate" language. I never.  ;) :D ;D Thanks for keeping it clean Dawn. Guess we gotta watch our p's and q's...oh and our "thingys" as well. ;D ;D ;D

[Super Dave]

Ok, FUSA and WERA?  FUSA was at Willow Springs...it wasn't WERA's idea.  

AMACCS?  Well, Roger Edmonson worked for WERA, created CCS, and then tagged the AMA along with it.  Roger is probably most responsible for getting the AMA program going at the pro level.  CCS and WERA both reaped benefits from his chasing the industry for product contingencies.  Wasn't much available when I started.  Before WERA, and before CCS, the AMA had very little road racing.  About all there was at that time was the AFM in California.  

As for where riders come from...

WHO CARES...

The organization doesn't ride the bike...those riders do.  It was because of their special God given tallents, opportunity, and luck that they got where they were...

And with out the any riders, no organization would exist.  

[lightsmith]

I was talking to a cousin of mine who's in a band.  When their record company was bought by the big guys his band's CD suffered.  Basically they were set to finally put out the CD that would get them over the top (sounds like a bad start, huh).  They had a big fan base from touring and their last 2 CDs and been used as promo music for the X games and on a movie soundtrack, etc. Their new CD was put off for another year, wasting all their promotion up to that point, and they had to re-work it to please the execs.  When it did come out, the company barely promoted it at all and the changes made to the songs fell flat with their existing fan base.  I asked him why the big company would screw it up so obviously and he said that they put out a certain amount of material (music, videos, events *like the Pocono race*) that they know won't work.  For cheap, they write off the loss and they get a lot of items to put on their "this is what we did this year" list.    Incidently, the band is touring for the last time this year.  The title of the tour...Fark you, we quit! Tour.  

[tshort]

 How do we impress Clearchannel, ESPN, or whoever else that we need to be thrust into the public eye?  Discussing it here is a good start, but not the solution.  Where do we go from here?

Very good questions/points, Kris.   How do we impress them, you ask?  How about this (an easy one):  Show them the money.  

Why is NASCAR so huge?  Forgetting for a moment about why it attracts fans - which is also key - check out the value of the sponsorship deal that Nextel just signed, replacing Winston (as in Winston Cup): http://www.nytimes.com/2003/06/20/sports/othersports/20auto.html?ex=1057118400&en=7db5bb42853bba8d&ei=5070

It's big bucks.  And the money isn't just from butts on seats at races, it's the ad revenue from TV that makes it all happen.  Now, look at what's going on with Speed Channel, and them considering *dropping* MotoGP coverage...why would they drop it????  Could it be, that they don't get enough eyeballs, to justify high ad charges, to make it worth their while airing it???  

Why don't they get enough eyeballs?  Hmmmm - now that is a good question - someone posted earlier about the difference between the US and Europe on this point - how we use bikes as a hobby, they use them as a means of transport.  

That could be - and if it is, then maybe one approach is to build a grass roots level of interest in our sport, by encouraging friends and family to come watch us race.  Then maybe that would start some word of mouth, which would in turn fuel more interest in our sport - if in fact the possibility to grow interest in this sport actually exists.  It may not - our friends/family may show up and decide -  "you know, that really isn't something I can relate to at all, and I'm not that interested in it."  In which case, the probability of big bucks, big crowds, and all the rest, is pretty low.

Of course, that's my $0.02 (ok, may that was more like a $1.20...).

[Super Dave]

Now, look at what's going on with Speed Channel, and them considering *dropping* MotoGP coverage...why would they drop it????  Could it be, that they don't get enough eyeballs, to justify high ad charges, to make it worth their while airing it???

Talked with Dave Sadowski Friday or Saturday...they are not dropping the bike racing stuff, just moving it to locations that they received as requests for different programing times...

That could be - and if it is, then maybe one approach is to build a grass roots level of interest in our sport, by encouraging friends and family to come watch us race.

Well, yeah, that would start it.

But first, it would require "teams" at the club level to dedicate themselves to running a series, uniforms, anything that makes it all look more professional.  

And remember...friends and family, and fans, conversely, don't necessarily come to watch the racing, they come to see YOU race...or a name...Miguel, Mat, Kurtis (even though many don't like him....).

[mbmotorsports]

FYI

I edited mbmotorsports post and removed s_minella post.  The tone and language was inappropriate.

Dawn  

please remove the entire post because now its what you said and not what i said. you took out the most important part of what i said........the point of the post itself. what is this place - some kind of church? for gods sake you can say ass on television.  

[oh344ccs]

HOW TO CREATE INTEREST IN MC RACING:

Of the people who buy motorcycles in this country, what % of these are ever offered a chance to go and ride a real racetrack.  I would be willing to bet that 95% of them have no idea that they can.  I know that us racers tell everyone how great it is, but how many of us actually get people to go to a trackday?  With the number of good trackday organizations that are in operation now, we all have opportunitys to get people to the track.  Outsiders may watch our racing on tv, and not get it.  Worse yet, when they go to an AMA event without any knowledge of the skill that it takes to acheive that level.  The next pro race that you go to, take a few minutes and watch the bikes go by, most AMA tracks are very wide, and spectators are quite a ways from the track.  Both of these things distort the speed at whitch the racers are going.  At your local track stand on hot pit, watch bikes go by, WOW, they look fast.  Small track, bikes 5 feet away, no doubt about the speed there.  I believe that as trackdays get more common, and more people get the experience our sport will grow, and so will the $$$$ available. I grew up racing MX, then it was mostly box vans and pickups driving to the races, look at it now.

I hate to say this, but we need the street squids, the dealers, and mostly the trackday orgs.  The more dealers that offer trackdays to buyers of sportbikes(free), the more people will become exposed.  I know that's easy to say (free), but I don't see how it would hurt anyone.  Dealers will sell at least the same amount of bikes (maybee more), and Trackday org's. will have a broader base of people who have gotten the bug.  If they came together I'm sure all would profit.  And thus our sport will grow ;D

[oh344ccs]

OK, now I'm just rambling, but, if I had never raced a motorcycle, I wouldn't watch it on TV :-X  We are all into racing and most of us still can't stand to watch some forms of racing on tv. (nascar, drag racing, IRL, Boats(all types))

[Super Dave]

In the hay day of Suzuki Cup racing, racing was big.  Now, with all the track days, racing has diminished.  Ask the racing organizations.

So, that one doesn't work.  

Regardless, in the population of motorcyclists, only a select few will actually ever go to a track day, let alone race.  

Racing should be exciting and it should have personalities.  Again, I'm not there to see a Suzuki GSXR1000, I wanna see Maldin ride the wheels off it.  That kind of stuff will attract people.