DC Question on Lakewood Spectating

MX Sports Medicine
Edited Date/Time 1/26/2012 9:14pm
MUCH to my happiness there were no track banners all around the track yesterday!
In years past, in sections, all you could see was a helmet go by, not this year!
Have the other nationals been this way this year?
Is it a lack of sponsors or are they listening to the fans about blocking the view?
Either way, it was much better viewing everywhere.
THANKS!
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FlickitFlat
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FlickitFlat 6/26/2011 10:29am
6/26/2011 10:29am
Lucky you. At Highpoint the banners seem to get worst and worst every year. I remember the days when you could stand at the first turn, pick a spot and see the riders coming toward you, and watch them negotiate the rest of the turn as they go past. Now you can't see crap. It was so bad that during the first 450 moto, I stood against the rope toward the exit of the first turn and could't tell you with certainty who got the holeshot. I couldn't stand at the same spot and see what riders jumped the uphill triple which was right in front of me. That used to be the biggest attraction of the whole track. In front of the VIP section, the track was lined with banners and you couldn't see riders at all where they were closest to you. You had to watch them while they were on the other side of the track. That nice section of uphill rhythm jumps before the finish line straight. Yea, 50' away and all you could see were helmets bouncing into view. Same goes for the finish line. That big table top, you couldn't see riders jump it. All you could see was riders in the air and you had to bend and weave to see that. Forget about watching them drag race down the straight or drop off of Stewarts double.
kardy
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kardy 6/26/2011 10:53am
6/26/2011 10:53am
The lack of banners on the infield was great for photos at Lakewood. Opened up all sorts of possibilities which wouldn't have otherwise been available.
wired4speed 6/26/2011 12:23pm
6/26/2011 12:23pm
I haven't been to Southwick in two years. I was watching that race last night and thought. that finally someone figured out that you can make sponsors and spectators happy. Great job!!!!!!!!!!Track blocking banners and balloons only made the tracks look like shit anyways. Looks like I'm heading back to Southwick if this is the new policy.

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SteveS
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SteveS 6/26/2011 1:39pm
6/26/2011 1:39pm
Hope it wasn't just that the truck carrying the banners to the track had a flat tire or FedEx lost the packages or something like that
Overdrive
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Overdrive 6/26/2011 3:19pm
6/26/2011 3:19pm
If banners around the track help pay the bills and bring us better tv coverage and larger purses, then I say put them up! It takes money to run a series, and a lot of it. The more profitable the series is the better it will be for us viewing public.

I still think technology that places a virtual banner on tv broadcasts would make sense and possibly make everybody happy. Advertisers still get track side exposure and the people in person don't have to look through banners. They could still put up banners in other areas, just not right beside the track........ Who knows the software might not work for this type of application.
jtomasik
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jtomasik 6/26/2011 3:22pm
6/26/2011 3:22pm
Haven't been to the Thunder Valley Nationals since the second year at that track, and I really wanted to get there this year but business schedule conflicts landed me in Taiwan this past weekend instead...sucks. Sounds like the racing was good.
BobbyM
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BobbyM 6/26/2011 3:26pm
6/26/2011 3:26pm
hopefully motocross is having a BANNER year!!! hahahaa
Ashleymx
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Ashleymx 6/26/2011 3:27pm
6/26/2011 3:27pm
At least they aren't the plain green ones that line the Euro tracks. They block the view around the entire track and they look ugly?? AMA sure look 100x better on TV at least. I wish I could comment on the live at the track situation.
wired4speed 6/26/2011 5:39pm
6/26/2011 5:39pm
Overdrive wrote:
If banners around the track help pay the bills and bring us better tv coverage and larger purses, then I say put them up! It takes...
If banners around the track help pay the bills and bring us better tv coverage and larger purses, then I say put them up! It takes money to run a series, and a lot of it. The more profitable the series is the better it will be for us viewing public.

I still think technology that places a virtual banner on tv broadcasts would make sense and possibly make everybody happy. Advertisers still get track side exposure and the people in person don't have to look through banners. They could still put up banners in other areas, just not right beside the track........ Who knows the software might not work for this type of application.
That's the problem with track banners. They block the viewing public. TV coverage is important and there should be a balance between giving sponsors exposure and giving Motocross fans access to view the races. Track banners placed on certain locations of a track do not block the view for fans. Lakewood proved it. Southwick just doesn't seem to care where they staple banners. There's so much blocked that all you see in some sections is riders zig zagging thru a maze of banners. Again, it appears that Lakewood ( or somebody) got it right. Great job and it even looked great on TV.
MX Sports Medicine 6/27/2011 6:20am
6/27/2011 6:20am
A viable solution may be to put the banners on the inside of the track as opposed to the outside where the spectators are. This would open up viewing and the banners would be more visible to the cameras as well (because the spectators would not be blocking them ).
carlosmacho
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carlosmacho 6/27/2011 9:19am
6/27/2011 9:19am
I am so glad Claybaugh got rid of those crappy banners Smile . There were places where you couldn't even see the race in 2010
carlosmacho
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carlosmacho 6/27/2011 9:23am
6/27/2011 9:23am
MX Sports Medicine wrote:
A viable solution may be to put the banners on the inside of the track as opposed to the outside where the spectators are. This would...
A viable solution may be to put the banners on the inside of the track as opposed to the outside where the spectators are. This would open up viewing and the banners would be more visible to the cameras as well (because the spectators would not be blocking them ).
I don't want them on the inside edge of the track either. Putting them on the inside of the track where it is not close to the track or blocks public view, thats fine.

People pay good money to see a race, their view should not be blocked by a banner. If that keeps happening, people will stay home and watch it on the tv instead.
pie8man
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pie8man 6/27/2011 9:31am
6/27/2011 9:31am
Bill_Carroll wrote:
[img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/users/22517/photos/48725/s780_Colorado_Mx_National_006.jpg?1309068672[/img] Lakewood is great


Lakewood is great
This picture brought to you by EZ-up (red), United rentals Manlift, Toyota trucks, KTM, Acerbis (track markers), Rockstar, Lucas Oil, Red Bull, TLD, Two Two, Bel Ray.
Seriously this pic would be sweeter without the manlift.
MX Sports Medicine 6/27/2011 3:28pm
6/27/2011 3:28pm
Bill_Carroll wrote:
[img]https://p.vitalmx.com/photos/users/22517/photos/48725/s780_Colorado_Mx_National_006.jpg?1309068672[/img] Lakewood is great


Lakewood is great
pie8man wrote:
This picture brought to you by EZ-up (red), United rentals Manlift, Toyota trucks, KTM, Acerbis (track markers), Rockstar, Lucas Oil, Red Bull, TLD, Two Two, Bel...
This picture brought to you by EZ-up (red), United rentals Manlift, Toyota trucks, KTM, Acerbis (track markers), Rockstar, Lucas Oil, Red Bull, TLD, Two Two, Bel Ray.
Seriously this pic would be sweeter without the manlift.
Great pic.
I'm actually in it!!
dehner47
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dehner47 6/27/2011 3:43pm
6/27/2011 3:43pm
carlosmacho wrote:
I don't want them on the inside edge of the track either. Putting them on the inside of the track where it is not close to...
I don't want them on the inside edge of the track either. Putting them on the inside of the track where it is not close to the track or blocks public view, thats fine.

People pay good money to see a race, their view should not be blocked by a banner. If that keeps happening, people will stay home and watch it on the tv instead.
people do pay good money to see the races.. i agree with that statement.. but sponsors pay bigger money for you fans to see there banners. as a buisness owner, who's money would you rather have???
Bill_Carroll
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Bill_Carroll 6/27/2011 3:45pm
6/27/2011 3:45pm
Thxs, I was about 200 yrds from that jump and zoomed in just in time to focus.
Not bad for a Canon powershot SX130
aFACEdismembered 6/27/2011 3:54pm
6/27/2011 3:54pm
Texas has a similiar problem. In an effort to try and get fans closer to the action in the infield it has only made the viewing angles worse because of the heat, easy ups, growing popularity and lack of natural grandstand seating. All the bleechers are at the tip of the hill roasting away in the Texas sun.

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carlosmacho
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carlosmacho 6/27/2011 6:23pm
6/27/2011 6:23pm
carlosmacho wrote:
I don't want them on the inside edge of the track either. Putting them on the inside of the track where it is not close to...
I don't want them on the inside edge of the track either. Putting them on the inside of the track where it is not close to the track or blocks public view, thats fine.

People pay good money to see a race, their view should not be blocked by a banner. If that keeps happening, people will stay home and watch it on the tv instead.
dehner47 wrote:
people do pay good money to see the races.. i agree with that statement.. but sponsors pay bigger money for you fans to see there banners...
people do pay good money to see the races.. i agree with that statement.. but sponsors pay bigger money for you fans to see there banners. as a buisness owner, who's money would you rather have???
I agree with you, BUT, if there are no fans because they can't see anything the advertisers won't pay, because no fans are present. You can have fans without advertisers but you won't have advertisers without fans. Which would you rather have? The answer is both.

That being said, there should be a compromise, putting ads where people can see them but not block the action.
wired4speed 6/27/2011 8:37pm
6/27/2011 8:37pm
Just a few Southwick pics you can't see with the banner policy of the past few years. Again, great job over at Lakewood. That's what motocross is all about.










MX Sports Medicine 6/28/2011 7:09am
6/28/2011 7:09am
I haven't been to a Southwick National since 1989. You could see EVERYTHING then.
Man I miss that place, but then again I guess Dowd and Henry and JoJo and... are not there on 125's anymore, right????
agency399
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agency399 6/28/2011 8:05am
6/28/2011 8:05am
I agree 100%. Been going to 'dilla since 2000 and when the banners started getting more and more frequent, it was noticeable what they took away from viewing the race.

Just my .02 cents
DC
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DC 7/6/2011 7:52pm
7/6/2011 7:52pm Edited Date/Time 7/6/2011 7:54pm
I wasn't there but I know they went lighter due to wind and a tryout on how it would look on TV and for live fans. On TV you could see more, but it was kind of blah at the same time.... Sorry, I think the banners ( the right mix) adds to the presentation, we are trying to find the balance.

DC
MX Sports
englishman
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englishman 7/6/2011 8:00pm
7/6/2011 8:00pm Edited Date/Time 7/6/2011 8:00pm
DC wrote:
I wasn't there but I know they went lighter due to wind and a tryout on how it would look on TV and for live fans...
I wasn't there but I know they went lighter due to wind and a tryout on how it would look on TV and for live fans. On TV you could see more, but it was kind of blah at the same time.... Sorry, I think the banners ( the right mix) adds to the presentation, we are trying to find the balance.

DC
MX Sports
Watched it on the idiot box & didn't even notice the lack of banners . I say keep it fan friendly ( fans attending ) and reduce the banners.

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