Upgrade to enjoy this feature!
Vital MX fantasy is free to play, but paid users have great benefits. Paid member benefits:
- View and download rider stats
- Pick trends
- Create a private league
- And more!
Only $10 for all 2024 SX, MX, and SMX series (regularly $30).
Look for instance at his comments on the Glen Helen _ US situation:
"The decision not to go to Glen Helen for the Motocross of Nations. In my opinion it’s a great circuit, but maybe not so good for atmosphere and clearly the crowds have been down going there.
Look, I want to say things to be very clear. Bud Feldkamp is a gentleman and a very good friend of mine. I have to tell you two days ago we had dinner together in Salzburg in Austria. We are friends, and he is a good businessman and Glen Helen is a passion for him. His business is in cleaning or something else. It was never a question of money. Every event we ran together, we were in partnership. Every race we held at Glen Helen, Youthstream lost more money than Glen Helen, because the condition was that he at least would cover his costs, and this is a fact. It was never a question of a fee, because to be honest he never paid a fee. It isn’t that Luongo comes and asks for more money, but we see in the last years, in motocross in general in America, the crowds are down, in the USGP at Glen Helen the crowds were down. We did Charlotte and the spectators are very good and we know we have a market to improve there. After Maggiora, we don’t need a Motocross of Nations without the massive public, also Glen Helen is a huge venue and if you have 15,000 people you lose them, the atmosphere will not be like in Europe. Nations isn’t just about making money; it is also about the sport. We have in the MXGP series some rounds where there isn’t as big a crowd as some others, but we always have a big audience, because we have millions watching on television. So our races, are the most viewed in the world. The important thing about the MXoN is the feeling and we need a massive crowd for this event and we didn’t want to take the risk, and now is not the right moment for America. I also think some people wait for a change and then they have their chance to be negative, but I think this was a good choice, and we will come back to USA in 2019 and I think we will go to a track that is already one of the favorites in the Nationals. And looking on social media, we are not wrong, because there they also mention the tracks we are looking at. We have a list of two or three tracks that are already in our mind. On social media they say why not bring the race to Millville or RedBud, there is a lot of movement on that. What we want is to bring this race to the hearts of the American fans. We are talking with the AMA, we are talking with the people who run the sport in America and we are looking for a good opportunity for everybody to work together and have the MXoN like it was at Budds Creek in 2007. Sometimes you need to make one step backwards to go two steps forward."
Very Promising and for me the right decision ...
Peter
"I had the confirmation from Tim Gajser, Ryan Dungey and Romain Febvre on the Friday night, that it was a track where a supercross rider and a motocross rider can race on this track, they can enjoy it, and they can race closely together. This was the challenge, because nobody believed it would be different. Many European riders were practicing on supercross tracks during the week, but we wanted to create something different. Despite the public, for me, what comes is it will success as an event, the formula, the type of track and after we have something for the sport. The number of supporters is only on the bank account of Youthstream. Because of the live television, the worldwide television, the event has already been a success. For the manufactures it’s a big success, so for the sponsors they are paid back from their investment. The principal of this race is to have it in Europe, but also in America."
The Shop
If this huge crap was a big success, I'm his holiness pope Francis.
But a question on this, do you think GL gives a portion of the monies made off of the MXoN's subs to the host track?
I just watched the race on TV and I liked it. There is clearly a potential, I hope it will continue.
+ The racing, track design, 3 races format, sand for safety were great, the idea is great for europe for the automn/winter.
- Too bad there was not much public/a bit too pricey (?), the coverage was average (normal for a first, less automatism), and it was a bit too fast in my opinion for safety (the bikes are too fast...)
= I think this event was 5 stars, also 60% thanks to the venue of american riders to make it "special" vs the series we see during the year.
A "special GP" could be like that for sure like a monaco F1 GP, a SMX series would look good too. The manufacturer thing may be good, maybe not, just a first impression I thought it was looking very professional like MotoGP or F1.
Also regarding Budds Creek 07,GH is probably the best track in the world with this elevation but I think Budds Creek was one of the best races of all time, so let us just hope the MXdN returns to the US with such a bang!
In total world wide a million will see this race,
A race that is a compromise, limited excuses for both sides of the pond!
Did the Mafia get caught out in some business shenanigans?
you're part of the problem. admittedly, not really my problem, but I'll still shake my finger at ya dab nabbit!!!!
Pit Row
MXGP is great
i 've done an amazing job
money is not important to me. I'm the mother Theresa of motocross ...
They are going to Indonesia now instead of Thailand because it is the biggest growing sales of motorcycles, with a country of 250 million people, so its important. We heard the same story about Thailand a few years ago: important market, all the manufactures wanted to go ther.
A few years laters, the Gp is off because there was no interest and the government didn't want to give money anymore.
It's just a PR interview, not a single word on teams complaining it's to expensive and teams leaving the series ...
Same story again and again .... when they have an event with no succes/spectators, they do an interview with GL.
He know's how promoting himself works.
He's done several 'interviews' like this over the years, with his 'Facts' put forward to 'pet' journalists.
I bet a fair few other GP promoters would be highly pissed at having subsidized the GH GPs - that's how it would be with him saying those things about fees.
He says that he does not want the MXDN brought down by low spectator attendance - yet, he's happy with the 'look' of a near empty stadium over the weekend. At least he said it was on his / Youthstreams bank account................
He goes on about how big the MXDN has become under him. Hell, it's been massive for decades - just go looking for pictures of MXDNs over the years. Some with just great crowds, most with massive crowds. Just go looking for the 1985 MXDN pictures - you know, the year that Thorpe dominated with a 1, 1, 2, with only a loss to a fellow GP rider. The MXDN did not become 'big' just from him organizing it in '86.
Luongo is all about himself / Youthstream . Understandable, it's a business, but the acceptance of his BS is quite surprising. Hey, with some events I can see some justification for 'The Ecclestone Attitude' - as in not giving a flying fuck about spectator attendance (especially when you aren't the one depending on the turnstyle take) and focussing on the TV / Streaming income. Qatar - it's at night, streamed / broadcast at a time to suit a large part of his video audience, and it's paid for by the Sheikhs that don't give a damn about R.O.I with regards to ticket sales.
Of note is that, so soon after the cancellation of the GH MXDN, and him saying that an MXDN would be nowhere but at Glen Helen if it were to be in the US, he's throwing out names of other tracks in the US, and not just as GP venues.
He's a cancer / virus on the sport of Motocross.
Feld and MXSports do not come close to Youthstream with regards to accessibility, which blows from my perspective as a fan of American racing because it's a shit show year on year trying to watch it live.
Post a reply to: Luongo Interview opening many interesting facts