Posts
1666
Joined
7/5/2011
Location
Worcester, MA
US
Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 8:03pm
Was talking to my buddy today, and he was going on and on about how profitable MX tracks must be, and that the only reason everyone isn't in the business is because you need a large amount of capital for the initial start up to get things going.
So I guess it just got me thinking, realistically, what are the main things you have to have consider?
Is start up capital that important? I'm not a business major, but I can guess that it would probably take a couple months before you start actually making money...
$$$$
-Insurance
-Paying EMT's
-Buying property
-Competent staff
-Track maintenance
What else is there to consider?
So I guess it just got me thinking, realistically, what are the main things you have to have consider?
Is start up capital that important? I'm not a business major, but I can guess that it would probably take a couple months before you start actually making money...
$$$$
-Insurance
-Paying EMT's
-Buying property
-Competent staff
-Track maintenance
What else is there to consider?
The Shop
6000 acres
I assure you there is very little profit in running a track only the cabins / proshop/ service center/ resturant has positive cash flow
the track is just to get them on the property
exact same plan as a golf course or ski resort
mike
Durhamtown
By my calculations, on-track personnel at a race at my local track (Riverglade), is a minimum of $1550 before a nickel is recovered at the gate. This includes flaggers, finish or start line official, a referee, and staging. (Actually, it just happens that one of the track owners is the senior referee in the region, so he actually doesn't charge himself. Otherwise, most situations come with a referee cost of, at least, $300.00. Fuel and lodgings may add to that.)
This track is also lucky enough to have a tractor and ATV dealer as one of the principals, and an excavation contractor as another of the owners' group. Therefore, they don't pay an equipment operator. In-ground watering means no track guys to water when needed.
Beyond all that, there are paid personnel at the admissions gate, rider registration, and 2 teams of lap-scorers. That's close to another grand before they even call the riders' meeting.
As everyone here knows......I could go on. I'll see what responses this brings first.
CHEERS, all!
S
advertising
water
electric
porta-crappers
lawyer
Oh and when you have a facility like this you need someone to live on the property to keep the crazies out and from screwing shit up !! You know some people have no respect for others property.
S
Pit Row
S
S
Take all the income that you figure you will have coming in from all sources ranging from rider fees and track rentals to selling aluminum cans.
Now cut that in half. That is W.
Now take all the expenses mentioned here, total them up.
Now double it. This is H.
Subtract H from W which will give you Y.
Formula is W-H=Y
As in W-H=Y in the hell would anybody even think about getting into the Motocross business right now?
polka dots MC
Bulldogs MC
Portland Trail Riders MC
all of them operate much like you described. each one has different rules for their members. PDMC doesn't allow guests at all, Bulldogs allows 1 guest per member to ride there, not sure how Portland handles it. At PDMC, working the races gives you credit toward your dues....I like this model. People show up to work the races. Not sure how the others handle it.
I know what it takes to cut a track in and build. If I could buy the equipment I wanted it would probably be something like this:
Cat D5 dozer - $25,000
80's Farmall tractor at least 85hp - $10,000
8 ft disc - $2,000
8 ft harrow - $2,000
6 ft power tiller - $4,000
Tracked skid steer - $15,000
Water truck- $10 to $20,000
All these prices are estimated on the low side. A guy could easily wrap up $100k in equipment right away. And to add to that, most large tracks have several pieces of each equipment.
It just depends how you want to go about it. It can be done on a budget like we did with our old Ford tractor and small implements and a bobcat. We probably only have about $12,000 wrapped up in the equipment we use. It's taken us about 3 years of continuous improvement and riding to really get the track to flow nice and build up natural berms. On the other hand though, we couldn't hold a race because the track is located in pasture off a beaten road.
Location and land has alot to do with it. I think our property is about the right size to house a national-caliber track, but it wouldnt be spectator friendly. Buying a piece of land that already has nice views, rolling hills, and big open spaces for parking (i basically just described what a crop field looks like.) Around here tillable land is going for $3 to 8,000 per acre. You can do the math, but 2-300 acres for an mx facility = alot of money.
S
Each race is about a $3,000 invesment which includes, EMT service, event insurance, food for concessions, port a poop rentals, and trophies. There is usually about $1,500 put up for purse for paying classes which is added to rider entry fees to make purse.
Rider entry fees don't make much money but they usally cover initial costs when all is said and done. The realy money-maker is having a good spectator turnout and sell alot of concession products. Fun events that are well promoted and prompt great spectator turnouts are the only way to make profits.
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