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It doesn't take a rocket scientist to see that these Feld policies are going to prevent outside sponsors from coming in. Same with Monster harassing Muscle Milk, Monster vs. FMF, etc.
It seems that petty little behind the scenes battles are a big part of this. Why in the hell would Dodge pump dollars into a team and have a rider out there only to be blackballed from TV? Who is the genius behind this policy? Dodge is a dream sponsor for this sport.
That would be like holding a NASCAR race and only allowing one sponsor that sponsors the riders, teams, and the event itself. The sport has turned into a Monster Energy Drink commercial. Oh well.
Where's Mountain Dew for example? I guess no way in hell a Mountain Dew logo would be allowed with ten miles of a Supercross.
S
Just a thought.....but are we wasting valuable sponsor room? Or are we just not as good at acquiring them as the Euros?
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I do think the prices on some of the stuff you mentioned seem kind of high. The private tracks and maintenance thing also is kind of a wash. As not all the top 10 guys have personal , well groomed , watered tracks. Most have tracks for sure , but the prep costs can be down quite a bit.
From what you posted , yes....the 1.2 million does seem a lot more practical. But like I said in my original post , there are privateers doing the series to ( with the help of their sponsors , family , friends and so forth ) that make it work for penny's compared to what the Alessi's mentioned. I am NOT saying the Alessi's should be going out and doing the full blown privateer thing. I'm saying that they could go "some where in the middle" . Some where between what that privateer does and what Reed did last year.
There is no doubt that Reed spent that much money last year , but he has the money and sponsorship to do it. Reed also had a pretty sweet setup and great people in his corner.
Example : Kyle Regal a couple seasons ago. They did an extremely low budget team and were placing top 5's at a lot of races. What ever Kyle and his dad had going on there is way below what the Alessi's are trying to do. So I know it's just a matter of watching where every single dime goes.
I definitely think if the desire is to do it as cheap as possible, it can be done way cheaper. I seriously question that he is putting all his own money into this, unless he means "his" money after various sponsors pay out on his contracts. I estimate his clothing deal alone is probably worth $100,000? I also see a big Red Bull on his helmet still. I think the idea that "they" will be spending all their own money is Tony talking. He would like everyone to think that, when in fact they might be spending a bunch of sponsorship money. Wouldn't surprise me if the figures are inflated some as well.
Just looking at your example though, it has a privateer at $200,000 before anything really happens (and what year was that?). I think Alessi is looking to be a small step down from Reed's effort, and I'm sure the idea is to have a program that will attract more sponsors as well. This is the way the sport is going (private teams) and in order to make the teams work, it is necessary to blow out all the jambs to try and attract big name sponsors. I understand it seems like a lot of money, but it really isn't when you stop and consider all that it entails. Think about this, airfare for Mike, wife, Tony and mechanic, all hitting every race (chartered jets? $$$). Driver for truck and RV (two salaries). Mechanic (another salary). Probably 5 full blown race bikes and maybe 10 practice bikes? That could literally be $200,000 in bikes alone. Thousands of dollars in parts and spare motors. This isn't a true "privateer" effort and there probably is no effort to save money at any point. At every step of the way, money is not the consideration. The only consideration being what will give him the best opportunity to do the best. Most privateers make sacrifices at various steps along the way between money and benefit. I doubt at any point the Alessis will choose money savings over added performance in any area of the program.
I did all my racing as a youngster in England and people there always had a degree of respect for motorcyclists in general and MX, mainland Europe ( especially France & Belgium ) treated MX riders like gods.
When I moved to the US I experienced exactly what you are talking about ..... ( I still ride and race - fuck the ignorant and their sweeping judgments)
Remember the days when factory Honda had Bayle, Stanton and Johnson under the same tent?
No more fan involvement...
From my understanding Feld wasn't to fond of them doing it the way they did ,so they got rid of that method.
Not sure if this is 100% true or not,but this is how someone explained it to me....
RacerX was getting free or inexpensive promotion with it in a sense(in Feld's eyes) and Feld wanted to capitalize
on the opportunity of the gas card presentation to make money.
Maybe DC can chime in ,if this wasn't the case.
There are only 3 official factory teams (KTM, Honda, Kawasaki) and one semi-official one (Suzuki/Yoshi). Suzuki/Yoshi doesn't have the money/resources for a title guy, so that leaves statistically the 3rd and 4th best SX riders of all time without an official factory ride.
And it's only going to get worse in the next couple of years. Reed is the only top 5 guy who's realistically not likely to be around after 2012. You could say it's likely KTM will run another 450 bike in 2013, but what about the 250 riders coming through - Wilson, Barcia, Tomac, Roczen, Musquin?
What options do these riders have? I can't realistically think of anyone else who could do what Reed did this year - in terms of rider ability, financial capability, ability to attract sponsors etc.
It could get very cut-throat in the next few years (well more so than usual!).
BMan-
In v8 supercars there are so many conflicting sponsors and none are blurred out. Seems sponsors in the us hold way too tight to product promotion to the point where it could be hurting the event/show they are sponsoring by squeezing out any further investment in it
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