Is the sport of Motocross past its prime?

I think that all the tracks closing is a big part of it.  Could also be money, economy probably is having something to do with it also.  But, I think a lot of kids would rather go play video games instead of going and doing things outside.  

Peaked in the 80’s. Slow descent since. 

Probably, but I do think electric bikes could have the potential to bring in new people, although I think it's unlikely to be a significant amount.

I remember racing the 125 C class at Millville in the mid 90's and we had 3 gates for that class and 2 gates of the 250 C class. Vet, +25  and the B classes were full gates. Practice was insane! I think it's the cost price anymore. With housing, food and health insurance so expensive, people just don't have extra money to spend on hobbies anymore. Maybe they feel it's better to save for a rainy day?

My *opinion*: 1 tracks have gotten too dangerous; big jumps everywhere and people hurt 2 bikes have gotten too fast, more people hurt 3 population growth has resulted in too many noise complaints, leading to many tracks closing 4 declining "middle class" who just want to have fun and not take it too seriously 5 increased knowledge of long term effects of concussions in kids 

People figured out hare scrambles are way better!

You must be very young. 

I raced Millville in the mid 90's too.  Rider turnout was insane.  Even so, during that time I still remember the Vets talking about how we missed the hay day of MX, which was in the 80's, according to them.  

I think it’s all relative to your area local racing seems up and down here but now there’s 4 districts locally. Before  I could race all with 8-15 bikes per class other then c or mini classes when it used to be 2 districts and then other tracks doing their own series. Also multiple practice only tracks taking more riders from the races, which half the time is what I’d rather do anyway getting your $30 worth other then the $100 plus to the races sitting around for 12 plus hours. I am sure it’s declined some since the 80s but Moto seems alive and well where I’ve been.

Yeah probably.  What were remote areas where tracks are located are not as remote as once.  Noise, potential for litigation are two large factors.  E-bikes might improve the situation some but with the cost to be green I doubt it will do all that much to improve long term to improve.  The cost for a Stark Varg as example may even hurt the situation, but that just a guess.  Availability to ride and availability to buy are critical factors to the future of the sport.  If I had to guess, 10 years from now it’s going to be areacross/ebike rent to ride.  But that’s just my guess.

GNCC and Harescrambles are doing great around me.

I'm 50 now and sold my bike back in Sept. 2019.  Before I sold it, I had started riding more single track.  What started turning me off from MX tracks was the cost, and being at the track all day long with not much riding.

Practice day hero’s or LLynn heroes… everyone too cool to race local events now…. But 14 hr days at they races for a couple 4 laps motos does kind of suck👍

I started racing MX in 94 at 7 years old. All the way through 2010 I remember gates in most classes being packed even at local non AMA sanctioned events. I made the switch to harescrambles and there was always good turn outs at them. One of my local non AMA HS series had over 450 adult bikes last weekend. But most of the MX tracks have shut down or only do practice days. 

Local races are showing a decline because you spend 9+ hours and a lot of money to spin 5-10 laps. 

Waiting around all flipping day for two gate drops took away all the fun.  250B was at the end of the day and there were times it was close to being dark during the last 250C race.  I suppose it wouldn't have been so bad if I had a motorhome but I ran out the back of my pickup truck.  

I was looking at some loose and fast numbers today on housing vs income and the AVERAGE home price now is over 500k and cost of living is going exponential. In fact, now the average income only covers 11% of the price of a home (average salary/average home cost; gross numbers for sure). Yep, if you did absolutely nothing besides give 100% your pre-tax salary to your mortgage, you would need almost a decade to be debt free - Assuming no interest! This number used to be over 20%, and declining down to 15% in recent times. Now it's at the worst ever, 11%. Given that this is a younger persons sport, it doesn't look good since young people are going to be bearing that the hardest.

$10k on a bike, big payments for a pickup, and $30 track fees... I cant imagine the decline! lol. I am definitely feeling the fatigue of it. It's a large chunk of income and takes a significant amount of money and energy to even get out and ride.

The silliest thing, in my opinion, is the notion that e-bikes are going to help. MX is a generally lower middle class sport. It gets ranked in with monster jam. Sure, there are some wealthy riders but the "Base" of this sport is not lining up for a $14k Stark so they can pay $70 entry fees at the local track that's now within city limits because there is no noise violations. 

 Pueblo Colorado motocross had a complete overflow of riders today with Qualifiers in many classes top to bottom. Maybe you're area is running on fumes I don't know guess it really just depends on where your at geographically in this great USA .  Past it's time???  naw these kids now know what we knew when we were young. The only thing in the world they can think about is riding faster than any other motocross rider behind the starting gate with them...That checkered flag's the only thing that matters when the gate drops. Good Day

Youngster  I started racing in 1975 and don't remember how old I am. 

This.   ^^^^^^^

It's a dying sport.

Enviros have been trying to kill it for decades....they are winning the war. 

 What the f*ck are you talking about dude? read my Pueblo Colorado race report from today then pass out in the lazyboy or go see a TSOL, Fear, Flag, Off, Circle Jerks, maybe even the Dickies or the MauMau's show tonight in So-Cal if they're playing for a jolt. Just saying motocross is kicking ass if you leave the house all around this world. Just not what it was then but still the same for me.

!!TO MANY FREAKING CLASSES!!

Depends on what you consider to be its prime.  Right now there are multiple factors all contributing to the decline.

1)  Increased cost of bikes, gear, fuel, food, etc. 2)  Increased maintenance complexity 3)  Unhealthy levels of "screen time"          4)  Enviro Nazis eradicating tracks  5)  Fear of lawsuits 6) Increased insurance premiums

There are certainly obstacles now that didn't exists in the past making the environment more difficult for the sport to thrive. 

You hit the nail on the head! Unfortunately it’s only going to get worse and electric bikes aren’t going to save us. 

The NESC series opener last month had around 700 entries I was told

700+ big bikes at the off road race I was at this weekend. 
 

barely had room to park everyone. 
 

off road is alive and well. 

People are starting to bow down to their new god CHATGPT.

Electric is only going to hasten the demise.