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This is a really sad situation, but it raises a few questions, they claimed they had $50M that would get them to year 5…What happened? Did they not really get the money? Or did they spend it on 3 races? Or did the money not show up/ In other words did the investors pull the plug after committing to the $50M after three races? They had the best opportunity to slip in under the radar and become a fall series that didn’t rely on riders leaving other series to compete but to race as off season races and build the series from that…but their initial arrogance and bold claims and promises are what eventually became their demise and they have nobody to blame but themselves and their belief that there were many riders that wanted to do the Justin Brayton plan…apparently that didn’t pan out and here we sit with money spent and nothing to show for it. I’m disappointed for the riders and mechanics that are having the rug pulled out from under them and probably won’t get paid…and if the rumors are true that the teams haven’t been paid then I would say this is dead and you won’t even have the rounds that remain….The real losers are the fans…
And where are you getting this info from? Record attendance and record TV ratings this year and we haven’t even had SMX start yet…just adding SMX is growth…I guess there are always going to be naysayers that are going to predict the sky is falling that refuse to see the facts and would rather pull their “feelings” out of their ass….
WSX was a very positive thing, but it’s based on stadium attendance. That is a gamble.
If it was so positive then why did it fail? Their plan was pulled out of their ass with blue sky…if only they were smart enough to start off as a fall off season series….but they actually believed their own bullshit…
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This video about how the NFL started to gain interest in Europe demonstrates why WSX plan has failed, in the video it says:
"It's like trying to convice a friend to watch a MLS match instead of El Clásico (Real Madrid vs FC Barcelona), but the NFL learned it's lesson, instead of selling a cheap copy, they started selling the real thing"
On my local track on Sundays, A recurring topic of conversation is this morning's AMA Supercross race (Note: SX is early in the moring in Europe, 4-6am) And we talk about Tomac, Sexton, Webb, the Lawrence's, Musquin, Roczen, Barcia, Deegan, RJ... The top guys, the ones that fight for the win every morning, with all due respect to guys like Kevin Moranz, Justin Boogle, Brayton (Who is on Race Day Live), Friese or the rest of the privateer, whe don't follow those guys, At least in Spain, the only rider from the back of the grid that we care about is Joan Cros, and I'm pretty sure that in Brazil Enzo has a big following.
What I mean is that the non-US fan sees no value in a Supercross "World Championship" where the only big rider is Roczen (who in this equation is the rider in the best position, because he has pocketed 2 million dollars for running what seems like 3 races), no one is going to pay for transport, hotel and tickets to see Roczen and ..... Vince Friese, Justin Hill, Mike ?
Why was the race in France cancelled at first? Because no French fan was going to pay the same price to see Vince Friese, Justin Hill, Anthony Rodriguez and Mike Alessi as it would cost to go to MXGP France to see Herlings, Prado, Coenen, Everts, Seewer, national heros like Febvre, Renaux, Benistant .... and for a slightly higher price at the end of this year they will see the above mentioned riders plus the Lawrence brothers, Vialle, Deegan (TBC), Plessinger, maybe Ken Roczen if Germany calls him.
I’m not saying it was a success but it got riders more money and I think the idea 💡 s a positive thing. They just need more GP riders and more incentive.
Easily could have accomplished that as a fall off season series…but they thought they could rule the world…so far a 3 race series that people have only been paid for two…that’s not success…
Don, we’re not naysayers. It’s good to be positive and look at past numbers but at some point you have to take off the blinders. It’s not just SX MX, but stadium events are struggling outside of main venues. Yes, a Taylor Swift concert or Pink will bring in the crowds, but these concerts and costs to go are getting more expensive. There are still wealthy people and wealthy riders, but they’re getting fewer, especially at a local level.
What did it cost for the teams to buy in?
They are not past numbers they are current…The issue is that I don’t think people realize that the sport of professional SX/MX has had a banner 2023 and the addition of SMX will even make that bigger that part is strong and growing….but their myopic view is that they are seeing fewer riders at the local level and big bike sales slowing (sales of small electric, 50-85cc are growing)…those are very distinctly different scenarios and those new fans going to the races and watching on TV may be just fans of the sport and not necessarily motorcycle purchasers or local competitors. Again the facts are that the races in 2023 have shown growth in both attendance but also in TV viewership.
Well that’s good. And I hope it translates to success for years to come.
I agree. Emig, during his shilling for WSX on Gypsy Tales, tried to argue that people just wanted to see live supercross regardless of who was involved or what the series was about. I think we can see this is not the case. People perfectly well know which series are premier and which are not. WSX knew this by attempting to get top draw riders involved. They knew a bunch of 15th to 22nd place riders from the US would not be of interest to overseas fans. Historically, overseas supercross events only seem to work if they are either once per year deals (Paris, Geneva etc.) with several top American series riders or local series in themselves (with a sprinkling of Americans once per year - excepting Brayton who raced the whole series) such as the Aus series.
It wouldn't matter if they had it in summer, fall, winter, or spring, of if they held the events in Timbaktu or on the moon. The American based factories combined with Feld and MX Sport clearly made it difficult, if not outright impossible, for top draw American series riders to take part. Prime example is Ken Roczen. He had to leave HRC and move to a second-string not-really factory team in order to take part. None of this is to shit on Feld/MX Sport/US Factories, it's simply them protecting their own business interests in a free market.
Do you have any concrete published figures to support your claims Donald?
To purchase a license/entry it was 100k.
Lose the energy drink sponsors and we're fawked...
Hell, Geico pulled out.... social media is more cost effective marketing exposure.
You're kidding right? Insane numbers of bikes sold back in the 70's. Tracks all over the US and Europe...
Today we have a sport fewer and fewer can afford and tracks closing worldwide due to bullshit "environmental" fearmongering and/or cost to run/insure the facility.
Sure, sales went up during COVID........stimulus checks,
You’re getting downvotes but in principle it’s not a bad idea. The problem is the cost to teams and to Feld to do that is massive where the benefits are small. You’d get a sell-out at most places for top level SX, similar to the NFL games that travel but sx isn’t anything like the money generator that NFL is.
Right now there’s a classic ‘catch22’ in that to grow sx you need an international series, but that series isn’t financially viable so every time someone has tried one it’s collapsed. To make it financially viable needs AMA, Feld and FIM to work together, which they’ve proved they can’t/won’t without parking their own interests (from all sides).
Pit Row
agreed, Feld and its predecessors have tried races in Europe, but it only lasted a couple of years, they don't even bother with Canada anymore,
In their defence, COVID and the FIM haven’t helped. There’s blame on all sides and some things you can’t anticipate.
This idea of a ”sx world series” with ”best before date pro’s” (sorry Ken) and second rate pro’s (sorry again all the rest) is like diluting lemonade, you get more volume but it doesent taste much…
One-of events like Paris SX for the win!
Monster cup even attracted Gaiser in his prime, bring it back.
This is where you are wrong...what made it fail was the way they came in guns blazing claiming that they were going to be the best series in the world with the best riders in the world and their season was going to start in June...well the US factory teams already had a series in June they support...Now as I said if they would have come in saying we are starting an off season series from Oct-Nov then they would have had top US based SX riders compete. The US factory teams for the most part have supported their riders racing SX in the off season and more than likely allowed their riders to make appearances if not race the entire series....As the old saying goes...Pigs get fat and hogs get slaughtered...
Pro race spectating and viewership up. Club level practice and racing down. Not sure if it's good for the sport but it's good for the BIG's wallets.
Don, I suspect the $50mil was a commitment. Not the same as escrow but I am sure you know that.
They acted as if it was in the bank....
And yes professional SX/MX is growing and the attendance and ratings show that...It's like football the NFL is growing in TV and Attendance but yet fewer kids are playing Pop Warner....you have to look at them separately.
Maybe not the ugly red headed step child since it popular amongst other motor sports pros, but we are a niche sport at best. The vast majority of the public has never heard of it. My wife, who is a fan, said to me at the NJ SX, “this really is a dirtball, hick sport”. Doesn’t make it bad, it’s just what it is. It’s never going to be mainstream and that’s fine with me and I think most of the core fan base.
I’m with you on big caring if the sport gets larger. I like the sport the way it is. When things get too large they tend to change.
If I had a dime for everyone that acted like the money was in the bank...
Not sure football is a great example. We still have a grade school and college system. Compare that to Danger Deegan with a pro trainer @10YO and private tracks required to make it to the top. Not exactly apples...
You're not looking at a big enough picture.
Manufacturers use SX/MX as marketing for bike sales. They need bike sales to produce a marketing budget to put back into the series.
The NFL and the NFL teams don't care one bit about Pop Warner. It will never reflect their bottom line. Bike sales will reflect a teams bottom line. Bike sales will always be good for the sport and manufactures.
NFL and teams get a cut of TV contracts as well as ticket sales. SX/MX teams do not. There is literally no comparison between the 2 sports.
Factory Honda Race Team will not turn a profit this year despite winning 5 championships. It is not their intention to profit. It's their intention to market Honda.
An NFL team is meant for profit.
You gotta imagine an investment group doesn't just hand you $50 million in one shot. It's much more likely "hey, we'll commit to giving you $50 million over five years if you meet these yearly/quarterly financial goals".
It's not like in the movies where someone gives the pitch of a lifetime and the financiers just hand over all the cash at once.
My point was that they are looked at and accounted for separately but many on here want to combine the professional side of the sport and amateur/casual side of the sport and even on that side you have to look at what is happening in the mini electric, 50-85 sales and participation at the amateur level as that is where the growth is and where the future is.
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