How to "value" an smx championship

It's like winning the McGrath invitational?

I’d value it at a 7+ figure payday, but that’s about as far as I’ll go. I love watching the races, but it’s the equivalent of Monster Cup as far as being a ‘championship’. 

I don’t care how much Weege and RC try to push this ”world championship”, it’s just a well payed circus.

Like already mentioned, it's a payday for the riders and some "offseason-like" enterntainment for the fans. The industry household names are towing the company line and hyping it to be something prestigious but it really isn't.

Nobody is going to add Jetts last years "title" to the equation when they bench race about his place in the history of all riders.

Money creates the desire to win. The desire to win over time creates prestige. Not saying it's without a doubt a future success, but trying to put it down by saying the SX title is more important is just lacking foresight. No shit it's more important right now, they make way more winning that, and SMX is brand new. SX is also a well paid circus, it's just been around longer. 

The first SX champion and the first superbowl winners were probably just like "oh cool, I won this new exhibition."

This would be in the line of monster energy cup but more riders benefit from this payday.

But with the double and triple points it loses all credability as a ”series”.

I watched about 5mins of Charlotte and turned it off and haven't even looked at Texas results. It's Monster cup 2.0, good for the riders to get a pay day but that's about it IMO. Come on A1!

A Regional SX only has half the field of a National. With SMX having the complete field of riders I would definitely put it above a Regional SX and just under SX and MX. 

Blows my mind how someone would give up on watching great racing with almost every top rider being in good form just because it isn't a 10+ race championship, but you do you I guess.

I personally think the SMX idea still needs to evolve a bit, to get to where people respect the SMX Champion. I think they accomplished the goal of giving riders a chance to get some more money, also sort of unifying the 2 AMA series with a nice TV deal and wanting to try and keep the teams/riders involved. That being said, I don't know if it is sustainable as-is. It's still too long of a season, overall. Plus, I think the fact the riders can race SX and sit out half of the Outdoors and still get in, is a flaw that is both counter-productive and will probably be used/exposed more as this format continues to go along (assuming it doesn't change.) Ideally, if they could cut down some of the SX rounds and tweak it to make the end title fell more like an Overall Championship, that would be ideal. But I'm not sure of the best way to do it. But as it is, the SMX title feels sort of gimmicky or novelty. And I think that will probably become even more so if this continues to go on and it doesn't evolve.

I see it as a money grab for the riders, and some entertainment for the fans, not so much a “championship”. “Mixed” tracks provide something different which can be nice to some people. My issue is I feel like there isn’t enough of a break between the end of MX and the start of this series. Give the guys a month off and let them relax after beating their bodies all year!

I think of it like any sports playoff series. The regular season just gives you your seeding for the playoffs - after seeding is done it's just an abbreviated version of the regular season.

Needs to be at least 5 rounds in my opinion. Make 1 of the rounds the 12th national, a full blown SX, then three hybrid tracks. Drop 2 SX to make this happen. Also, I would start SMX with points based on your results from SX and MX, so you got first overal in SX and MX you would start SMX with 50 points.

15 SX

11 MX

5 SMX (again, 1 SX, 1 MX, 3 SMX hybrid tracks)

Let's all be honest here. This "Championship" is 3 races with circus style points to create drama for NBC Sports...

It’s basically a glorified dash for cash but at least it’s been pretty entertaining so far. 

You don't. 

Was Tomac fully healthy and back up to speed during SX?

Was Tomac racing outdoors?

Was Jett racing outdoors?

Was Sexton riding a fully sorted bike during SX?

Was Hunter dealing with rookie growing pains during SX?

Was Webb riding outdoors?

Was Webb healthy in SX?

All of those guys are now healthy, sorted and competing as veterans so I'd value this championship pretty freaking high. 

I just view it more as who had the most longevity for a particular season. Scoring enough points to be in the running for the SMX title means the rider performed well between SX & MX (hence the Lawrence’s & Sexton being in the running, and Tomac not, even though he’s performed just as well in the SMX rounds).

It’s still worth much less than the other two titles. It’s almost like how many all-star games a baseball or basketball player has been to. A nice figure to look at, but doesn’t nearly tell the whole story of a career.

My main issue with it is the fact that racing inherently doesn’t need a playoff. Playoffs exist in team sports because teams have unequal schedules… At the end of the season, they get these teams to face each other to decide who is truly the “best”. The MLB season is winding down, but there’s a solid half dozen teams that are all extremely good and look like potentially the best team in baseball, but we have no definitive answer yet, as they have only played a small handful of games against each other out of a 162 season, so that sample size isn’t significant enough to determine a “champion”.

In racing, the same riders lineup every weekend. Each race essentially IS a playoff. If I just saw Deegan smoke everybody for a whole summer, I don’t really feel the need to see him “prove” it anymore. Same for last season - sure, he rose to the occasion and won the SMX title, but we all knew Hunter was easily the best 250 rider that season. The playoff did nothing in changing our minds.

I think that as time goes by, the tracks will become more and more SX-ish so the teams and riders can use their sx suspension and the whole smx thing will become a blur.

I don’t know what national caliber track that could host it but it would be nice to see a shortened down national track with some SX lanes built in to it to. Not just dumbed down ”SX” tracks like it starting to feel like now.

Was it not thunder walley that held a night race 15 years ago or so? A shortened down mx track with good lights and some SX jumps would be a fresh alternative. Or the SMX cup they Held in germany that were the sand-hybrid track indoors in 2016.

Just so we can get some larger spread of these ”SMX” tracks that are starting to look really identical for each round at a fast pace.

More racing good.  

The difference is, in other sports like NHL, you play to win the Cup. The Playoff is to get to and win the Cup, which is the prestigeous trophy at the end. The SMX titles are not viewed on the level of a 450 SX or MX Series title, with the current format. So the whole build up to the Playoff is for a title that is viewed as almost meaningless. If not meaningless, then at least less important than the SX and MX titles that have already been won for the year. So in saying that, it is nothing like the playoffs of the other sports, other than the name "playoffs."

I think the points need to be adjusted a little bit. Right now there's very little carryover from the SX and MX season to influence the final points. Clearly, we want there to be a competitive series, but with the near-complete "reset" of points, SMX becomes a 3-race exhibition. We should do away with the double and triple points or not do such a complete "reset" of the points from the SX/MX seasons; this will make SMX a true "Grand National Championship." 

No....you value THESE RACES high. NOT the whole championship.

Yeah, well, that's just like your opinion man. Nobody said the series in it's second season is perfect, but if they are trying to drum up interest I think it's a good start.

If you give a month off, won't they still be needing to stay in shape to be competitive? If so, you then cut down their off time by a month before SX starts.

I acknowledged the positives earlier in the thread. I was specifically talking about your comparing the SMX set up to other sports playoffs and how it really isn't the same at all. It's not an opinion. NHL, NFL, MLB etc are all playing and working towards a trophy at the end of the year as the Champion for the year. In SMX by the time it even starts, the most important titles have already been handed out. Hence the point of this thread as to how to value SMX and it's Championships. That is also why earlier in the thread I said it would be nice if eventually they could find a way to make the SMX title more important, like it would have the most weight in the sport as a true Overall Champion. Then it would be more like traditional sports' playoffs. 

In addition to a few races being considered a "series" if you just throw more money at it because nobody would show up otherwise, these weird greasy speedway supercross tracks with one weekend off after outdoors...are hurting riders. 

I think the difference here is taking a month off before 3 races, not a SX series. It’s not like these guys won’t still train, but it’s a month without the pressure of a race every weekend. Some time off can be good, and still have plenty of time to train for SX

Sideshow gimmick IMO, but I’ll be watching. 

Depends on value definition. However I noticed this year got a whole lot more attention from privateers and 2nd level teams. 

If value was compensation

- SX>MX>SMX For a championship caliber rider. I would think total MX championship compensation from team and sponsors outweighs SMX

- SX>SMX>MX For a rider career earnings if a top but not championship winning rider. Like Kenny that only rode enough MX to qualify for SMX.

- SMX>SX>MX for a privateer that is not making much in SX, but SMX is a great payday. SX and MX are gateways to SMX money.

- MX>circus SMX> 9 whoop circus SX for me personally. If dragon back and 14 gnarly whoop were brought back I'd rank SX over SMX.

If value was career resume, I'd say SX>MX>SMX