I don’t care about soccer, or any sport that isn’t moto for that matter, but it’s interesting how America has farmed itself into facility kids in moto, or travel sports for young kids in stick and ball sports.
If you take all the moto kids everywhere in America, and make it so that only 3% of those kids even have access to what it takes to “make it” you eliminate so many kids who might be the next Tomac or Dungey.
American sports have done what we do best with everything which is maximize profit and minimize consumer return. Loretta’s is the pique example of this.
If we want the next circle of top US moto kids, we need local moto to come back. We need big “local” semi regional amateur races. We need kids to ride local tracks and learn fundamentals in the community from faster dudes who are older and just want to help instead of monetizing everything all the time.
Private equity already has its hands in mainstream youth stick and ball sports. Unfortunately nothing will change for the better until the way things are currently done isn’t profitable for them anymore.
I don't know. I have one daughter playing travel volleyball and to me its cheaper than moto. I think I spent at least half of her yearly club fee just to do one area and regional qualifier.
Soccer is the least expensive and most accessible sport in the US. You need a ball and boots and about $100 to register your kid for the local rec team. You can start at 4 years old and play rec ball through high school, and also play middle and high school soccer for free. There is virtually no barrier to entry, Girl Father. The problem with US soccer is the best athletes in the US at some point discover football, basketball, and baseball and move on from soccer.
Why is this in moto-related?
youth sports in the USA has turned into a major for profit system. I have plenty of friends now that spend thousands a month for their kids to play on travel club sports teams. It has definitely become a pay to play system, and there are plenty of talented kids being left out because they cant afford it.
Motorsports has always been pay to play.
The Shop
Free shipping: VITALMX
Luxon 4-Post Bar Mounts
$189.95 - $239.95
DeCal Works Huge Plastic Inventory of UFO and Polisport kits.
Loretta's is not even close to the problem. Ponca city was the holy grail before Loretta's and in the 80's and 90's it was every moto kids dream to make it to both of them. There were local races everywhere and big "regional" races like you mentioned. Loretta's made those local races even bigger and kids raced every weekend or even more in some parts of the country.
I do agree facilities may have impacted it slightly, but plenty of fast kids that are now pros spent none or very little time at facilities so it is far from required to make it.
The "problem", and I agree it is one, is the lack of tracks and races compared to 20-30 years ago. Insurance issues, noise problems, land availability etc etc. Also, the constant complaining about practice and race entry fees from the guy pulling up in an F350 with a 5th wheel is a deterrent to own a track. The larger and real issue is kids lack of exposure to moto from young ages due to the lack of public places to ride. It's not cell phones or video games because mountain biking is 100X what it was 20 years ago. Cities are investing in pump tracks, trails, protecting land, and supporting racing. Moto can do the same, and in my opinion, the industry should be advocating for the Sur Ron crowd and embracing that to get more kids on bikes. Moto has always been expensive, but relatively speaking, it's no different than it was 20 years ago.
Yeah for sure. I mean we say at ama Supercross that it’s the “best 40” but is it really? The middle to back of the back is just whoever wants to set money on fire. Meanwhile some guy at GH with a Kickstarter & a kickstand who you’ve never heard of could absolutely belt to add some of the “top 40”
Perhaps... the people with the ways and means to fund competitive motocross produce non-competitive children in this day and age.
Blue collar sport with a white collar price tag.
Idk about that. 23 years ago I walked out of DFW Honda with a brand new 2003 CR125 for $3,999 out the door. The cost of a 250f is damn near a down payment on a house. The racing scene sucks, practice is expensive, etc. Moto is a very niche sport that has gotten extremely lucky to get the talent it's had. Somehow it's been on an incredible run of talent from McGrath until now.
Also, Tomac and the Lawerence brothers are a perfect example of guys that made it just by having a program with their father and sticking to it. Parents these days have become the biggest suckers in the world whether that new moto or travel "select" sports in believing that they can buy/train their way into being a pro.
The correct term is football.
The cream still rises to the top. All of these moto facilities and youth sports programs are built on lies. Going all in might change the trajectory you take to get there, but I do not believe it changes your ceiling. Your kid is going to be what they're going to be. Going all in might get them there a few years sooner and open some doors but that's it.
College football had to change the way they recruited kids because kids started hitting their ceiling at such a young age, especially quarterbacks. Texas high school QBs had elite development as teenagers and were as good as they were going to get by the time they made it to college. I think we see the same thing with a lot of these facility moto kids. They have rapid development and the trajectory is straight up, until it isn't and they've hit their ceiling. It's all rapidly diminishing returns from there while everyone asks what went wrong. Nothing went wrong, that was always going to be their ceiling, you just found it at 17 instead of 22 and sacrificed a hell of a lot for the privilege.
It’s not going to work out. Moto is dying. It sucks it just is what it is. Off-road has a chance.
As a moto kid in the 70’s, we consistently raced 35-40 times a year. We would go to Phoenix, Las Vegas and about 10 different tracks in SoCal. As well as the once a month race at our home track in Bullhead City.
That much racing consumed bikes…. I had 3 YZ80’s in ‘76 and 4 in ‘77. Hindsight, that seemed expensive, but my dad said the bike shop help kept the bike costs down. But the travel every weekend was significant. I slept a lot in the moto van.
We did gymnastics with my youngest daughter and that had some cost to it…. If you wanted to be good, you were spending $150-$200 a week, just in private lessons. $750 a month for the gym fee’s. $250 for leotards. And then the travel. We spent over $25k in back to back years before her torn ACL at 14yo. The gym and the coaches were the ones benefiting financially.
I guess it’s fair to say, most club and competitive sports are pretty expensive.
for a sport thats dying, how do you explain the too many people that turned up at a area qualifier a couple of weeks ago?
Electric is the answer... 50years from now we will have fantastic races, nice tracks close to urban areas, maybe even a 'full-size' (Pro) track and Sur Ron sized tracks where jumps are more small bike friendly.
...OR, Moto will become what open-wheel car racing is, that is, only select few people that can afford, it doesn't matter that tracks are few and far between, Mom&Dad are not working anyway (or as a major business owner might just give a few directions over the phone). In California maybe there will be a 'moto scene' in the Bay Area, where most tech-startup founders/ceos kids race this new moto whatever it is...
In many parts of the world people are moving into urban areas/cities...tracks WILL close down due to noise, it won't only be about money for the bike and gear, it will be about who's mom&dad can be away from work 50% of the time.
hahaha.. .I have no clue, but tracks close to urban areas is the key.... or a fat wallet.
Apples to apples:
Apples to oranges:
More apples to apples: Local track practice fee in 2003: $35
Fuel:
I could go on, but I think you get the point. Finally, Loretta Lynns isn't the only problem, but its a big problem.
Practice in 2003 was $15-20 bucks depending on the track.
I mentioned a 250f instead of a 125 because of you haven't noticed there is no longer a 125 class. A serious racer isn't buying a 125 to race in 250A/B so inflation from 2003 to 2026 on $3,999 is $7,200 (I found a YZ125 for $6,899 great deal) but we're not buying a 125 we would be buying a 250f which is $8,599....
You also notice I said I got that "OUT THE DOOR" in 2003. That includes Tax and title. I believe the sell price was around $3600-3700ish. They also threw in some dealer goodies (chest pro, couple things of premix, etc) things dealers rarely do anymore.
Despite all the anecdotal evidence the point stands the entry into this story is expensive and will remain so. And despite it being one of if not the cheapest motorsports moto misses out on talent because of it. It is what it is.
its analogous to the problems facing this sport. dc / mx sports has a moral duty to ensure the health of the talent pipeline, even at the expense of some revenue.
There is a clear disconnect between the roadmap to a pro championship and local tracks. But look at the payouts at Loretta's - what does a national C class champion get? Who sponsors the C class? That drives the money parents spend to chase it.
Pit Row
The analogy works. Amateur soccer is accessible as you mention. But to have any chance at going pro, kids need to be fully developed and ready at 16. How can you compete with someone who has been training in Barcelona's elite program since age 6?
As long as Loretta's is the way to a factory ride, parents will throw money at training to ride ruts to win the C class.
I don't think it's just a US issue. Many sports are pay to win in the youth ranks these days, particularly motorsport. It's probably always been that way to an extent but I grew up with very limited funds and never really felt like I was at a big disadvantage. Now I look at the money parents throw at kids on 50s and 65s and it's mind-blowing.
In my part of the UK, we used to get 40 on the gate for every class and have local races every weekend. Now they have to put multiple classes together and you either spend a fortune to travel all around the country or your kid only gets to race a handful of times each year. A lot of that is track closures and noise complaints, but more than anything it's that the average family can't afford to race "on a budget". It's pretty sad to see how few kids get to have the childhood I had with normal parents making normal money, and it 100% means we're missing our on seeing some great talents coming through - for every one that gets spotted and receives some help from sponsors, I bet there are 10 who have to give up before they have the chance
The roadmap is becoming similar. NFL requires getting noticed in college (now professional with the money they're making), which requires a standout highlight video reel of high school plays, which requires elite coaching before high school...
The trick is to keep progressing. Spending all effort too early, from funding or physical and mental burnout, just ends it earlier.
Is there such a thing as a travel league that DOESN'T cost thousands?
It absolutely does not require elite coaching before high school. This is the kind of lie I'm talking about. To make it requires freakish athletic ability that will show itself regardless of the path taken. The top 0.01% of talent is obvious when it shows up to play and runs circles around that 1% guy that had elite coaching since birth. The freakish athletic ability is a necessary component that no amount of coaching and commitment replaces. In moto and every other sport, when we talk about guys who made a career by being a grinder, we're already talking about people who come from the pool of freakish abilities, not the average jock who worked hard.
It's even easier now in football and basketball with transfer portal. You can have almost zero previous coaching but if the raw athletic ability is there you can go Jr. College to bigger college to elite college to NFL in a matter of a few years. There's been a handful of NFL players that literally didn't play football until the NFL that were elite basketball players in college and just had the physical attributes. You can say they are outliers, but that's the point. You have to be an outlier to be a successful professional athlete, not just an above average guy who grinds and has elite coaching.
Play youth sports for fun, fitness, life lessons, etc. Even travel ball can be all of that and healthy family fun if done right, but people have got to get past this notion that what they're doing with their kids has anything to do with "making it."
FWIW, I've got a kid who is pretty talented gymnast for her age, has qualified for USA gymnastics highest camp for her age the last two years. Most Olympians went through those camps at her age. I've had this same conversation with her coaches multiple times, we do zero private lessons, won't homeschool, don't have an Instagram page for recruiting and sponsors and blah blah blah.... we're not the only ones with this approach but we're definitely in the minority. When you show up at meets you can't watch them and identify the kids who are all in and the ones who aren't. It's all bullshit. We support her within reason and she's going to be what she's going to be. Her sister has had the exact same coaching and development and is as average as can be. Doing gymnastics has been great and healthy for both of them but their innate ability is what separates them, and it's not subtle.
Rant over. Sorry, just been too close to this both through my own kids experience and from previous coaching and am sick of the child abuse.
public school is child abuse. sorry, had to say it.
Is that what you read on the internet?
Same sentiment as us Aussies "Football" is AFL, not Soccer.
My kids don't go to public school and in plenty of districts I wouldn't argue your point. I'm not anti homeschooling. I'm anti homeschooling for the sake of pursuing a sport.
Changing the subject who was one of the first "farm" moto rider to rise to fame.
Or who was the first to home school and ride all day. When did it all start?
You need help. Get off Facebook. Same as the discussion at hand, most adults that are some of the leading folks in every field went to public school. The irony of this thread and your response is pretty hilarious
It may have started earlier but I know early 90s folks were doing it…RC, TP and Stew. McGrath definitely didn’t but people before him may have?
Post a reply to: US Moto (and global sporting)