SMX playoffs... What's possible?

Meh. The SMX Championship is a culmination of American race points from AMA races. No need to ship out teams overseas to contest playoffs. If GP riders want to come over and contend for the spoils, they are welcome. 

One of the best things about the playoffs is the opportunity for B-tier and maybe C-tier pros to earn real money. Making them send bikes and personnel somewhere else would counteract the benefits. 

Get rid of it. 

I’m ok if they got rid of it completely and had 1 big award and trophy for the guy that did the best out of both series. 

This.... 

It is a series made up simply to hurt a competitor... none of the manufacturers want it.... it's never taken off.... the races are on half ass tracks at half ass venues... then they straight up lie about it being a world championship as well as a "playoff".... 

Mec hell yes... rb straight rythem hell yes... a wonky azz 3 race "series" hellllll nooo.... 

the way it’s constructed is fine even tho I perfer to just call it a season after pro moto & then come back in October for MEC , the thing thts gets me with this whole “playoffs” is the presentation of it , me being the stick n ball sport fan tht I am , as football is my #1 sport with moto & mma tied at 2nd  , the way feld is marketing this is telling me tht the SX & MX title is the equivalent to wining a division title in ur respective conference division & the “SMX” title is supposed to be the Lombardi trophy ( Super Bowl ) or the Larry o’brien trophy ( nba finals ) & to me thts bullshit cause its not supposed to be tht way , the SX & MX title should be promoted & weigh heavily more than the “SMX” title & it’s not even a real playoff system at tht 

SMX is made for TV and NBC doesn't care if the race is in Columbus, OH, or Turkey as long as people are watching. The teams that are the stakeholders and the US distributors that support those teams prefer Columbus, OH, over Turkey. 

I’d prefer it completely separated from the SX and MX. No points head start for eg.
Just a stand alone 3 race series on so called hybrid tracks - with big money on offer.

What’s not to like?

Get rid of it because I hate watching motocross and rather have nothing until Jan…said no moto fan ever..

I’d watch a new race every weekend 52 weeks a year if I could. I hate the off season.,

Ya ya..rider need to rest, doesn’t change what I wish.

Did SMX not get the riders more money in not only just the SMX races it also raised the purses in both SX and MX?, If they say no more then I would assume that NBC would take their ball and go home as they were an intricate part in the creation of the SMX playoffs....going back to where we were comes with a pretty big price...

Personally, I'd rather we lose SMX, add the 12th national back to the schedule, and have the fun off season races back (Monster Cup & Red Bull Straight Rhythm) over this gimmicky "World Championship."

Gives the guys some time off or time to get some clean-up surgeries before getting into SX testing for the next year.

As for the money, spread it across SX and MX. 

So then, they should race on the North Pole, the South Pole and on a cruise ship in the gulf of America

I agree with both of these points.  I agree that I believe NBC needs volume with the 3 races to make the numbers they want in terms of viewership to make the contract worth it.  

But in reality as fans I think we all agree we’re not complaining about having moto to watch but it’s very stale to watch.  I believe at the end of the day if less riders made it to the last round and each round 5 riders were eliminated and the last round was top 10 that would be interesting.  A true playoff format.  OR 1 round and the payout is substantial, Monster Cup on steroids.  

There’s an ingredient missing and everyone’s trying to pinpoint it, that’s all. 
At the end of the day I’ll still drink the bottom of my beer that’s on the flatter side but I am much more interested in it when it’s cold and crisp.  It’s still beer but it’s not the best.  That’s us at the end of the season 🤷‍♂️

This is it. I'd go further and reduce SX to 12 rounds, have a decent few weeks in between SX and outdoors for recovery. Spread the wealth across both series, create a purse for privateer of the year, something like that. 

Have one legitimate hybrid race as a season finale. This year's smx in particular is a joke. Last week's track, regardless of the mud, was shit. This week is much the same. Not only is it not hybrid, it's a dumbed down SX track. The first year of smx had legit hybrid tracks that were exciting but it's gotten rapidly worse every year since 

How can SMX be a “playoff” and a separate “championship” at the same time? 
If they are playoffs teams need to be eliminated the first two rounds. And the final round needs to be a Super Bowl winner take all type deal.  And it needs to be a team championship not just a rider championship. But they can’t do that because not all teams have the same # of riders. 

But that would be interesting combining each teams 250 and 450 results each round and entire teams being eliminated then one last round for the remaining teams and the wining team takes the title. Or something like that would be worth watching but can’t/wont happen. 

So just call it what it is a 3 race series. 

Since the SMX playoffs are held during NFL and MLB season how about holding a race at a horse track ?

The internal push for smx doesn’t make sense for American teams. If I’m a rider I wouldn’t be a fan of it either.

You can miss a whole series of indoors or outdoors and still be SMX champ, make it make sense

Sounds like these guys were hateing it.

Haiden Deegan (1-1) – 1st Place – 450SMX Class

“This is a dream come true. I just won a 450 race. This is crazy. I can’t express how happy I am right now. It’s just a weight off my shoulders, especially on a day like today when conditions were like this and I’m racing against guys with a lot more experience on a track like this. I’m just so happy and ready to keep it going.”

Ken Roczen (2-2) – 2nd Place – 450SMX Class

“Just nice and content [today]. That was my gameplan coming into here. I had a blast out there. To get a 2-2 [effort], I couldn't ask for anything more, honestly. What a solid weekend. I can’t wait for the next [race].”

Jorge Prado (3-4) – 3rd Place – 450SMX Class

“I really don't know what to say. My worst races came in the mud this year and I got up here on the [podium], which is amazing for me. Just improvement, from being in the top 15 [earlier in the season] to getting on the podium. We’re now leading the SMX series, and I cannot be happier than this.”

Feld's and MX Sports attempt at this Dog & Pony show and growing the sport has made Jett Lawrence a multi-millonaire and is about to drop another $1M on this year's winner.

The only thing I don’t like about the playoffs is the points system. We don’t need double and triple points to cheapen the championship. Leave the points the same as the regular season. 

10-12 rounds of SX, 3 weeks off, 10-12 rounds of MX, 4 weeks off, then a 2-3 round fall series in the southern part of the country with true hybrid tracks. Throw in off weeks in the SX-MX calendar as needed. Make it a point to reduce the travel burden as much as possible, a lap around the country should be able to find 5-6 races on the way instead of crossing the country back and forth every week. Fresh riders and teams are happier, healthier and faster. Privateers and B teams would benefit greatly too.

Forget the “race every week for 40+ weeks” mindset. 

SMX should be hybrid tracks. Moto is now 2 minute laptimes with man-made obstacles on natural terrain, usually with elevation changes. Supercross has become sub-one minute laptimes in a football stadium with six lanes. SMX should be right between those: 1:30 laptimes including Daytona. Add Charlotte speedway, Atlanta speedway, throw in the LA Coliseum. Then go to new venues like Bristol without the chainlink fencing, Martinsville speedway, etc.

The full season should be something like 11 stadiums, 11 outdoor nationals, and 7 true hybrid tracks including Daytona. That's back to 29 rounds as it was before the pandemic.

Yes!  Like in the mid-80's when there was the Grand National Champion, the rider that scored the most combined points in SX and MX and then the next year ran a blue plate with #1 on it.  Like David Bailey in this shot from Washougal in 1984.

It would be cool if they just built a sx track at the bottom of one of hills at a place like hangtown or glen helen. Then brought in a bunch of portable stands, let people pack the hillsides. Use one of the hills and a section or two of the outdoor tracks.  Let fans line the track on the those outdoor sections.  Would look cool on tv, would be cheaper to build, wouldn't be a mudder,  would be legit SMX!!   They ran during the day, so nothing different there. Just my 2 cents.  

CMC ran a Supercross race at the Cal Expo fairgrounds horse track in the ‘80. I was only about 10yrs old at the time but I remember all the big names racing and the 22k capacity stands were full. 

It wasn’t an AMA sanctioned event so it didn’t count for records but that’s the SX Dorene Payne qualified for the 250 main event and should count and the first female in professional Supercross.

Bingo. It's 3 exhibition races put together. The title itself is an Asterisk* title at best. It's like when Heath Voss became the world supercross champion in 2004 but Chad Reed was the AMA Supercross champion that year. There was only 1 real champion and it wasn't Heath Voss even though he was the "best" in the world. Same goes for this Super Duper Cornball Motocross Worldwide Champion, it's a joke.

I'm ready for straight rhythm or MEC t come back.

Start by calling it the “insert sponsor name here” Cup. A three race chance to make some coin. Calling it a World Championship is not appropriate and everyone knows that. 

All races at night, with fireworks and lasers. Big podiums and trophies. Make it a great show for TV and the sponsors (..they pay the bills). 

The rest of the SMX structure has potential IMO. Two motos and hybrid tracks. Include WMX and SMX Next for attendees day show.

Use SX and MX to qualify for the big show (as-is).  Points: single, single, maybe double. Big money for the final standings. 

Recency bias, and the day mud race, are currently putting a damper on the series. I still think it has potential and can be an interesting series, and it incentivizes racing MX and SX. A few of these tracks have been pretty cool.

Need to nail down some venues. Include Vegas, maybe as final pending how Branson goes. NASCAR facility in the south east? Can we have a race with top MXGP riders? I’ll say 15 since they travel with less than that anyway. Outdoor biased track, 40 man gate, under the lights. 

If only it hadn’t rained in Ohio, everyone would’ve been jazzed.