Posts
375
Joined
6/3/2010
Location
Memphis, TN
US
Edited Date/Time
1/27/2012 9:08am
A buddy of mine has a local indoor series (Arenacross Tour) and this question came up last week.
What would you do to make a local indoor series more fun/interesting?
This (no bullshit) already a pretty good series, but we were brainstorming on ways to make it more fun. They typically run in civic centers in MS and TN. Average attendance was 3,800 and they had 6 sellouts. It's not just a sleepy show with everyone in the stands someone's family. Most of the spectators are locals that are used to going to see what the local civic center is doing that weekend. For some of the towns, AX is the coolest show of the year.
Some stuff they already do:
-A good night show. They average about 300 riders, and most of the racing is during the day. They save about 20 races for a cool night show, with intro, and some lights and smoke. Peewees suit up and get introduced, which moms like.
-Relay race on 80s with kids and parents, always fun.
-Music. The announcer controls the sound with an ipod with a remote and they have pretty good music just about all the time.
-30 second girl, she starts the pro races and they do the rounds with a T-shirt gun a couple of times during breaks.
-Freestyle show. Every round has a good freestyle show for a closing, even though in some venues the roof is so low they can only set the ramps at about 50 feet or they would hit the ceiling.
Payouts for the pros are good, $1,000 to win a 20-lap main.
Besides naked chics, who has their favorite "I wish indoor races would do this" idea?
Series site: '); pageTracker2._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.arenacrosstour.com
');" target="_blank">www.arenacrosstour.com
What would you do to make a local indoor series more fun/interesting?
This (no bullshit) already a pretty good series, but we were brainstorming on ways to make it more fun. They typically run in civic centers in MS and TN. Average attendance was 3,800 and they had 6 sellouts. It's not just a sleepy show with everyone in the stands someone's family. Most of the spectators are locals that are used to going to see what the local civic center is doing that weekend. For some of the towns, AX is the coolest show of the year.
Some stuff they already do:
-A good night show. They average about 300 riders, and most of the racing is during the day. They save about 20 races for a cool night show, with intro, and some lights and smoke. Peewees suit up and get introduced, which moms like.
-Relay race on 80s with kids and parents, always fun.
-Music. The announcer controls the sound with an ipod with a remote and they have pretty good music just about all the time.
-30 second girl, she starts the pro races and they do the rounds with a T-shirt gun a couple of times during breaks.
-Freestyle show. Every round has a good freestyle show for a closing, even though in some venues the roof is so low they can only set the ramps at about 50 feet or they would hit the ceiling.
Payouts for the pros are good, $1,000 to win a 20-lap main.
Besides naked chics, who has their favorite "I wish indoor races would do this" idea?
Series site: '); pageTracker2._trackPageview('/outgoing/www.arenacrosstour.com
');" target="_blank">www.arenacrosstour.com
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The guys that are coming know what to expect and may not like change. Looks like something that I wish we had in this area. Looks cool.
I raced several of them and I loved it all, awesome tracks, they treated the pro's very well, no entry fee's, it was the way it should have been, its too bad Kidd couldnt get the sponsors etc to keep it going.
Shoot shirts up in the crowed with some launcher of some sort.
I think anything to get the crowed involved would be good....
I wouldn't do this for liability reasons, but it just came to me: Invite 10 guys out of the crowed who have never thrown a leg over a dirtbike to do a race. I can just imagine some macho men types, who thinking supercross would be easy, crashing like crazy for 5 laps. You would need to have a few ambulances on standby, but holy crap that would be entertaining (don't do it, it's just a slightly amusing thought).
Years ago, there was a track up in Washington that used to run a "Hobby Stock" series with bikes. It was one of the most entertaining races of the night. Each rider shows up with a bike that was valued at, say $200. At the end of each race night, any rider could trade with any other riders bike. It kept everyone from having a "hot" bike, or really dumping any more money than absolutely needed to complete the race. You would be amazed at what kind of junk was actually ridden, and really shows who the real riders are. I have always wanted to see someone run that idea again.
I know the fear is that it will play out and people will lose interest. New ideas are not easy.
People come to events like these because they are family or have an investment. That's the base. The other half are entertained.
As long as you can keep the rider turnout up, the show will go on. How do you keep the percentage of people that show for entertainment coming? Tough question. What would PT Barnum do?
Steve I like the looks of the series in the pics, and selling more tickets than most....I agree it sounds like they have a nice show already. I do like the idea of bringing fans down to run a lap, it's funny. Make em sign a waiver first though.
Bring in local TV/Media personalities and put them on 50's for a media showdown. Spectators can relate and cheer on their fav personality and you can gain some solid PR from the exposure....
This is the series that runs in Ashville right??
Maybe try a team race with 2 or 3 riders on a team..Maybe have 3 or 4 teams race at once and the best total score wins. Have riders wear same color to make it easy for the fans to see which team is winning.
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