Solution to SX Only

I like it.

No.

It will never happen . There was an official Grand National Championship back in the 80s and I think it lasted like 2 years. If anything you will see rounds added to the SX series .

MXA still makes their list.

I like the two series seperate, but I do think that if MX Sports could take over Supercross and combine both series and make it one big series it could be easier for the non-moto fan to know what is going on and could get more outside sponsorship money and a huge television package.

Yea I dont like it either....the series needs to be separated because of many reasons.....buuuuuuuuut using MXA's Grand National list to pay a top rider bonus money for gaining the most points in both series combined would be cool from the team they ride for and would be added motivation to not take it easy after winning a SX title then going on cruise control for part of the MX series. IMO

The simplest thing would be to have all the teams run their program like Mitch Payton does. No huge contract money, just incentive money for winning races. And don't say it doesn't work! It obviously does. Mitch has no problem keeping or signing riders.

Now, if you really want to make money, you HAVE to race year round. Sitting at home won't pay the bills OR keep you living in the lifestyle in which you are currently use to.

Real simple, real effective and both Championships are kept seperate.

No ones gonna finish the season.

I like it just because it keeps MX in the picture. With the emergence of SX only contracts and the HUGE desparity in money between the 2 why would anyone want to race an additional 3 months plus testing and make the same amount of money. Again it keeps MX in the picture because most of us can relate to MX but not SX on a personal level.
With incentive based contracts you would need a nice insurance policy that many might not be able to afford. I like the concept though.

Chad Reed, your 2009 Motocross-Supercross CHAMPION!

Contracts are becoming much more "Performance" based in general; so, Mitch's system is becoming the norm.

Another interesting "Mitchification" of the sport is the Team Sponsorship package for Gear...the Gear Sponsors pay the Team/Not the rider...directly...that is. We're seeing more of this.

Last year we saw a Hungry Championship pursuing Chad Reed: I can't help thinking that the deal that was made with Monster made Chad a lot less "Hungry". I'm of the opinion that very few riders are gonna see a bunch of "up-front" money in the future. I'm not bagging on Chad, I'm just making an observation.

There will always be exceptions; however, I have friends that make a living on both ends of these deals...they're seeing the changes, already.

The writing is on the wall...

It all comes down to Money. You can put near 40,000 + paying fans at a SX race. When it's hard to get half that to a Outdoor. Being a rider I prefer MX to SX. The general public and curious and those that do not want to trek off into the hills or farmlands SX is a more friendly alternative. I know draging my GF around a outdoor in 90 degree weather because she says she wants to go is ridiculous. So take her to a nice clean stadium she gets to sit, conditioned air,snacks and drinks because they are tasty and refreshing not to keep you from getting the heatness sick. How do we get the guys to ride both? Those that ride MX ride for the sport. The SX only guys ride for the cash. They make thier own contracts they can say if they want to race MX or not. If your JS or CR any top rider the choice is thiers the contract is what you agreed to not what they told you to do. Just Say'n

As soon as Parts Unlimited says well I'll give you 500k K for SX/MX and 300k for SX only the riders might change thier minds. In this economy I think the Sponsors will be much bigger than the riders in the coming years. Sad but true.

Shit yeah and add the 15 GP's on to it and end it with the MXDN. 45 round series still leaves the guys with nearly 2 months off per year. lol

What are you talking about??? That is only 45 days of work a year. That leaves them with 317 days a year to do whatever!! We need to add some rounds in there from some other series as well.

Was the intent of this post related to JS resigning with L&M with another Supercross only contract? If so, I would agree that something needs to be done when the (IMLAO) fastest humanoid to ever swing a leg over a moto bike doesn't feel like riding the outdoor series during the most productive years of his career. I used to be a fan of Stewart not just because he was fast but because he had the drive to be the fastest and the best. That seems to have been replaced the last couple of years by his drive for money and fame. Sure he wants to pop in for the last few nationals so he can wow everyone and steal some of Dungey's thunder. For me, however Stewart performs Dungey will get my respect for maximizing his potential and putting in the hard work...

What was I thinking? Hell with all that time off they could add in the Canadian Nationals, Arenacross, and Aussie SX series. They would still be working less than 100 days per year.

A season like that would change a man.

We need to distance our sports, MX and SX from the FMX "badass lifestyle and environment". We also need to let SX and MX split off from each other as in the sense of Major League Sports that have the East and West Divisions (i.e.; Football, Basketballand Baseball have their East and West Divisions that are two distinctive divisions with their own Champions, then co-mingling each division to create a world series champion. Both the SX and MX series should remain as is but some options are;

1) Create a 3rd Race Series. By shortening each individual series by as many as 6 races each, you now have a newly created 12 race Series (a combination of 6 Motocross races and 6 SX races that alternate each weekend) at the end of the year... to be known as the SuperMotocross Series or the MotocrossSuper Series. Thus, creating three distinctive series with the possibility of three different champions, or what I would prefer is having two Champions and one Grand National Champion. Fans would be watching "moto" all year long. I believe this would be a marketable format that would result in more TV exposure, similar to golf in that they have the PGA Tour and the so called "silly season" season that creates alot of TV for golf. Now add the Seniors Motocross and the Womens Motocross, again similar to golf, creating even more buzz on TV.

2) or perhaps, alternating weekends for each of the motocross and supercross series. This would no doubt create some "conflicts of interest" but would keep all fans, and I think most racers would want to race both series but you would not have a 3rd Series that is an exciting combination of the two series. I personally prefer Option 1 above.


3) In any case, I also believe that ALL races should be "Incentive Driven" with racers earning their money by WINNING, not paid very well before they ever compete each year. Do it like Golf... forget the team concept. Thus, creating larger purses for each race instead of highly paid Team individuals. The fans then are excited to watch the individual racer vying for the $500,000 purse race and showing the breakdown of the purse indicating what 2nd, 3rd...etc., what each position will earn. MONEY creates EXCITEMENT! Huge salaries do not. Each individual racer can have "endorsements (sponsors)" but each Series (e.g.; The PGA or the FedEx Golf Series, or its equivalent being the Toyota Supercross Series, and the newly created Muscle Milk National Motocross Series) and each individual Race will have its own sub-sponsor (e.g.: FMF sponsors the first race of the Muscle Milk Series, or AT&T sponsored first race of the Toyota Supercross Series similar to the way golf does it. Also, individual stars such as Jeremy McGrath or Roger DeCoster might sponsor another any of the other races in the Toyota Series. Again, similar to the way Golf has done it with the Bob Hope Golf Tournament or the former Bing Crosby or Dinah Shore Tournaments. Example: JS has an endorsement from L&M and others, just as Tiger is endorsed by Nike and others, and this one race in this example is sponsored by AT&T. Like golf, sponsors are allowed to add 2 or 3 "exempt" amateurs or privateers to their sponsored event.

4) I also feel that it would be beneficial to our sport if the Premiere division (450's/superstars) and second division (250's/up and comers) were not at the same events. The 250's could follow up the weekend after the 450's. Golf has the PGA tour for the superstars and The Nationwide Tour is for the up and comers... totally seperate tournaments. This would create more TV events, thus more exposure and more fans. This also DOUBLES the amount of qualifiers and racers for each division (450's and 250's) at each race, thus more fans, more revenue, more income available to all racers, all OEM's,etc., etc. Now that more SX Stadiums as well as more Race Tracks for Nationals are vying for events at their venues, (i.e.; The Coliseum has taken Anaheim2) lets make Anaheim2 and the Coliseum the experiment. Anaheim 2 is for the up and coming 250's and the Coliseum is for the Superstar 450's. And add the WMA to Anaheim2 with the 250's.

keep it simple, no sx contracts before age 25. by then you seen most guys in their prime years do both sx/mx

One series sounds like a horrible idea. Especially if you get a run away like we have this year with Dungey.

I think they compliment each other nicely. One thing I'd love to know is how the viewing figures of the Supercross show compare to the viewing figures of the Motocross show.

Wow, there's a lot of crazy in this thread.

I like the idea of an overall championship awarded (like the Grand National blue plate in the past), but it'd require a lot of people to sign off on it, and I'm guessing, a whole lot of contracts that'd be restructured. Imagine for example trying to sell Monster Energy (who has the title sponsorship of Supercross) and Rockstar Energy (who has the same on the outdoor side) that you want to bring in a bigger sponsor that gets the naming rights to the overall championship series.

Using MXA's list? Anyone with a calculator and brains could handle the tabulation.

MX Sports taking over Supercross? How much do you think the purchase price of the Supercross series would be? IF Feld were interested in selling, that is?

Parts Unlimited saying you get 500K for SX/MX? What? You want to cut some of the salaries in half just to start?

I know DC's not a fan of making the 250 East and West one series, but I think calling it a development series does a disservice to it. I think having two top tier series on the same day is a lot more compelling for the fans.

Also, in some cases, I think riders can take home a $100,000K-plus bonus...for one National overall. That's why even purses as large as the U.S. Open's weren't really turning the heads of the top riders any more.

45 days of work per year? Yeah, I know that was intended to be sarcastic, but please!

Stewart coming in at the end of the series to "steal thunder from Dungey." Huh?

Also, while I'm thinking of it, for people who have been pointing to NASCAR as a model of what Supercross and MX should become, you might want to check out this USA today article... http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/nascar/2010-07-20-nascar-brickyard…

Many good (and bad) points in that article GuyB...

1) Fans demand meaningful change and progress,

2) Regarding a Grand National Champion: I am not suggesting an "overall winner", but it could be perceived as such I guess, so call the winner the SXMX champion or ? so there there is the possibility of 3 Champions. That solves the Monster vs. Rockstar dilemna. As Nascar has demonstrated by unsuccessful "overall" championship series called "The Chase". Nascar fans, nor do most sports fans, like the concept of an overall champion or a race series within a longer race series.

2a) Competition between sponsors and who sponsors which series would be a great thing for the sport, let alone creating a 3rd Major Sponsor for the same 2 series.
2b) MX Sports would not have to do the impossible, which is take over SX.

3) Nice response to the $500K from Parts Unlimited... lol

3a) Just to clarify, lets say all the salaries would add up to $30 million. Now divide that $30M by the total races in the 3 Series, say 30 races, that is a $1 million purse per race!!! Definitely creates more X-citement for both the fans and the racers. Creating more excitement is what draws more fans... more TV, and furthers the growth of our sport.

3b) This formats $1,000,000 purse for one race would make that $100,000 bonus look rather small. The rumor about RD not being paid his well deserved bonus's would not be such a secret, creating negativity for our sport. The purse concept is transparent... and NO company the size of Suzuki, or any size for that matter, would want the general public to know they had not paid a large purse for a major sports event that they endorsed or sponsored!

3c) I feel that the major sponsors would rather the general public knows exactly how much money they are putting into the sport, just as they do at PGA events. We might even be able to attract mega $$ from banks and financial institutions, etc. The general public has NO idea how much the salaries are for any of the riders. Why should motocrossers have salaries instead of having to win (earn) large purses. I also feel that this format would create wealthier motocross racers all the way down the line. Bonus's would come from the companies that endorse each rider as stated in their contracts. All INCENTIVE DRIVEN.

3d) "Anything that really puts the emphasis on winning in every race throughout those playoffs increases the drama for fans, knowing everything is on the line every single race," she said. "That's something we support as an opportunity to get the NASCAR fans excited again and the casual sports fan as well." says Julie Sobieski, ESPN's Vice President of Programming & Acquisitions.

4) DC, like Brian France, might need to listen to the fans that do and can increase his checkbook balance. France has realized NASCAR has made mistakes due to their many changes the last few years... DC and friends should learn from them... sooner the better.

5) Based off feedback from a 12,000-member fan council (created by NASCAR and surveyed regularly online) that demanded more action, a series of rule changes were implemented over the past 18 months — double-file restarts, multiple attempts at overtime finishes, a return to the traditional spoiler. It's resulted in first-half records for leaders, lead changes per race and green-flag passes.

5a) Where is our FAN COUNCIL?

6) "The gods in the NASCAR control booth made some great moves, and it seems to have produced much better racing," longtime racing promoter and consultant H.A. "Humpy" Wheeler says, "but it is bombing at the box office." Just as MX might feel the move to Saturday was great... it seems to bombing at the box-office.

7) According to NASCAR estimates, attendance has dropped in 14 of the first 19 races of the season, and the average crowd of 99,853 projects to 3.6 million — which would be nearly a million off the total in 2003, the last season before the Chase for the Sprint Cup made its debut. Further proof that an overall championionship within a longer championship does not work very well.

8) As a way to goose interest in his sport, NASCAR chairman Brian France has hinted at overhauling the Chase, the 10-race championship run that closes the season. Citing a need for more "Game 7"-style moments, everything from adding knockout-style eliminations to ensuring a one-race playoff for the championship is being considered. The Chase currently resets the top 12 in points, seeds them by wins and uses the same consistency-based points system to determine the champion. The past two seasons, Jimmie Johnson virtually had clinched the title entering the finale, and aside from its first two years, the Chase hasn't delievered a multiple-driver battle for the title as intended.

8a) France might consider putting his huge ego to the side and just drop the Chase concept. But it is his money.

9) The playoffs have had a positive impact on the viewership in other sports. The NFL (102%), NBA (158%) and Major League Baseball (425%) all posting large postseason ratings gains over the regular season last year. All three leagues posted a triple-digit gain over the regular season with a championship game or series. In NASCAR, the 10 Chase events last year shown on ABC earned a 3.5 rating that was down from Fox's 5.1 during the first 13 races and was a drop from 3.8 during the 2008 Chase. LOOOOOSER

10) Julie Sobieski, ESPN's vice president of programming & acquisitions who handles its business relationship with NASCAR, says the network believes there'd be an opportunity for increases in NASCAR viewership with a format change. ESPN and ABC broadcast the final 17 races of the season, starting with Sunday's Brickyard.

10a) What? A format change that INCREASES viewership... OH NO!

10b) "Anything that really puts the emphasis on winning in every race throughout those playoffs increases the drama for fans, knowing everything is on the line every single race," she said. "That's something we support as an opportunity to get the NASCAR fans excited again and the casual sports fan as well."

11) To conform or not?

It's not such an easy philosophical shift, though. After mocking the mainstream as "stick and ball sports" while trying to differentiate itself during its formative years, NASCAR would be mimicking them in adopting their playoff systems.

"I struggle deciding which side of that argument I'm on," says Dale Earnhardt Jr., NASCAR's most popular driver. "The changes they want to make fit into what seems to be the demand these days, even if it isn't traditional. It just seems to be what's hot. I'm not sure that it's a positive for the long haul. After we make this kind of change, where do to go from there? That's pretty radical."

Gossage, whose Texas track plays host to two races annually, loves the Chase but says "fans haven't connected to it, so Brian is right in trying to find ways to create drama." Attendance has dropped annually in five of the Chase's six seasons (the format was tweaked in 2007, increasing the field from 10 to 12 drivers and adding bonus points).

"Race fans have a problem if a guy has a great regular season, gets in the Chase and loses," Gossage says. "A single-elimination format is the standard in most sports, but it's one of those things that race fans have a problem with.

"We can't just say 'OK, we're doing the NFL,' because it doesn't work that way."

On the day France floated the idea of tweaking the Chase, Denny Hamlin posted on Twitter that "if we haven't noticed already … the more we change stuff the lower the ratings get."

Hamlin, who finished fifth in last year's Chase for the Sprint Cup, doesn't think NASCAR is analogous enough to other team sports to justify the switch because the competition isn't head to head.

"This is a sport where if somebody else makes a mistake, it can cost you," Hamlin says. "(In) other sports, if another team makes a mistake, you're the one who wins because of it. That's why I think we originally chased this out into 36 weeks, to make sure you brought it out into a long enough season to where the true champion was crowned every year."

Veteran Jeff Burton says a driver's "body of work should count" toward a title. But, he adds "I don't view it from the same eyes as the fans. The (racing) is better because of enhancing the aggressiveness, (and) I think NASCAR will want to try to figure out how to do more. That's why they're looking at reshuffling the Chase. If the fans are telling them, 'We want to see a more exciting Chase,' NASCAR is going to do whatever they have to do to make it exciting."

11a) And so should the MOTOCROSS Gods.

12) Target audience falls off

NASCAR isn't the only sport considering changes in the face of stiff financial head winds and lagging interest from its fan base, says David Carter, of the University of Southern California's Sports Business Institute.

"There's plenty of concern to go around, and the biggest issue is complacency," Carter says. "I don't think you can accuse NASCAR of being complacent. Fans demand meaningful change and progress, whether that's instant replay at the World Cup or adding a playoff element in NASCAR.

13) "That's why these leagues need to continue to tweak, especially if they want to resonate with the next generation of fans that wants everything now and wants technology at their fingertips. You better be able to deliver it, or you're going to run into trouble. All sports need new storylines, and those tend to come from young people."

Fox Sports chairman David Hill recently told the Sports Business Journal "the biggest problem facing NASCAR is that young males have left the sport." Fox said ratings among men 18-34 declined 29%.

Gossage says his track is tailoring its 2011 promotions to a younger audience than ever.

"I'm trying to find a campaign that appeals to car guys with an old hot rod but also to a guy who wears a flat-bill hat and drinks Red Bull," he says. "I think I got it, but I can tell you it's not easy."

14) Regardless of demographics, the economy also remains a major drain in a sport in which France says, "We ask our fans in the big-event business to stay longer, drive further, buy hotel rooms and the like as part of what it takes to come to our events."

International Speedway Corp., which owns 12 speedways that host Cup races, slashed prices on more than half a million tickets but didn't discount prices once the season started.

Craig Rust, president of ISC's Chicagoland Speedway, says the track's tickets ($156-$280 for a Nationwide-Cup package; single-race tickets weren't available) were too expensive this season, making it difficult to capitalize on this year's improvements to the competition.

15) "Sometimes as an industry, the expectations are, 'That'll fix it,' and that's not the case," says Rust, who plans to decouple the track's ticket package next year along with a possible price cut. "This is going to be a two-, three-, four-year process of being consistent with the messaging. The product sells tickets, and I think the product is good."

16) NASCAR might not be done tweaking the product, either. A redesign of cars in its second-tier Nationwide Series allowed for rebranding models as muscle cars such as Mustangs and Challengers. There'll be similar changes to the front end of Sprint Cup cars next year that could allow for more brand identity for auto manufacturers.

16a) 2nd tiers are not combined with the Premiere PGA events (they have the PGA and the 2nd tier Nationwide Tournaments), nor does NASCAR (which has the Sprint Cup Series and 2nd tier Nationwide Series) (hmmmm... a Nationwide 250 Race Series in the near future????), they have their own events, with thousands of fans and it works great for both. Seperating the 250's from the 450's creates MORE of everything. If Anaheim1 gets 45,000 attendees, I for one would also be at the 2nd tier Anaheim1 the following week. My guess is that 20,000 or more would be there with me. Now we have a total combined attendance of 65,000 instead of only the sell-out capacity of 45,000 for Anaheim1.

17) "I'm hoping as quick as possible they get that into the Cup series," says Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith, whose company owns seven tracks that host Sprint Cup races. "Fans all want these vehicles we recognize. They're doing things now with those cars where you can recognize them. That is a giant step in the right direction. That's going to add ticket sales."

17a) It would be incredible to seperate the 250's and allow WORKS bikes back in the Premiere 450's class!