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This isn't intended to start some kind of pissing match, but seems UFC and SX are competing for the same demographic and seems UFC is growing a damn lot faster than SX, I think we could look to the UFC for some inspiration for promoting moto. They promote a single event with more excitement than I've seen for the whole SX season this year.
I appreciate we're talking different sports here and its much easier to sell the rivalry of a 1 on 1 fight than a 20 man race. But I think theres some lessons to learn. The UFC are so good at selling narratives that hook in the viewer and make you care who win, make you pick a side, get you invested...
For starters, the Embedded series - would love to see a non bias, independent behind the scenes series visiting different teams as they prepare for the season, or for an important race. Imagine how good it would be to see behind the scenes, real time footage of Roczen, Dungey and Tomac if it goes down to the wire....
I also find it kind of ironic, with the same demographic the UFC shares a couple of major sponsers as SX and there is much more money at stake, but you don't see the PC robot culture in UFC or the dull interviews. Quite the opposite.
Its apples to oranges, but I still think we could take ques from the explosive growth of UFC and the gripping media they produce before events. I haven't seen the actual fight yet, but the UFC 207 hype alone blows the 2017 Supercross hype out of the water.
I appreciate we're talking different sports here and its much easier to sell the rivalry of a 1 on 1 fight than a 20 man race. But I think theres some lessons to learn. The UFC are so good at selling narratives that hook in the viewer and make you care who win, make you pick a side, get you invested...
For starters, the Embedded series - would love to see a non bias, independent behind the scenes series visiting different teams as they prepare for the season, or for an important race. Imagine how good it would be to see behind the scenes, real time footage of Roczen, Dungey and Tomac if it goes down to the wire....
I also find it kind of ironic, with the same demographic the UFC shares a couple of major sponsers as SX and there is much more money at stake, but you don't see the PC robot culture in UFC or the dull interviews. Quite the opposite.
Its apples to oranges, but I still think we could take ques from the explosive growth of UFC and the gripping media they produce before events. I haven't seen the actual fight yet, but the UFC 207 hype alone blows the 2017 Supercross hype out of the water.
And i have no idea why there is such a urgency for some to "grow" the sport. I'm going to be 100% honest here and say i don't give a shit about the professional side of the MX/SX as long as me and my friends can buy good bikes for reasonable prices and still ride on local tracks and race. That is the real part of the sport for me. The professional racing on a computer stream is a nice plus on the side of actually going to the track on the weekends with your friends.
The professional side of out sport is what it is. And considering how small MX is we should be relatively happy with it. Yes there is always room for improvement but it's not like we have 10 guys getting paid and 10 guys that pays for their rides.
The Shop
Not to mention the bloodline of "gladiator" entertainment that we are predispositioned to enjoy since the beginning of human history. "Two man enter, one man leave"
Also I agree with others in this thread that people are too worried about "growing" the sport. Let it be and have a good time. Money hungry people are no fun to be around and typically have an angenda in their heirarchy of friendship... people that love what they do no matter how much they make on the other hand are inspiring and attractive to outsiders imo.
It's the human story that hooks people. You have to have white and black hats to cheer and jeer. Otherwise, they're just vehicles racing around.
And I don't see any comparison between SX / MX and MMA. Doesn't make sense to promote them the same way.
1. Sx need character, which it is lacking badly. i just watched the 1993 supercross season in review 1993 Supercross season review .....Supercross had character and i can see why it would grow back then.-----you had cocky bradshaw, guy cooper the wild card, and didnt like bradshaw, and a bunch of other interesting shit going on in the season
2. Their aren't really any story lines to grasp heading into a sx season besides the usual so and so had a rough year last year and is coming back...ala (AC) story
3. The hype is their its just on a way smaller scale
4. If you want to be huge you need to ruffle some feathers and show an edge, even if it professional racing...ala the highlight alot of people remember from last year is weston peick and vince friese..why because it showed emotion.
supercross has a lack of shown emotion in it......I'm not saying wwe type of emotion, im thinking more along the lines of like james from a1 pissed after the reed crash...reed staring james down on the podium back in 09... show that you dislike the competitor before the race, talk shit, show everyone you're their to win... and dont act happy about a 2nd or 3rd place, and let it be know.....for instance mc got 3rd place in a race in 93 he let it be known he wasn't happy about it and hes coming back hard and wont be intimidated.
simple shit like that would make make sx more interesting
instead of happy robots, saying im so thankful to be here in 3rd on the podium etc.....fuck that noise
Pit Row
I used to watch a lot of MMA before it got big, and there are a lot of things that could probably be learned about how they grew that sport. The Ultimate Fighter TV show, all of the behind the scenes shows with them training leading up to fights etc... Nobody wanted to air that stuff on TV at first. UFC paid money to air those shows on Spike before that sport and promotion took off.
How many wives, girlfriends, and casual fans of the sport do you know who became bigger fans of the sport and its riders after watching Inside the Outdoors or Behind the Dream?
Unfortunately, outside of the 'hardcore' mx fans who 'jus wanna hear bout the motocross stuff,' people are into the personalities and the life stories of the guys.
I haven't been to a fight in years, but when it was more of a grass roots sport I would say most of the fans I saw were not as you described. Quite the opposite actually, but the crowd size was so much smaller, so again apples to oranges.
UFC is so huge because every meat head in the US thinks they can beat an average UFC guy so they like to watch because they can relate. They latch onto a fighter and root for him, then they root for the guys they train with.
I've been to plenty of MMA fights and plenty of motorcycle events, two distinctively different crowds. Honestly it would be cool to go to a BWW with a supercross race on the biggie and have the crowd revved up like they are in MMA, but they wont because its two different types of excitement. Face it, if you don't understand supercross, its boring. If you dont understand MMA, when they go to the ground its boring. I've done both and to me, both are exciting.
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