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Edited Date/Time
10/17/2022 11:26am
As a long time moto forum member on various sites, a frequent topic is "how to grow the sport". When changes or attempts are made, little is gained in terms of new fans except for when big personalities or achievements are made (Pastrana, Stewart and RC/MC come to mind). The sport also grows when a talent from more untraditional countries emerge (think Gaijser, Fonseca etc), bringing new money and interest.
From reading the feedback regarding the Indonesian and Vietnamese MXGP rounds, I felt like many were missing the bigger picture here. Growing the sport means bringing money into the pockets of the stakeholders - plain and simple. More money for the stakeholders trickle down to the teams getting better sponsorship deals, ultimately bringing more money and exposure to the riders and overall infrastructure. For reference: see what happened to salaries and team budgets post-2008 when outside money dried up and bike sales were low.
Population of South East Asia
For starters: SEA has approx 2/3 of the worlds population. In addition, motorcycles are the most common means of privately owned transportation. This means sales and brand awareness for a manufacturer is critical in order to compete.
As most of us know, motocross and dirt bikes in general are not what make the big brands their money. As have been stated in multiple interviews by leading execs in many moto publications; motocross is important for brand awareness and competitiveness, but it does not mean much for a manufacturers overall sales figures. However brand awareness is crucial to sales across the different bike categories. As you can see below, when put together with ALL off-road sales, it is still a incredibly small and niche market as a standalone:
(Source: Statista)
World MC sales by category and brand
Percentage of housholds owning motorcycles
As before mentioned, motorcycles are more common for households in SEA than cars. Add the fact that this counts for roughly 65% of the earth population and you have one hell of a giant market dwarfing any Western country. I will attach the link to official numbers, but here is a run-down:
Housholds owning a motorcycle or scooter (2014)
Official numbers from 2014
- The top 8 are all Asian
- Incl. worlds 2 most populated countries
- Top 3 all have or recently had a GP:
1. Thailand (87%) - Total population = 70 million people
2. Vietnam (86%) - Total population = 99 million people
3. Indonesia (85%) - Total population = 280 million people
If anyone would like to argue buying power (besides 85%+/- actually owning a MC/scooter), I´d point to the middle class as a good reference for buying power. China has according to Business Insider approx 700 million people in the middle class. Some say it´s lower and roughly 400 mill. It does not matter for the point I´m trying to make here regardless - the Asian market is the largest by far. However, if anyone would like to make the argument, you will find the SEA middle class population from 2000 - 2020 here: SEA Middle Class population by country (Statista)
Why does this matter to Motocross?
Factories
For the factory teams this is a given - it sells bikes in the Asian market. I don´t know how well traveled people are here, but I have been to all of the countries and what I often see are bikes decked out with aftermarket parts and stickers from MotoGP and MX. I will admit this is rather anecdotal though. But they might not all afford the real bikes, but you can bet many chose the brand they ride from the stickers and decals they run. Motorcycle racing is huge and brand awareness sells bikes. Getting VR46 to Yamaha did wonders for Yamaha in Asia alone. Bringing World Championships to these markets have their obvious advantages.
As for attracting sponsorship, I will cover this below
Non-factory
Teams rely on sponsorship money to go racing. We are used to seeing sugary energy drinks, power tool manufactureres etc. as sponsors of teams. So for the following point I am sure some will dislike what I have to say. but since this is an economic and not a political issue, I´ll say it anyways:
It is not up to the promoters to give the teams or riders their sponsors. The MXGP´s offer a series which is being brought to the most populated parts of the world. It is each team´s own job to sell their sponsorship oportunities to the right stakeholders. I don´t believe for a second that largely European teams can´t find sponsors wanting exposure in the Asian markets, be it for motorcycles, or synergetic markets. It all comes down to discovering new market segments to approach. One example is the high amount of Dutch MX teams, yet very little Asian sponsorship. With the Dutch having arguably a strong business presence in Asia, more rounds there should not really work at their disadvantage in terms of attracting new outside sponsorship.
So what is my point?
Back to the intro: what makes the sport grow? It is reaching new markets. Attracting new outside sponsorship and exposure. Forget the US and Europe for major growth. It has been tried for 50+ years, the market is dried out or saturated. We need new markets attracting new money and new promoters. MX sells motorcycles in Asia, and it can help sell local sponsors products too.
And here is is a thought: Down the line, this can attract Asian teams and with sponsors eager to grow exposure too.
My point is: the Asian rounds are a brilliant way to try to grow the sport and it´s exposure for teams, riders and most importantly; sponsors.
Disclaimer I don´t mind the 25-30 riders at the gate for a while, I´m sick of seeing lappers in a professional race at lap 5 anyways.
From reading the feedback regarding the Indonesian and Vietnamese MXGP rounds, I felt like many were missing the bigger picture here. Growing the sport means bringing money into the pockets of the stakeholders - plain and simple. More money for the stakeholders trickle down to the teams getting better sponsorship deals, ultimately bringing more money and exposure to the riders and overall infrastructure. For reference: see what happened to salaries and team budgets post-2008 when outside money dried up and bike sales were low.
Population of South East Asia
For starters: SEA has approx 2/3 of the worlds population. In addition, motorcycles are the most common means of privately owned transportation. This means sales and brand awareness for a manufacturer is critical in order to compete.
As most of us know, motocross and dirt bikes in general are not what make the big brands their money. As have been stated in multiple interviews by leading execs in many moto publications; motocross is important for brand awareness and competitiveness, but it does not mean much for a manufacturers overall sales figures. However brand awareness is crucial to sales across the different bike categories. As you can see below, when put together with ALL off-road sales, it is still a incredibly small and niche market as a standalone:
(Source: Statista)
World MC sales by category and brand
Percentage of housholds owning motorcycles
As before mentioned, motorcycles are more common for households in SEA than cars. Add the fact that this counts for roughly 65% of the earth population and you have one hell of a giant market dwarfing any Western country. I will attach the link to official numbers, but here is a run-down:
Housholds owning a motorcycle or scooter (2014)
Official numbers from 2014
- The top 8 are all Asian
- Incl. worlds 2 most populated countries
- Top 3 all have or recently had a GP:
1. Thailand (87%) - Total population = 70 million people
2. Vietnam (86%) - Total population = 99 million people
3. Indonesia (85%) - Total population = 280 million people
If anyone would like to argue buying power (besides 85%+/- actually owning a MC/scooter), I´d point to the middle class as a good reference for buying power. China has according to Business Insider approx 700 million people in the middle class. Some say it´s lower and roughly 400 mill. It does not matter for the point I´m trying to make here regardless - the Asian market is the largest by far. However, if anyone would like to make the argument, you will find the SEA middle class population from 2000 - 2020 here: SEA Middle Class population by country (Statista)
Why does this matter to Motocross?
Factories
For the factory teams this is a given - it sells bikes in the Asian market. I don´t know how well traveled people are here, but I have been to all of the countries and what I often see are bikes decked out with aftermarket parts and stickers from MotoGP and MX. I will admit this is rather anecdotal though. But they might not all afford the real bikes, but you can bet many chose the brand they ride from the stickers and decals they run. Motorcycle racing is huge and brand awareness sells bikes. Getting VR46 to Yamaha did wonders for Yamaha in Asia alone. Bringing World Championships to these markets have their obvious advantages.
As for attracting sponsorship, I will cover this below
Non-factory
Teams rely on sponsorship money to go racing. We are used to seeing sugary energy drinks, power tool manufactureres etc. as sponsors of teams. So for the following point I am sure some will dislike what I have to say. but since this is an economic and not a political issue, I´ll say it anyways:
It is not up to the promoters to give the teams or riders their sponsors. The MXGP´s offer a series which is being brought to the most populated parts of the world. It is each team´s own job to sell their sponsorship oportunities to the right stakeholders. I don´t believe for a second that largely European teams can´t find sponsors wanting exposure in the Asian markets, be it for motorcycles, or synergetic markets. It all comes down to discovering new market segments to approach. One example is the high amount of Dutch MX teams, yet very little Asian sponsorship. With the Dutch having arguably a strong business presence in Asia, more rounds there should not really work at their disadvantage in terms of attracting new outside sponsorship.
So what is my point?
Back to the intro: what makes the sport grow? It is reaching new markets. Attracting new outside sponsorship and exposure. Forget the US and Europe for major growth. It has been tried for 50+ years, the market is dried out or saturated. We need new markets attracting new money and new promoters. MX sells motorcycles in Asia, and it can help sell local sponsors products too.
And here is is a thought: Down the line, this can attract Asian teams and with sponsors eager to grow exposure too.
My point is: the Asian rounds are a brilliant way to try to grow the sport and it´s exposure for teams, riders and most importantly; sponsors.
Disclaimer I don´t mind the 25-30 riders at the gate for a while, I´m sick of seeing lappers in a professional race at lap 5 anyways.
To get things growing, InFront probably needs to invest in something like the Asia Talent Cup that MotoGP supports. We can already see the success of this with Asian riders racing in all 3 World Championship classes. Look at the recent Thai round of MotoGP and the crazed fan support for Chantra. However, IMO, I do not see InFront having the same vision to try to build motocross in Asia, currently it mostly seems happy to just take the money and run....
The Shop
I'm far from an expert, I have only been to Nepal, where majority of the transport are motorbikes, they do have a few Chinese knock off moto x enduro bikes, but can't really see the masses to be able to afford the Japanese /euro brands, I'm not saying that's the case in other aisan countries, but would guess based on Nepal, how would it work
The FIM should combine different events in these emerging markets. Hold a MotoGP race with an MX/SupercrossGP, Extreme Enduro, Trials and so on at the same venue. Making it really big international events where those countries can show the world and their populations what's up.
https://www.mxgp.com/photos/motocross-gp-indonesia-media-event
https://www.mxgp.com/photos/motocross-gp-indonesia-sunday-mix-1-0
https://www.mxgp.com/photos/motocross-gp-indonesia-saturday-mix-1
https://www.mxgp.com/photos/motocross-gp-indonesia-open-ceremony
And yes, all the points that OP makes. Motorcycle riders - esp Motogp are like gods over here.
The problem i see which makes me not agree with this being a good strategy for MXGP is that it misses on one major point. And that is that Youthstream/Luongo/Infront has a long history of not caring about growing this sport. At all. The only reason we are going to those areas is because they can make a quick buck. That's the only reason. No growth plans, no building a good base for the future, no nothing.
Once the easy money dries up they will be gone asap. Just like they did the past decade in China, Mexico, Thailand, Qatar, Brazil and the USA.
As for others that may not understand the appeal of going over to SE Asia, look to Formula 1 for a reference, do you think everyone can be able to race a car like that? Hell no, but they will go in masses to Kuala Lumpur, and to the Singapore rounds. I've been to the KL round, and the number of people was madness.
My $0.02
Pit Row
As I said in other topic, FIM should go for the bikes used in the asia market an start a big ASIAN Championship with those bikes... Like this one, but racing in 10 or more countries. Just like they do with european championships and ama does in US
https://youtu.be/SAo4OcJTtUg
While I see the argument of some lining up their pockets, I think taking the sport to the biggest markets is a good decision. If the teams or the sport don´t have the business acumen to capitalize on that, it would be their own fault. They are given the tools to go there, and it is up to them to capitalize on that opportunity IMO. It´s not turned around in a year or two, but I can not understand why any team would not try to draw in big sponsors from the worlds biggest motorcycle markets. It´s business 101
If Honda can sell thousands of additional road bikes because people have seen Gaijser kill it, it´s worth it. And so is the following sponsorship market to boot. They don´t go racing MX in Asia to sell more MX bikes, they go there to build their brand to sell bikes across the range, and build the sport in new markets and sponsorships
Every niche sport that went mainstream, turned to shit. As someone said -- the "growing" is merely greedy operators and the large corporations seeing opportunity to stuff their pockets.
Having 200 000 spectators at a MotoGP in, say, KL, means fuckall. Now..........If those 200 000 people went and bought Yamaha R1s or KTM 450s, and the riding gear, aftermarket parts and pickup trucks or trailers to go with it............THEN it would be "growing the sport". But we know that's not happening.
How many kids, young people, or midlife crisis bikers in Vietnam or Thailand (or Qatar, or Zimbabwe) can afford $12K dirtbikes....plus 2K or 3K worth of gear and tools......plus a vehicle to transport it all ??
How many MX tracks in Vietnam or Thailand or Qatar? How many KTM dealers? How many aftermarket manufacturers?
Never mind oppressive societies like China. Ya think they have MX tracks out in the countryside, made by local kids on their YZ80s and 125s?
The statistics are misleading. Yes, there are massive numbers of "motorcycles" in Asia. No, they're not CRFs or R1s or Ducati's......but small, cheap scooters used as every day transport. Just watch "motorcycle fail" on youtube, FFS
Travelling circuses like MotoGP or MXGP don't "grow" the sport, participation by people do. Until large % of populations can afford $12K dirtbikes or $20K superbikes, it's just statistics.
To grow the sport, you need to provide the opportunity for the young ones to step away from fortnite and experience riding in a cheap safe environment. One or two times would get some of them hooked. Availability is key, not everyone can take his brothers dt400 and hit the ditches like I did.
Manufacturers need to develop or support ‘rental ranches”. Go rent bike and gear, and go for a rip on a trail bike.
And I agree with your about the documentary idea, something like that would be a major help.
Post a reply to: Why the Asian GP´s make sense (with stats)