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Edited Date/Time
1/26/2012 3:31am
So I was really into the east west shootout...awesome racing. An incredibly fast track and high speeds...these guys were risking their lives out there for a massive money purse!
Wait....$5000?
$5000? You would think a world class event under the lights in Vegas would pay more than the retail price of a new YZ250F. That's right- you couldn't even buy a bike with the winnings. I know they gave a truck too...but c'mon. I would think at least $25,000- five times that amount.
There is no way anyone can justify a $5k purse to me with the money this sport is pulling in. The outdoors is even worse. It's like this sport is just a giant ATM for...somebody...not the riders!
The purses need to change- NOW! Maybe this movement needs to start with the fans.
Wait....$5000?
$5000? You would think a world class event under the lights in Vegas would pay more than the retail price of a new YZ250F. That's right- you couldn't even buy a bike with the winnings. I know they gave a truck too...but c'mon. I would think at least $25,000- five times that amount.
There is no way anyone can justify a $5k purse to me with the money this sport is pulling in. The outdoors is even worse. It's like this sport is just a giant ATM for...somebody...not the riders!
The purses need to change- NOW! Maybe this movement needs to start with the fans.
P
The Shop
This chicks hair and this thread have a lot in common.
wonder if the purse was higher, would the rider salaries/ bonuses go down?
oh well, makes it better for the privateer.
Does anybody know where I can find a breakdown of where a dollar spent at a Supercross goes? Kind of like they have at the Supermarket?
The lesson here is entrenched monopoly structures always reward the select few.
It's ironic because big purses would draw more sponsors!
$5k is a joke, sorry. And with decent purses riders would be able to have longer careers, instead of fighting over a handful of factory rides.
Dungey mentioned that it only took him 11 months to get the one that he'd won the previous year.
I found one! The Nevada State Championship Demolition Derby with the purse put up by the Tonopah Truck Auto Plaza!!!! Sweet!:
May 2, 2007 (FPRC) -- Have you heard? Word is spreading throughout the nation as excited drivers from all over the United States are signing up to participate in the largst Nevada State Championship Demolition Derby of all times. This vent will be the richest Demolition Derby in West Coast History. Jim Castimore, proud owner of the Tonopah Truck-Auto Plaza in beautiful Tonopah, Nevada has set an exciting new race standard with a guaranteed prize purse of $5,000 to the winner.
Would higher purses help hold onto top talent? Or are the talented guys just always going to end up with the big contracts so purse money is an afterthought?
Ultimately, the growth of the our sport is tied to the number of eyes seeing it. Of course we have all the endemics but we need the non-endemics to really grow.
Now, looking at golf, no physical risk, most have a long career and these guys have huge amounts of purse money. But, how many people golf every weekend (or watch it on TV) compared to how many people hit the track or trails? It's about the eyes!
That will definitely bring in sponsors. Would pro poker or bass fishing be anything without the purses? You want eyes, people will watch when big money is on the line.
And I don't know if anybody has looked around the pro pits of a SX lately, but $5k is being spent everywhere you look on displays, industry bar tabs and chicks in spandex. The least we could do is let the riders share in it.
I hope the new AMA structure brings the purses into the realm of sanity and raises the respect level of the sport. Expense is a huge part of any budding race program and higher purses would lubricate the wheels of the whole machine.
Pit Row
The guy in 10th needs the purse money more than the winner does. The winner is making his money on contract terms, contingencies, endorsements, etc, etc. The winner has plenty of money.
(I'm sorry, I couldn't resist.)
The racers income (plus tons of free gear & parts) come from the money WE spend on gear, bikes and parts.
The promoters (live nation, npg, dmg) are in business to make every single profit dollar they can both from the riders and the spectators.
In comparison to other investment opportunities they are still below average. A million dollar profit on a single event with a million dollar up front investment is small potatoes in the real world of promotion.
btw windam would not have tried harder than he did even if the purse at each event was $500,000. He is and for ever shall be the sports #1 second place rider.
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