June 24, 2008

Signs of progress are a very good thing

To me, the best news of the week was this short paragraph in Racerhead 25 where DC wrote:

Looking ahead to next week, we’ve got a big treat for everyone: With David Clabaugh taking the extraordinary step of bringing in world-renowned Musco Lighting to illuminate Thunder Valley Raceway, the second set of motos from Colorado will air live on Speed TV. So with the satellite truck there and the camera crews in place, Racer X and Toyota will be presenting the telecast of the first set of motos as well as the WMA moto live on Motocross.com, beginning at 6 p.m. Mountain Time (8 back east and 5 on the West Coast). It’s free to watch; you just need to sign up over at www.motocross.com, and when you do, we will also hook you up with a free digital edition of the August ’08 digital issue of Racer X Illustrated. What a deal!


This is EXACTLY what American Motocross needs. LIVE coverage free to EVERYBODY, even if just for the first motos (for now...). It is the easiest and most logical way to expand the audience by making the show easily available to the largest pool of fans, including those that don't get certain cable channels or broadcast signals.

I wonder when the advertising creatives are going to catch up to the concept here... Toyota has been hitting it pretty hard with repeating their made-for-tv Tundra ads, but I sure would like to see some motocross-specific spots soon, utilizing some of the cool concepts they've been doing at the races. Heck, they got Joe Gibbs, man..!

(gearshift)

And how about WOMEN'S PROFESSIONAL MOTOCROSS LIVE the same night! Gol durn it's 2008 and the ladies have finally made it to the big time. Talk about 'it's about time'...

Earlier this year, I joked about CBS Sports broadcasting this race live, goading them to "wake up that sleepy Saturday night audience with a live network television broadcast of the outdoor motocross championships this summer!" I cannot tell you how glad I am that Racer X and Toyota are really making it happen.





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