Sparkplug #15

The future of motocross media is today's topic. There are a lot of people that think motocross is in trouble with regards to media coverage, and on the face of things, there is a lot of evidence supporting that position. Here it is, early in the 21st Century, and our sport STILL does not rate live television (or even radio!) coverage by any of the traditional media outlets and channels. Mainstream newspapers ignore us unless the event happens in their backyards and even then we won't get front page, above the fold articles.

This neglect, however, opened the door for enterprising motocross enthusiasts to implement alternative means of reporting race results. First, I believe, was that old call-in 900 number, where for a fee fans could call and get the latest race results. That was pretty cool back in its day. But the internet enabled a mini-revolution of sorts when Cycle News started it's “Virtual Grandstand” feature, which was basically a writer furiously typing away at the races, posting up-to-the-lap reports directly to the Cycle News website.

Text reporting soon gave way to live webcasts, and every Sunday afternoon (or Saturday evening during supercross season) thousands of motocross fans can be found huddled around their warm computers listening to the likes of Jason Weigandt and Jim Holley as they broadcast the races like old-time radio sports announcers. I've listened many times, and each time I do, I'm struck by how silly it all seems: big screen TVs are turned off, 120 cable or satellite channels with nothing on, and we're forced to pretend it's 1940... WHERE IS OUR LIVE TV COVERAGE??

Technology-wise, we are standing on the verge of new day in communications. The convergence of cheaper, faster computers and cheaper, faster internet access is rapidly leading to an situation in which any Joe Blow can be a broadcaster. Actually, we are already there: look at the success of the wonderful DMXS (Dead Motocrossers' Society) radio show, hosted by David Izer and Kevin Kelley and friends. There's also Pit Pass radio and others that I'm not even aware of. Video versions of these shows have already been started, and soon, “Podcasted” versions will be available as well (in the “Podcasting” model, instead of having to sit at your computer to enjoy the show, you download the latest copy of the show to your portable media player and watch/listen to it wherever you want). But all of this is almost old news, and not quite what I'm getting at.

Imagine this: for this year's Outdoor National Finale at Glen Helen, you log into your favorite MX website and you're able to see live feeds from EVERY major team in the pits. Multiple cameras that YOU choose from, so you can see who's in the autograph line, what type of tires Goose is mounting on RC's Suzuki, even who's schmoozing in the VIP section. Multiple on-track cameras, each sponsored by various industry and outside-the-industry companies, provide a wide selection of views that YOU select at your whim. And finally, the race itself is webcast live and you can tap into that, too. If you're like me, you'll have a bunch of browser windows open at one time, with the race feed in one, the AMA lap timer in another, a shot of mechanic's row in a third, and a chat window open so I can talk trash with my friends (“you SUCK, BobbyM!!”). Wouldn't that be cool? Isn't that what we really want?

Face it, the old broadcast model is dead. The broadcast networks and cable channels have already sent our sport a very clear message: they don't care. They certainly don't value motocross enough to pay for it; we've been buying our own airtime for years... and they still wouldn't run us in real-time. The old media believed, and rightly so, that they couldn't make enough advertising dollars off of our relatively small audiences. Fine, I say, let's defect to the internet and build our own economic model. MotoGP is already there, and I'm not saying that their way is the right way, but we need to be bringing the sport home ourselves here in America. We WILL need the cooperation of the phone companies, since they control the big pipes to the internet; maybe therein lies the key to the new model?

All I really know is this: it's time for a change. (And you don't really suck, BobbyM!!)