It is officially the “off season” for American motocross and we all know what that means: endless bench racing sessions where we talk about the “Perfect Storm” that wasn't, and pontificate about the new year of racing to come. For this week's Sparkplug, I want to kick-off the season with continued reflection on what I'm calling my “vision” for motocross in these United States, a Professional Motocross Racing League. Sorry folks, but I'm going to keep pushing this idea until somebody proves it completely, ridiculously impossible, or they step up to the plate and ask me to help them implement it. One or the other.
One thing that many fans of outdoor motocross agree on is the idea that the facilities at most if not all of the current National tracks are woefully inadequate. In short, we want our top tracks to offer the same amenities that stadiums and superspeedways offer: grandstand seating, luxury suites, real and plentiful bathrooms, easy access, pre-wired for television, etc, etc. It is also quite clear that such facilities are tremendously expensive, and there is basically no way that a promoter can afford to build such a motorsports palace on the shaky agreement that they will get one big National event per year. How do we get around this?
My solution is to give these facility owner/promoters MULTIPLE events per year. The only way to do this is to change the current racing paradigm. We must drop the current “traveling circus” format and adopt the multiple, simultaneous regional event structure as used by the professional stick-and-ball sports. The principle is simple: if we want to have facilities such as they have in the NFL and MLB, then we need to pattern our schedule after theirs as well.
Imagine living in the Southeastern portion of this great country, where you live in knowledge that the greatest motocross racer(s) of all time live in our region, but you have to drive all the way to Maryland in order to see them compete on a real outdoor race course. How frustrating is that? Suppose the new Professional Motocross Racing League constructs a state-of-the-art facility in Alabama or Georgia, and throughout the course of the racing season holds at least 6 top level professional events... would that be exciting or what?
Let's take a look at that a little bit closer. The Atlanta Supercross can get between 40 to 60-thousand fans in the door each year. I think the Daytona Supercross does similar business. For the blue-sky sake of argument, let's say the Southeastern PMRL event gets 50,000 at each of six events, for a total draw of 300,000. At $30 a pop, that's $9 million in just ticket sales. Do you think those fans might want something to drink while they watch the races?
Here's how the multiple, simultaneous regional schedule could work. Split the country into 6 regions: North East, Central and West and South East, Central and West. Build fantastic facilities in each. Allow teams to pick a region as their “home” region (the Monster Energy/Pro Circuit team could select South West... the Starbucks/Engine Ice squad might run in the South East), but there will be multiple teams competing to represent each region. Qualifiers will be run to determine which riders from which teams will represent the region each week in region versus region competition. Arrange the schedule so that teams play “away” on alternate weekends. The season will run for 16 weeks from late Spring to early Fall, regardless of what they do with Supercross. The season will culminate in Individual titles, Team titles and Region titles.
And let me take this moment to stress that this is NOT indoor motocross. These facilities are all about outdoor motocross, and every attempt should be made to take advantage of the natural terrain endemic to each particular region. The facility itself should be engineered to provide perfect viewing of a nearly natural track. If it almost sounds impossible... that's alright; nothing great ever came from a small dream.
Yes, this idea blows tradition clear out of the water. Yes, this idea means goodbye to the great old tracks, but it also means hello to a new era of motocross, one that is exemplified by increased numbers of people taking to the dirt to enjoy the sport firsthand. More track, less land closures, more fun for all.
And for those of us getting too old to ride a whole heck of a lot, more racing to watch on TV... or better yet, on the internet. Bring it on!
2 comments:
That's a well thought out idea P, but I have some concerns. The most obvious is that the half dozen top riders would stake out their own regions and dominate them, much like RC in the nationals. The result would be very boring racing. I go to races to see all the big boys compete, not just one or two. I am assuming I'm reading this right and it would be replacing the nationals.
Good observation, jpt, and I don't have an answer for that, except this: just as you might go to a home football game to see the superstars on the visiting team, in the regional format, you would be able to see visiting superstar racers... just not all of them at the same time. That would only happen in the playoffs and the League championship rounds.
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