Supercross returns in what could be a glimpse into the future...
Who’s excited for the return and conclusion of the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series? I am! Resuming this Sunday, May 31, the final seven rounds take place inside the Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City for the 450 class, while the 250 classes complete their regional series at the same venue too. I’ll spare the details of the logistics and the steps taken to ensure this happens as they’ve been shared far and wide already, but the schedule could well be a perfect trial for the future, from a fans point of view at the very least…
The AMA Supercross series is 17 rounds with a weekend off at Easter, with the concluding rounds followed by one weekend off. Then it’s straight into the outdoor motocross series that takes in 12 rounds over 14 weekends. So, it’s pretty non-stop racing from early January until late August. In my opinion, the plan to complete the 2020 series’ remaining seven rounds in a three-week period could well be something that’s utilised, to a degree, for future AMA Supercross championships.
American racers and teams are pretty vocal about the length of their racing calendar which may or may not contribute to Team USA not fielding their strongest line up at the traditional season ending Motocross of Nations event in the autumn. My thoughts are that through the season, at a minimum two events, run the race on the usual Saturday night, then run another round on the following Tuesday or Wednesday night, for these reasons…
Promoter costs: For Feld Entertainment, the cost of shipping their staff, trucks, track builders and the rest of the circus from Anaheim, to St. Louis (like they did to start the 2020 season) will save 3792 miles if travelled by road. Keeping all of this in one place will clearly save a lot of cash. The following round could then be California based to ensure a quick construction of the next round’s track. The same savings will also apply to race teams.
SX Futures and/or an amateur day could take place on the Sunday/Monday, creating more revenue for Feld, contributing to covering the costs of the venue hire and cover other costs. Imagine being able to go on a riding holiday at California Motocross Holidays, watch the season-opening A1 race and then race inside the stadium the day after? Sign me up now. Combine admission and race entries into a discounted rate and it’s bound to get people in the stadium.
Rider costs: This isn’t so much of an issue for the factory level riders that have their expenses covered (for the most part). Plus, they ride three days a week so why not throw a race in there? However, for privateers, the backbone of racing, if they could park up at, or nearby a venue for a few nights and race two events with no additional travel costs (imagine the diesel costs for a dad and lad pairing in a small van from Anaheim to St. Louis and back again), then you’d more than likely get a better rider turn out, equally more entry fee money for the promoters. Hell, the promoters could even push that the sport is turning ‘green’.
Summary: It could well be tougher than a Frankie and Benny’s rump steak in 2021 for our industry. We can all do our best to bend though to get things going again so reducing cities attended, perhaps just short term for a couple of years, will get us through this and bounce out the other side in decent shape. Having just two mid-week races will give the American elite a month before the AMA Nationals start, which is what they want anyway…
