Very Important Public virtues!
By TMX Archives on 23rd Jul 09
One persistent topic of conversation that crops-up every week regards the (lack of) crowds at British Championship MX. Perhaps it's time to listen to the vanishing public...
HAVE had more than a few lively conversations recently with some people who rely on the success of top-level motocross for making their living and let me make clear I most certainly did not initiate the conversations, in each case they made the initial approach, arrived at from several different directions but all with the ultimate destination. What do events like the British Championships have to do to attract the crowds?
Now, I'm not a promoter nor am I a rider, manager, mechanic, or even a hanger-on. I am not directly involved in the actual machinations of the series. What I am is a very interested observer, personally interested in the racing, which I always do from the spectator side of the fence, and from a professional standpoint where I still view the whole scene – from the spectator side of the fence.
Why? Because, in short, many years ago I discovered what an insular world it is as an insider. The very second that the MX paddock discovered the words ‘Totally Professional' it lost touch with the very people that it hoped would provide it with a living.
In the glory years, motocross was a vibrant family sport with the inhabitants of the paddock fully in touch with the fans – i.e the paying public. And why wouldn't it be in touch – there was no divide, no ‘them' and no ‘us.'
Then came the ‘Totally Professional' era, the artics and the awnings and the VIP tents proliferated and suddenly we had a divided society. In a nutshell, go to a major meeting now and there are those with a chest full of paddock passes – and then there are those who pay for them.
Fine if everyone agrees to follow the script but – the sole reason I find myself writing this – is because those who are earmarked for paying for the show are clearly choosing not to!
Does anyone on the inside ever take the trouble to find out what Mr and Mrs Joe Public actually want in order to get them to shell out their hard-earned wonga on spending a day in a muddy field?
Firstly, on a basic level, they don't want to feel they are being ripped-off, they want decent toilets and decent catering. I know this, firstly because I have a family and then because hundreds of readers tell us, as regular as clockwork.
Then, they want to be entertained, they want genuine racing and lots of it. Now here's where the views of those on the inside and those on the outside differ massively. The ‘insiders' want long races and as few as possible "...because this is the way to prepare our lads for the GPs”.
Joe Public, with no interest in motorbikes apart from possibly spending a day at the motocross, wants to see short, sharp, exciting races with NO long, boring intervals between them. So if you really want Joe's £25, and his wife and two kids contribution then you had best start looking at their list of wants.
From an entertainment point of view the year's when the British Championship ran three races for each class (20-minutes per race plus a lap) if I remember correctly were untouchable. Foxhill was fabulous with a huge crowd gathered at the first corner of each race. The paddock didn't like it of course – but the public did. The choice was made, long races, big gaps – and a dwindling crowd base.
Don't say other sports don't adapt. Look at cricket: the recent innovation of the short, sharp, 20/20 game (hated by the cricket establishment) has totally rejuvenated general spectator interest in the sport. People eagerly run out of their offices for the mid-week evening starts and grounds are making a fortune. Joe Public is getting his wallet out because cricket is providing the kind of entertainment that HE wants! NB: Not what cricket wants, but what the public wants.
Some savvy MX promoters (led by the Rhayader club who have been brilliantly exploiting this fact for years) have cottoned-on and are running super mid-week events – that draw spectators as well as riders. No need for an artic or a mechanic or a dozen gofers. A rider in his Transit is all it takes.
The Eastern Centre has been running such evening events and recently drew the biggest crowd of the season to Wattersfield Hall, reportedly much larger than the British Championship at Lyng achieved. And that is no reflection on those who worked their socks-off in order to make the Lyng meeting happen. But it does raise plenty of questions.
I certainly do not have all the answers, I don't even pretend to have any of the answers, to bringing the crowds back to British Championship MX. But I do know that the sport is going to have to take notice of Joe Public IF it genuinely wants those crowds back.
If all that the powers-that-be want is an increasingly insular series, with those involved patting one another on the back, then we just carry-on as we are. Smaller crowds, less income so jack the ticket price up to cover the losses and so on and so on.
Now, I don't expect for one second that the MX insiders will enjoy these words, nor do I expect them to. But I was asked for my views and I have given them from the spectators' side of the fence. If you want spectators then do something for them...