Supercross World Championship: Big exciting plans revealed for World SX

By Andrew Hill on 1st Mar 22

Supercross WSX

Big and exciting plans for the inaugural FIM Supercross World Championship are unveiled today, three months after it was first announced.

The team behind the all-new World Supercross series has secured impressive financial backing to enable it to deliver what appears to be the sports richest prize purse with a solid plan to finally bring Supercross to a world audience.

In addition, SX Global the Australian company that recently earned the exclusive rights to manage and promote the FIM Supercross World Championship promises "unprecedented financial support for teams and riders" including a massive prize fund, while elevating Supercross and expanding the global fanbase.

Key things to know about the FIM Supercross World Championship

  • An independent team-ownership model

  • Unprecedented financial support for teams and riders, including seed funding

  • Broadcast and in-stadium experience elevated to new heights

  • Licenses limited to 10 teams

  • Logistics and freight support - $50 million designated over five years

  • $250,000 up for grabs at each event

  • Established two-class format

  • Each team fields four riders two for each class

  • Two wild-card entries in each class

  • 22-rider field

  • No date clashes with AMA Supercross

  • Five events from September through November

  • Expanding annually between June and November

  • Dates and venues to be announced later

There are many successful local Supercross events held around the world every year, but none have any FIM championship status. These tend to be between SeptemberDecember, with some others held around January and February. SX Global and the FIM feels this is a "significant untapped opportunity" to grow the sport's credibility and evolution, while also offering a much-needed opportunity for riders and teams to expand financial prospects and their influence.

"Over the years, there have been various attempts to build a true World Championship series for supercross, but none of them have succeeded, due to deficiencies in funding and resource, lack of global and regional relationships and a variety of other factors," said Adam Bailey, Managing Director, Motorsport, for SX Global. "Our team possess the necessary supercross and international event background, relationships and expertise, and the funding to make this World Championship a reality."

A team of highly qualified motorsports and entertainment people are onboard. Together, they are armed with the experience to successfully deliver a series of this magnitude, SX Global assures.

The President of SX Global, Tony Cochrane, spearheaded the development and success of V8 Supercars. An Australian-based auto racing series that became one of Australias most successful motorsports, eventually expanding with events in Shanghai, the United States, Bahrain, Abu Dhabi and New Zealand.

Adam Bailey and Ryan Sanderson are proven supercross event veterans and are the driving force behind Australias highest-profile supercross offering, the AUS-X open.

"Our entire careers have been driven by a passion for motorsport and entertainment, and our motivations are as pure as they come to continue to evolve and elevate our sport and its incredible athletes to new levels of global relevance and success," said Ryan Sanderson, Managing Director, Commercial, for SX Global "Our aim is to take the amazing sport of supercross global and reveal its greatness to millions of new fans all over the world."

The money behind the big SX idea

SX Global has secured impressive backing for the new World Supercross series with Mubadala Capital. Its investment in SX Global brings an unprecedented level of financial support and development resources on behalf of the FIM Supercross World Championship.

Who is Mubadala Capital? They are the asset management arm of Mubadala Investment Company, a sovereign investor with $243 billion in assets under management. They bring a wealth of experience in funding the development of global business and sports ventures.

They also have an impressive roster of talent that has an enviable record of spotting and then growing great ideas.

"There is a massive fanbase and untapped demand for supercross outside the United States and backed by the financial support and significant resource of Mubadala Capital, we intend to feed that, bringing the sport to new regions through the most exciting and lucrative World Championship series in the history of the sport," said Tony Cochrane, President of SX Global.

"We have created an entirely new model for supercross one that emphasizes expanded financial support and opportunities for riders and teams, expanded opportunities for sponsorship and an elevated experience for fans."

USA vs the World

SX Global and the FIM are looking for a complementary relationship to the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Series in America, so we won't see A1 or any other AMA Supercross round clashing with the FIM Supercross World Championship.

In 2022 there will be five events from September through November with the intention to expand annually between June and November.

Those dates, along with very strong financial incentives opens the door to a lot of riders and teams for the inaugural season of the Supercross World Championship.

The two AMA series in the USA will have concluded and the FIM Motocross World Championship will have pretty much run its season, with perhaps the exception of the Motocross of Nations. The MXoN carries a lot of prestige but is a burden for some teams and riders, financially speaking.

The intended expansion into 2023 of June to November, is a different matter and does set up a calendar conflict between World Supercross, MXGP, Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross and a number of other national championships. The summer motocross calendar simply has no wiggle room.

Could we see cooperation coming into play between FIM sanctioned events in 2023?

The SX wrap up

There are a lot more details still to be revealed. Most important to fans will be the venues and the riders.

Other interesting things come to mind. Could we see the teams and riders switch championships? Will this extend the career of some top pro riders, such as Tony Cairoli?

Could this impact the des Nations? Will Supercross come to the UK in 2022?

There are so many more swirling around in my mind.

What is clear to me, is the serious attempt to up the profile of dirt bikes in a positive way, improve access to fans of Supercross and increase the financial standards within the sport.

The end of the 2022 season just got super interesting.

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