Lubejobs42
Charter Member
I thought that was the SBI Miami race!
Headlines
Boat Racing Now this is how we need to do it
- Thread starter boatme
- Start date
Matt Trulio
Contributor
Well, that would be a clever way of upping spectator counts.
MarylandMark
Charter Member
I thought that was the SBI Miami race!
:cheers2:
So a race boat went to a river by a horse race instead of a boat race? Say it ani't so and why would someone do such a thing? Oh yea- those freeloading worthless no paying to get in 700,000 or so spectators.
So at which venue did the sponsor get the most bang for the buck at?
Option 1- a river by a horse race with freeloading worthless no paying to get in 700,000 or so spectators
or
Option 2- a 11.5 boat "race" that was rumored to may even have network TV coverage
Race teams start thinking about how to promote their sponsors vs how to race on someone elses dime, the sport may just have paid teamed race boats at the races. (I'm not the 1st to say this by any means; most racers with sponsors do so all the time).
Again, no disrespect for those that put every minute and dime in to being able to race. Trust me when I say I wish you were sponsored and could get massages before and after the races in your $1M RV in the pits!! As you see from some of the posts; some people just don't get it and think they should be paid to race just because the want to be paid to race.
skaterdave
New member
mark, no offense, but your totally lost. please explain how you get from 1M to $31M.
you need to face the facts, and that is that currently theres NO return for sponsors. this is why theres no major sponsors in offshore racing that can be remotely compared to nascar or any other truely national racing series.
please list one team that has a primary sponsor, a full time team that would include paid racers, transport drivers and mechanics, and shows a profit at the end of the year from racing activities.
Matt Trulio
Contributor
Much as I wish things were different, SkaterDave is right. History, as well as the facts, are on his side.
Sponsorship comes when you can prove to sponsors that your race car, race boat, whatever, actually sells product. Trust me, big-buck sponsors track this stuff directly. Spectator counts don't mean a whole lot to them—they want to know how much of their product their sponsorship dollars actually sell. Wouldn't you?
That doesn't mean competitive offshore racing isn't viable. But for the near and distant future, offshore racers will pay the bill. I can think of two people off the top of my head who are "paid" to race offshore, and one of them, John Tomlinson, spent most of 2009 on the sidelines. That's a shame. It's also reality.
The only thing less in the cards at this point than fully sponsored race teams is a self-sustaining "television package." These two items are—and should be—at the bottom of a very long wish list. The sport needs to relearn how to walk before it can run, and in my view that starts with unification and class consolidation/elimination.
If that happens in 2010, it would be huge.
Sponsorship comes when you can prove to sponsors that your race car, race boat, whatever, actually sells product. Trust me, big-buck sponsors track this stuff directly. Spectator counts don't mean a whole lot to them—they want to know how much of their product their sponsorship dollars actually sell. Wouldn't you?
That doesn't mean competitive offshore racing isn't viable. But for the near and distant future, offshore racers will pay the bill. I can think of two people off the top of my head who are "paid" to race offshore, and one of them, John Tomlinson, spent most of 2009 on the sidelines. That's a shame. It's also reality.
The only thing less in the cards at this point than fully sponsored race teams is a self-sustaining "television package." These two items are—and should be—at the bottom of a very long wish list. The sport needs to relearn how to walk before it can run, and in my view that starts with unification and class consolidation/elimination.
If that happens in 2010, it would be huge.
jayboat
Banned
MikeyFIN
Competitor
KW had it to the pits,
WRC has pulled it thru, Roadracing has pulled it thru at least overhere and thats how they survive..sort of at least.
Regarding P1 and Class one..well they have also U.I.M behind them controlling things and offshore over In Europe has always been a jet set sport with the Aristocrats mixing with the Motorsport participants of real fame in the top classes and they don´t run even at the same races with the smaller classes.
MikeyFIN
Competitor
+1
I have been a professional mech... no matter what someone calls me I got the proof and know how a pro team works.
During the wintertime we made other contract work like tire test and driver education.
MarylandMark
Charter Member
http://www.thunderoverlouisville.org/economic-impact.html
economic impact is a stunning $31 million for one day. That's a huge return on a roughly a $ 1 million investment.
Talking about the cities investment. Your right about no big name sponsors- which is why things need to change.
I'm not saying you aren't right, but sure have a better chance promoting your sponsor and your sponsor promoting their product in front of 700,000 people than however many were at the boat show.
skaterdave
New member
nice work here mark. your taking a qoute appearently about the $1m louisville puts up for the thunderfest and saying that it makes $31 in economic return and somehow tying this in with geico's racing ?????
first off, is the $31 m just for that one day or the whole week of festivities, since thunderfest is a build up to the KY derby. at which point your "one day" is agian incorrect.
2, that $31m is an assumed amount of money that may be possibly spent overall and not net return.
3, louisville was the sight of unlimited hydros ( or a close proximity to the area) and appearently those races were dropped in favor of an air show with fireworks
next things need to change for the mere fact that offshore racing is going nowhere and is totally confusing for the average fan (that enjoys motorsports), and theres basically no unity or parity between the orgs. like others here have stated offshore needs to get it's act together before the fanasty of TV and big time sponsor will ever get involved.
Matt Trulio
Contributor
Mikey,
Yes, definitely, SBI charged for pit access at the Key West Worlds. (I wasn't there this year, but that's been standard.) But the best viewing areas are in Mallory Square, and the only ones collecting from that gate, if you will, are the bars and restaurants. That's great for them and it's as it should be, but it does nothing to help offshore racers and promoters defray their costs.
I've been to one Powerboat P1 race and one UIM Class 1 race, so I'm not an authority. But what I saw at both were tiered levels of VIP hospitality tents (silver, gold, platinum) that ran from expensive to very expensive. Each hospitality tent had a viewing area outside. However, the majority of the spectators at both events were on the shoreline (no way to charge for or control that) and private boats.
Maryland Mark makes a great point about what I would call critical mass. Certainly, a bigger crowd is going to be easier to sell to a sponsor than a smaller crowd. But high-level sponsors are sophisticated. They want to know, in hard numbers, what their return on investment will be in terms of product sales. And again, who wouldn't? They're looking for simple metrics, and if you want their money you have to be able to provide them.
Sponsors also know that when a promoter is unable to control the gate he is also unable to accurately gauge event attendance. Is the woman collecting shells on that little strip of beach on the Outer Mole in Key West really a spectator? Methinks not, but you can bet your butt the promoter will count her as one.
So offshore racing is a tough sell for sponsorships. Give guys like David Scott credit: He bought in AB for years. He'd also be one of the first people to tell you that August Busch III is a good friend of his, and that sure helped. And when In-Brand bought AB, that was that—done. (To be fair, they slashed all of their sports sponsorship and advertising budgets.)
Can offshore racing ever attract high-quality, big-dollar non-endemic sponsorships?
We'll never know until we give those sponsors a better product. It is so, so possible ... with unification and consolidation.
Off the soapbox.
Yes, definitely, SBI charged for pit access at the Key West Worlds. (I wasn't there this year, but that's been standard.) But the best viewing areas are in Mallory Square, and the only ones collecting from that gate, if you will, are the bars and restaurants. That's great for them and it's as it should be, but it does nothing to help offshore racers and promoters defray their costs.
I've been to one Powerboat P1 race and one UIM Class 1 race, so I'm not an authority. But what I saw at both were tiered levels of VIP hospitality tents (silver, gold, platinum) that ran from expensive to very expensive. Each hospitality tent had a viewing area outside. However, the majority of the spectators at both events were on the shoreline (no way to charge for or control that) and private boats.
Maryland Mark makes a great point about what I would call critical mass. Certainly, a bigger crowd is going to be easier to sell to a sponsor than a smaller crowd. But high-level sponsors are sophisticated. They want to know, in hard numbers, what their return on investment will be in terms of product sales. And again, who wouldn't? They're looking for simple metrics, and if you want their money you have to be able to provide them.
Sponsors also know that when a promoter is unable to control the gate he is also unable to accurately gauge event attendance. Is the woman collecting shells on that little strip of beach on the Outer Mole in Key West really a spectator? Methinks not, but you can bet your butt the promoter will count her as one.
So offshore racing is a tough sell for sponsorships. Give guys like David Scott credit: He bought in AB for years. He'd also be one of the first people to tell you that August Busch III is a good friend of his, and that sure helped. And when In-Brand bought AB, that was that—done. (To be fair, they slashed all of their sports sponsorship and advertising budgets.)
Can offshore racing ever attract high-quality, big-dollar non-endemic sponsorships?
We'll never know until we give those sponsors a better product. It is so, so possible ... with unification and consolidation.
Off the soapbox.
Slandrew
New member
I like the floating grand stands idea also VIP tents seen them for years so it must work
MikeyFIN
Competitor
And as long as it stays that way and the headcount is uncontrolled/assumed we have a marginal sport in our hands.
Overhere a Sponsor is hard to get by even in non marginal sports despite having hard facts as sponsors see sponsorship as a way to make money.
If you can´t provide that goodbye unless your own company or close ones are just helping you out.
Regarding high profile sponsorship, well Miss Geico is one, you mentioned one above, other than that seems it´s the Company owners spending money and evading taxes even globally.
Will even an unification pull it thru, maybe and lets hope so but then the whole organizers need to be paid and be full time pro´s and yes they will be a lot of bickering even because of that...
Do not ask how I know.
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