AMA and 2003 Supercross - Speak Out

[huskyboy]

Let the AMA know your thoughts on the splitting of the future Supercross series. EMAIL THEM :mad:

John Farris jfarris@amaproracing.com Vice President of Commercial Development
Andrew Leisner aleisner@amaproracing.com Vice President, West Coast
Chris Bradley cbradley@amaproracing.com Associate Vice President, Commercial Development
Gary Beggrow gbeggrow@amaproracing.com Assistant Manager of Sponsorship Implementation
Connie Fleming cfleming@amaproracing.com Public Relations Administrator

 

[JimmyD2]

I sent an email to their general email address ( proinfo@amaproracing.com ) last week about this very issue - and it wasn't to congratulate them on the great decisions they have been making... :mad:

 

[mxracer724]

Thanks for bringing this topic up. This is good I never even thought about it.:)

 

[HiG4s]

I'm not sure why everyone is so upset with AMA, as CCE coverage was terrible last year, and now that AMA is leaving, the ESPN2 coverage has gotten 100% better. We should be thanking AMA.

 

[BigR]

Can someone post the e-mail addresses for CCE so we can let them know what we think about them? Acutally I have no beef except for television coverage and the 3 rounds in Anaheim. I just don't get excited when their program says that we can look forward to the same 'great' TV package through 2005 that we have now.

Did anyone see the great jump rope competition on ESPN2 Thursday evening. Really enjoyed it. Still waiting for a SX to be shown at a time that I'm awake.

 

[huskyboy]

Clear Channel contact

According to the CC service people, email to the following address and then they will forward it to the correct person. Sounds sort of iffy to me but here it is:

service@SFX.com

 

[huskyboy]

AMA Response

After sending the AMA my thoughts, they sent me the following email which I received Feb.4, 2002:

***************************
Thanks for your note. I, personally, agree that this situation could slow
growth of the sport temporarily. Unfortunately, our "split" from Clear
Channel was due to them, basically, not wanting the AMA as sanctioning body
any longer. Yes, after repeated tries to renew our program with them, they
presented us with an offer, but it was one that would not cover our costs of
even getting to the races, let alone running them.

It appeared that they no longer wanted us, so we were faced with a decision
to let AMA Supercross die after 27 years, or to continue with a new
promoter. We invited CCE to participate in the promoter bidding process,
but from the bids we received, the JAM Sports proposal was the best for the
growth of our sport. We will now be focusing on a model where our series
visits markets with 30% more motorcycle ownership than the current schedule,
and where teams, riders, sponsors and the whole motorcycle industry benefit
from the growth of Supercross-not just CCE stockholders.

I understand your concern, but I want to assure you that what we have been
forced into wasn't our preferred course. It has, though, given us the
opportunity to use Supercross to help us with our goals of growing the
motorcycle industry. Thanks for your note, and I welcome your further
questions.

_________________________
Andrew Leisner
Vice President, Los Angeles Office
AMA Pro Racing
12441 Ventura Court
Studio City, CA 91604
ph: 818.509.9104
fax: 818.985.4178
ALeisner@AMAProRacing.com
www.AMAProRacing.com

 

[sfc crash]

good riddence to the ama..maybe with cce running the supercross series, yamaha and honda will see the opening to continue to make thier 4 strokes lighter. befor mx i was more into dirt track, living in springfield i got to see 2 premier pro level race series a year. after reading how the ama "sanctioning" affected the flat track community,well...not a whole lot of sympathy for them now.maybe i'm missinformed, but you would think that the sactioning body of anysport would want it to go forward in tech ,developement, and viewers.can you imagine tagliabue telling the nfl teams that a player from, say, fla state, is worth 2 draft picks because they're too good, or that if farve is down to 2 min, that he only gets to call one time out on a drive, to make it fair.:mad:

 

[JimmyD2]

Re: AMA Response

That is a very intersting response! I'd love to get a "personal" opinion from someone at CCE as well. I'd also like to know what Mr. Leisner considers "...slow growth of the sport temporarily..." How long?

Let's take a closer look at this situation. Keep in mind this is my understanding of the situation as I have read it from various sources.

Yes, CCE was was attempting to force out the AMA as the sanctioning body by taking more and more control of the supercross series. When the AMA accepted bids and eventually decided to hire Jam Sports as the new promotor, CCE then realized - wow, we better re-think our strategy here, we may lose money if there are 2 SX series!

At that time, according to reps from CCE, they offered the AMA everything they originally wanted for sanctioning fees and offered to give them back the sanctioning role of the Arenacross series. So at that point, was Jam already locked in? Could AMA Pro Racing have reconsidered?

I think at that point is when AMA Pro Racing made their mistake. They had CCE where they wanted them and CCE understood that the AMA meant business in not losing control of the series. If they weren't locked in with Jam Sports at that time, they should have went back to the negotiating table with CCE. This would have been in the best interest of the sport, the AMA could have gotten what they originally wanted, and CCE could have continued to make their profits.

Is the situation too far gone now? I believe it is.