The honeymoon is over

[Senior KX Rider]

from racer-x

November 26, 2002

AMA Pro Racing files suit against Clear Channel

- press release -

PICKERINGTON, OHIO -- Paradama Productions, Inc., d/b/a AMA Pro Racing, announced today that it has filed a lawsuit in federal district court seeking an injunction against Clear Channel Motorsports. The complaint seeks enforcement of the Supercross Sanctioning Agreement signed by AMA Pro Racing and Clear Channel Motorsports in March 2002, which stipulates that AMA Pro Racing maintains the exclusive rights to sanction Clear Channel's events included in the AMA Supercross Series.

The lawsuit, filed yesterday in Columbus, Ohio, stems, in part, from Clear Channel Motorsports' allowing the Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) to take over sanctioning and rules-enforcement for Clear Channel's events included in the AMA Supercross Series.

"Clear Channel Motorsports, along with the FIM, are attempting to combine the AMA Supercross Series with smaller events in Europe and create a new series under the FIM banner. Undoubtedly, this is not in the best interest of American racers, teams or Supercross fans," said Scott Hollingsworth, CEO of AMA Pro Racing. "We will not stand by idly while AMA Supercross is dismantled in this fashion. Outside meddling in AMA Supercross will only result in a weakened series as well as confusion among all parties."

AMA Pro Racing is an independent subsidiary of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA) responsible for managing the AMA Supercross Series on behalf of the Association. The AMA is a 270,000-member not-for-profit organization whose purpose is to pursue, protect and promote the interests of motorcyclists, while serving the needs of its members. Under the terms of the contract between AMA Pro Racing and Clear Channel Motorsports, AMA Pro Racing maintains the exclusive right to sanction all 15 Clear Channel Motorsports-promoted rounds of the 16-race AMA Supercross Series. Neither the AMA nor the FIM is a party to that contract.

"Our agreement with Clear Channel is unambiguous in this regard," said Hollingsworth. "Clear Channel does not have the right to allow the FIM to sanction any event in the AMA Supercross Series or to commandeer the 28 years of AMA Supercross and rename it the FIM World Supercross GP. The FIM has repeatedly failed in its attempts to organize a world supercross championship and should not be able to create one this way. AMA Supercross will continue into the future and will maintain its standing as the world's leading Supercross series."

 

[nikki]

Awww man... ya gotta be kidding me :silly:


Just when we thought everything was cool for the '03 season...

 

[JuliusPleaser]

I may be taking an unpopular stance, but GOOD for the AMA!

CCE is trying to establish a monopoly in the entertainment industry. They've purchased every US radio station they could get their hands on (so they can promote their events for zero $) and now they're taking the CCE show international. Let's see. . .they own the rights to all the venues, the rights to promote events at those venues, and the rights to the events. They probably have their fingers in the Ticketmaster pie as well. Where will it stop?

I believe the concept is called 'vertical integration'.

 

[bclapham]

all of a sudden the MXDN/FIM/Dorna mess up takes a back seat. i remember people bitching about the AMA-PR on this forum saying the AMA would mess up the CCE run SX etc etc. Maybe if everyone had chosen the AMA when it looked like there were going to be two series this may not have happened.

JP makes a good point about clear channel, they seem a scary prospect to me, similar to rupert murdoch (the bloke that owns FOX and half of the newspapers in the world). To me it seems like they always wanted to be rid of the AMA since they wanted to be free to run their own show, then the FIM sticks their spoon in the pot wanting to get a decent world SX up and running.

i dont really know where i stand on all of this since its all very confusing at the end of the day, whos doing what, where, why..................

 

[HiG4s]

Originally posted by bclapham
all of a sudden the MXDN/FIM/Dorna mess up takes a back seat. i remember people bitching about the AMA-PR on this forum saying the AMA would mess up the CCE run SX etc etc. Maybe if everyone had chosen the AMA when it looked like there were going to be two series this may not have happened.
..............

I said over a year ago and maintain the best thing that could have happened for the fan would have been the AMA/Speedchannel supercross series. NO CCE! NO FIM!

 

[KWJams]

In the last episode of "How the Super Cross World Turns" it took the threat of a split series to get purse money to riders increased.

At least some good came from it.

This episode however was no happy ending.

I am afraid that this is going to get ugly. :(

 

[KWJams]

This slipped by a while back and I would be willing to bet that somehow it is all connected. :think:

"60 Minutes II" interested in motorcycle racing
Nov. 13 – The AMA has been contacted by the CBS News program "60 Minutes II" on the subject of motorcycle competition, notably AMA Supercross.

A CBS News producer first contacted the AMA in late September, reportedly working on a "balanced, fair, and accurate" segment about "the growth, success, and excitement" of AMA Supercross. The AMA cooperated fully, supplying rulebooks and other background information, as well as spending considerable time on the telephone with the producer, to help him gain a working knowledge of AMA Pro Racing and AMA Sports competition.

In light of specific concerns about the ultimate direction of the "60 Minutes II" report, the AMA declined the producer's invitation for an on-camera interview. The AMA hasn't yet learned when (or if) CBS will air the segment, but we'll be watching the situation closely. Look for updates on AMADirectlink.

© 2002, American Motorcyclist Association

 

[KWJams]

http://www.cyclenews.com/ShowStory.asp?HeadlineID=4120

 

[BSWIFT]

Originally posted by Julius Pleaser
I may be taking an unpopular stance, but GOOD for the AMA!

CCE is trying to establish a monopoly in the entertainment industry. They've purchased every US radio station they could get their hands on (so they can promote their events for zero $) and now they're taking the CCE show international. Let's see. . .they own the rights to all the venues, the rights to promote events at those venues, and the rights to the events. They probably have their fingers in the Ticketmaster pie as well. Where will it stop?

I believe the concept is called 'vertical integration'.

I agree totally.