Interview de la FIM par Motocrossgrandprix sur l’avenir du MX: GOOD NEWS
With the news that Dorna will moving away from the World Motocross Grand Prix circuit after this season, we thought it a good idea to contact FIM about who they might be working with in the future. We spoke with Wolfgang Srb the President of the Motocross department for FIM and he gave us some information about some possible changes for the 2004 season.
“We want the make it easier for the tracks,” Srb said. “The fee Dorna have been charging is just too much, we realize that. Maybe Motocross should go back to what we had before. We went into this deal with our eye’s open and hoped the sport could be taken to live television, we now know it can’t. We will look at what it takes to make the sport what it was before. Dorna have introduced better facilities for Motocross, and that is something we will continue to work with, the Motocross tracks in Europe are some of the best in the World now, and we have Dorna to thank for that. What we need to change though is for the small clubs to make something out of running a GP.”
Srb understands that the circuits that run the World Motocross championships must make money, at least enough to improve their facilities.
“We have been working with small clubs in the past,” Srb said. “Very nice people who are running Grand Prix’s because they love Motocross, and want to make enough to make improvements to their tracks. Dorna are a large company that are running Motocross to make money, and that is normal, they are big business, and that is their objective. We now understand that Motocross may never reach the masses like Road Racing did, it’s maybe a sport that will remain for the select few. For many years it has been fun going to the Motocross, it’s a family sport which always had a good atmosphere. The past two years have seen many changes and those changes have seen race fans turned away from Motocross, it’s time the reach out to those people and get them back into the sport. The FIM are presently talking to two groups about promoting the 2004 series and the future of Motocross. I can not mention who they are, all I can say it I have talked to Giuseppe Luongo and he told me that he is working hard to make the Supermoto series the best it can be, I am not sure he is interested in promoting Motocross again, at least not just yet.”
Other news coming out of the FIM meeting last weekend is that the Motocross des Nations will more than likely return to the original format of three moto’s, although the 2004 des Nations will go ahead with the system which was used last year (one single moto final and two semi-finals).
“We are looking at this,” Srb said. “Dorna have already sold television rights for this years event, and they sold it to television as a one hour program, so running the three moto’s will not go ahead in 2003, although from next year on we think the old format will be back. We are also looking at the format of the three different classes, maybe we will also look at changes there.”
With the departure of Dorna it seems that the future of Motocross might just be the past. Smaller sanctions fees to pay by the tracks, less expensive for the public to watch a Grand Prix, and more money for the tracks which put their money on the line in the first place.
“We are looking at all these things,” Srb said. “We want the crowds back, and if that means offering better deals for the tracks, so they can offer better deals to the public, then we have a great system. It’s just been too expensive for everyone in the past two years and that is why the crowds have diminished, and the tracks are finding it tough to make money. In the past Dorna have had the rights to do the event program, sell the paddock tickets, and trackside advertising. We will look at those being given to the tracks in the future, so they can work to make more money.”
Lets hope for the future of the sport that the FIM and whoever takes over from Dorna can work together for the betterment of the Motocross public, because if that happens then we all win.
, le il y a 11 années et 2 mois.
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