Slaw Dog
Slaw about to go full get off my lawn, yelling at the clouds, send on y’all.
Back in MY DAY, we only saw Supercross if we rented videos from Best Video. No, not Best Buy. Best Video. We didn’t even have a Blockbuster.
We also had Cycle News. Which you could get results two or three weeks later.
Sweet.
(Side note: I actually think that was a better time. Just living in the moment. I digress.)
Once I got to college, I would catch a races if I convinced my roommate to record them on Sunday morning. I had a job. There was no live racing on Saturday nights. And that was just Supercross. Pro Motocross would show up on like a random Tuesday on Speed Channel.
Sweet.
You probably read those above lines and think: Dang, Slaw, are you 90? No, no I’m not. I’m not even in my 40s. That’s how quickly things have changed.
Why am I bringing this up? With the recent announcements of Triumph, Ducati, and Beta into the SuperMotocross world (we need to change that name, btw) I can’t think of a better and more influential time in the sport.
Steve Matthes, he of PulpMX Hockey fame, always likes to say that the sport won’t continue getting bigger. That we had MC and RC on Jay Leno and Stew in ESPN The Mag and such.
While I don’t disagree—I don’t ever think SX will be on the scale of major American sports—I do think his argument is flawed a bit. Stay with me here.
Social media is SOOOO much bigger than Jay Leno ever was. You can reach new, younger audiences in seconds. Massive audiences. Global audiences. Will they in turn become SX fans? I don’t know. But they will, in the very least, be aware of the sport.
They may just follow on Ticky Tok. Or just YouTube. Or maybe they decide to go to a race. Or read articles. Or, heck, even buy a bike.
The emergence of Ducati and Triumph in the sport has be very devalued to me. These are ICONIC motorcycle brands. People literally root for Ducati at MotoGP events. Not a rider. The motorcycle. The brand. When’s the like time you saw all those Suzuki flags int SX stands? Yeah…
They, I think (hope?), will bring in new audiences. And guess what? It’s never been easier to follow the sport. Every rider and their grandma has a Vlog. You can literally travel to every race with your favorite rider.
There are 1,000 podcast out there. (Please subscribe to the Vurbmoto Podcast Network). Every race and qualifying is LIVE on streaming. For like $5 a month. There are hundreds of YouTube channels and social channels and on and on and on.
So, while I don’t ever think we will be in the discussion of the NFL or heck, even hockey, SX has a chance to grow well beyond where we’ve ever been.
Hopefully we take advantage and see the opportunity ahead.
Main image: KTM Images
