race sponsorship protocol for own events

[carpediemracing]

Originally Posted by HenryA

Sorry for the huge re-quote but its worth reading again.

This is what cycling needs to reinvigorate local racing and thereby regional racing. A broad base of promoters and participants all showing a high level of sportsmanship.

What's nice about the picture I put in there is that the 3rd place rider is actually a Junior stand in (same team so same kit). He just started racing, his dad raced. He'd eventually upgrade to a 2 I think, whatever he was a much stronger rider than me. For podium pictures we sometimes had riders in disguise, meaning stand ins. It was sort of an inside joke because often the stand in looking nothing like the actual rider. We had riders in all dark color stuff with full face coverings on the podium.

[carpediemracing]

Originally Posted by .RJ

The promotors are all, or already have been, aging out. As someone that's had hands in promoting a successful local CX race every year, people get tired of doing it for 10+ years. No one is coming in behind them to pick up the baton, and i believe USAC dropped the requirement for registered clubs to promote races.

I am hoping the the explosion of NICA also brings some new race promotors in - I really think that it will bring XC racing back to popularity and thats the future of US cycling, people just do not want to race on the road anymore and even fewer towns/cities/etc want to support bike racing.

Correct. The other stuff is correct too. The stuff that used to be free, or part of community stuff, is now costly. So our local New Britain park used to be less expensive to use for a venue. Now it's a few thousand dollars for the two park employees as well as other stuff, plus if you want an officer, plus everything else.

I did it for 23 years and since then have helped (and am helping) other promoters, but only one promoter I've helped in the last few years isn't over 50 years old. No one wants to do it. It's very costly - I'd typically rack up $40k on my credit card for the spring series, with very little cash sponsorship, at most 10%, but typically zero dollars - my philosophy was to make the race hold its own and not rely on sponsors. It's time consuming - my 6 week series (4 in 2015) would typically see me put in 300-400 hours annually, including not being able to work a number of days etc (so loss of income, not just "cost"). And for me I typically paid for the privilege of holding races, to the tune of $500-1000 per week. There were a few years where I made money but generally it wasn't the case. For me it was a sense of duty that drove me to hold the races - there was a period of 5-7 years where I absolutely did not want to hold the series, but I did so anyway. Ultimately time (I moved 2 hours away from my home, about 1.5 hours from the venue) and money (started running out of money) worked against me and I stopped.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by carpediemracing

Correct. The other stuff is correct too. The stuff that used to be free, or part of community stuff, is now costly. So our local New Britain park used to be less expensive to use for a venue. Now it's a few thousand dollars for the two park employees as well as other stuff, plus if you want an officer, plus everything else.

I have never put on a race myself, but from what I've seen, the cost/difficulty of finding appropriate venues seems to be the biggest reason races have gone away. Some of this seems to be bureaucratic (cities/towns/counties making the permitting process harder), but a lot of it seems to be economic. The urban revitalization that happened over the past 30 years has raised the opportunity cost of shutting down roads downtown for a crit. Similarly, I know where I used to live, the weekly industrial park crit series ended when the near-empty industrial park got some new tenants and all of a sudden closing the roads for a bike race was off the table.

I think this is one of the big reasons "gravel" events have become so popular. By their nature, putting them out where few people are makes permitting easier, and by having them on open roads with general disclaimers to follow all traffic rules. Don't have a flagger at the corner, just have people racing to make a left turn in front of oncoming traffic! A brilliant way to save money.

[carpediemracing]

My Series came to an end when two retail operations opened up that were open for business on Sundays. One owner boasted he expected 1600-1800 cars each Sunday. Although we never saw that many, I think 200-300 would have been conservative. The added police, headaches, etc, drove costs way up. I was already losing money, but with me moving away from the area, a young son, a decline in turn out regardless, and a rider death... yeah, not a great combination of things to keep going.

Ironically, after I stopped doing the Series, both businesses closed up. So I think the loop is available. Only thing is that now I'm not. And I think everyone that looked into doing the Series again realized that, oh, right, it's a money losing operation. So no one has done it.

I think it's possible to do it without losing too much money, but for sure you're not going to clear a lot of money either. It'd be a labor of love. So it hasn't happened.

[GregL]

Originally Posted by carpediemracing

I think it's possible to do it without losing too much money, but for sure you're not going to clear a lot of money either. It'd be a labor of love. So it hasn't happened.

^^^Very wise words!^^^ I've watched lots of bike racing enthusiasts try to make money as race directors/promoters, or try to get their racing expenses for "free" by running a team. They always crash and burn. The last time I was on the podium for a local race, I gave the promoter my cash winnings ($25, IIRC) back to thank him for putting on the race.

Greg

[redir]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I have never put on a race myself, but from what I've seen, the cost/difficulty of finding appropriate venues seems to be the biggest reason races have gone away. Some of this seems to be bureaucratic (cities/towns/counties making the permitting process harder), but a lot of it seems to be economic. The urban revitalization that happened over the past 30 years has raised the opportunity cost of shutting down roads downtown for a crit. Similarly, I know where I used to live, the weekly industrial park crit series ended when the near-empty industrial park got some new tenants and all of a sudden closing the roads for a bike race was off the table.

I think this is one of the big reasons "gravel" events have become so popular. By their nature, putting them out where few people are makes permitting easier, and by having them on open roads with general disclaimers to follow all traffic rules. Don't have a flagger at the corner, just have people racing to make a left turn in front of oncoming traffic! A brilliant way to save money.

That's been our experience too. We put on some very successful races that grew too big. USAC started making insane demands as well as our local state level cycling organization. Like, you have to have a lead and follow vehicle for every race including JR women's with a field size of 12 or something ridiculous like that. We had to have cops everywhere which are expensive. And yes it was getting more difficult to use the roads as the locals started getting annoyed as the race grew.

Our plan was to run a successful Omnium weekend race for 5 years and that would be enough to sort of put us on the map. But we essentially got priced out of it and we were never in it for the money.

[GregL]

Originally Posted by prototoast

I have never put on a race myself, but from what I've seen, the cost/difficulty of finding appropriate venues seems to be the biggest reason races have gone away. Some of this seems to be bureaucratic (cities/towns/counties making the permitting process harder), but a lot of it seems to be economic.

In NY, the bureaucracy, particularly at the state level, has made road racing an endangered species. For example, you need a permit to run a race on a state road or that "...affects traffic on state roads" which effectively means all road races. To obtain the permit, you have to hold insurance which typically exceeds that provided by sanctioning bodies. Your signage has to meet state road sign requirements. These requirements have killed, in my estimation, about a dozen upstate road races.

Greg