WTF! Just last year I remember seeing Motocross and Supercross series on ESPN...watching Stewart, Carmichael, Vuilleman (sp) Fonseca and the guys go at it was fun and a hell of alot more fun than watching billiards, poker and other crap like that on a SPORTS channel. But I haven't seen it recently. Now since the "Outdoor Games" that started wed. and conclude thurs., I'm left to wonder why nobody covers ATV racing...let alone bikes. ATV enthusiasts, I would think, make up a large enough viewer group to merit regular air time of related events and programming. There's no shortage of advertising sponsors!

I wonder if ESPN will be stupid enough to look at the low ratings for the Outdoor Games (which includes log rolling, tree climbing and agility dog racing) and say that ATV racing doesn't draw enough viewers.

I like off road racing, especially, MX, ATV MX and Rally Cars and alot more, for that matter, than road racing like F1, Nascar and CART. We need more of it. ATV Connection along with other gathering points like DirtWheels and other Mags need to rally voices and petitions and throw them at these TV people.

I'll be the first to sign up. ATV Connection needs to make the first step and maybe other off-road forums and groups will follow.

any thoughts?

 

mm well I know I would definetly rather sign a petition then pay 30 bucks for a quad video. You are going to have to do something else though to get the attention of atvconnection if we really want this to happen

 

There is a large number of people in the ATV industry who are working very hard to bring ATV racing into mainstream broadcasting and draw attention to the sport as a whole, including members of this website. Since ATV manufacturers have been stepping up their rider support, they will be pushing the networks to start airing more events, so there will be a lot more of ATV's in the spotlight in the next couple of years. The Great Outdoor Games (GODG) is just one of the first stepping stones in making that happen.
Since we all love to ride quads, we are of course interested in seeing this sort of thing on nation wide TV, however, the media networks have to look at it in another perspective. Before they sink hundreds of thousands of dollars into putting a sporting event on the air, the networks want to make sure that the event will not only appeal to avid fans of the sport, but to the general public as well. If there is not enough interest, the network will lose money...and money is what it all boils down to. The advertisers and sponsors of events want to sponsor the events with the highest ratings because that gets them the most exposure for their products. They also want those events to have a solid rating history. The networks recognize that there is a growing interest in ATV's and other off-road sports, and the GODG is sort of being used as a test run to see how mainstream audiences respond to ATV races.
ESPN and the people involved have done a lot of work to make sure that the races go over well with the general public.
This was taken from another website that had coverage of the Great Outdoor Games (GODG). It looks like there was a very positive response......"When it was all over on Sunday several organizers agreed the event was a complete success. An outstanding group of riders represented the sport masterfully. In fact, ESPN organizers were floored at how respectable and thankful the entire field was. "I think we've got a winner in ATV racing", said Tes Sewell. "ATV racers are very genuine. They're an excellent bunch of people and they deserve a lot more credit than they are currently getting. I think we're going to make heroes out of some riders next week when it airs on nationwide television."

Anyway, that's just my thoughts on it. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]