Tuesday, October 24, 2006

WSBA SCHEDULING MEETING:
This past Saturday was the WSBA scheduling meeting where all the promoters in the greater Seattle area get together and try not to step on each other's toes as the next year's racing season is put onto the calendar. All the usual suspects were in attendance as well as Jan Luke-Hamasaki our USA Cycling Regional Representative.
Now I started racing back in Ohio in the early eighties and then spent 5 years in the Los Angeles area before coming here. 4 of the 5 years that I was in LA I was on the Board of Directors for the Encino Velodrome. Based on my experience in these other areas I have to give the WSBA a big thumbs up. Everyone actually seems to want to work together for the greater good (of cycling of course).
Now I have some pretty strong opinions about how bike races should be put on and how promoters, officials and riders should interact. This is based on over 25 years in the sport as a rider, a promoter, a venue director and "professional" cycling team manager. Since I am still kind of the new guy in the area I kept my opinions mostly to myself (I say mostly because I did interject a few of them at the meeting). I will however spout off about a few of them here:
  • The riders are our constituency. Without them, there would be no need for officials or promoters. Why is it then that the riders have the least voice in just about anything related to racing? Are they too stupid or disorganized to constructively get their opinions across or do something about improving their situation (as it relates to entry fees, prize lists, competent and fair interpretation of the rules, etc.) Now racers, that does not mean you just go and spout off at promoters and officials. You need to do it in a constructive manner and NEVER EVER under any circumstance yell at: promoters, officials, volunteers. You are just shooting yourself in the foot if you do. The thing is, if you have a beef, organize and do something about it, even if it means not racing!
  • Prize Lists: one of the local promoters in the area said to me once that the racers around here don't race for the money (as it relates to prize lists). Now that may very well be true, but I would argue that is because the racers around here (and anywhere on the west coast for that matter) have never had the opportunity to actually race for any money. Poor people usually don't know that they are poor if they have never been outside their own community. Prize lists out here suck. In the Midwest and East coast, cat. 3's can race for more than Pro1-2's out here. I would argue that promoters need to step up, stop trying to make their prize lists based on entry fees (which is a bad business plan), create a good proposal and go out and hit the bricks and get some money. Money is not that hard to come by if you put in the effort and go after it. If I had $10 for every person that asked me how we got so much money for our races I could make a prize list out of that (at least a west coast prize list).
  • More on Prize Lists: This is one I actually brought up at the meeting. Promoters should make the last paying place at least equal what the entry fee was. As a rider, how much does it suck to bust your ass, get a place, and still lose money on the entry fee? It should not have to happen. Well, you would have thought I was proposing that we require all promoters to offer up their first born as a prize. Standard answer was: we don't have enough money for the prize list to do that. Well I have 2 answers for you: 1)see the above point or 2)(and this is the tricky one) pull a little bit off the top of your prize list and put towards your last paying places. Whew. The little effort it would take to throw that extra $5 or $10 down the prize list is far less than the perceived value that the promoter will get back from the customer (the racers) for doing this.
  • Do the little things: That's right promoters, do the little things. Do a podium presentation, get a trophy made up, go to Costco and pay the extra $4 for some cheap champagne. Make a show out of your race and the riders will remember it. I had a former Olympian tell me, of all the bike races he won over the years (and it was a lot), the only ones he really remembers are the ones in which he stood on the podium and popped the cork. Again, perceived value, it goes a long way.
  • Don't gouge the riders on entry fees. Charge a reasonable entry fee for what you are providing (good course, good atmosphere, good prize list)
    That's my 4 cents on it. I welcome comments. Thanks for reading.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

You should sent this to the Washington State Racing ListServ. I don't think anybody would have issue with your points - you made them well at the meeting and I think others would benefit from your experience.

I podium so rarely I forced the issue myself to snap a damn picture for the family...hehe.

Anonymous said...

here, here, Bravo! I learned my lesson. I will definately skip the eugene celebration for the Blackberry crit next year, you can count on that.

UltraMick said...

This is not sarcasm: maybe you should hold a clinic for NW promoters who can't manage to get enough port-a-potties or produce results in a timely and/or legible fashion or offer prizes besides 2-year-old merchandise that's not suitable for the category it's awarded to. The concept of finding sponsors for a race is one that apparently doesn't disturb too many brain waves around here. I am sure the WSBA would support a Race Promotion 101 seminar; heck, maybe attendance should be required for anyone who's got an event on the race calendar!

P-Dog said...

oh, this isn't right. you are all having a civil discussion.

Anonymous said...

There are some great races that that have relatively small prizes (LWV series comes to mind). They could cut prize money to a quarter of what they are currently offering and people would still come without hesitation because the races are good.

What bigger money racing seems to buy is higher-profile racers (Canada/Oregon/California). Otherwise, I'm with Dave Douglas that we are amateurs. Hacks most of us and if it's a matter of lower entry fee vs. higher prize list - I'd gladly race for peanuts. I used to race in the midwest with 10k prize lists...and $50 entry fees. It's fun to do a big race, but more for the experience of racing against guys who have raced in Europe than for the payday.

Now - if you can get a huge sponsor and keep entry low - that sounds perfect.

PNWBuckeye said...

Although it is true that riders might come to a good race that is well run on a good course with little prize money why not try to go to a little extra effort to get some prize money together?

It used to be that a promoter was only allowed to charge a % of the prize list for the entry free. Then USA Cycling allowed the districts to decide whether or not they wanted to go to a "free market" and all did. In my opinion this was good and bad. Good, because now promoters could make a living and more races were put on, bad because in many instances, the entries went through the roof. I was just going through some boxes and found a flyer for a race back in the 80's where they paid out $1500 and charged $7 for entry. I think a responsible promoter should charge a fee that reflects the product they are selling and what the market will bear.

I am not saying that everyone should be putting on a $5000 race. What I am saying is, how hard is it really to solicit some sponsors and put on a $1500 race or even a $1000 race? I really enjoy the LWV circuit races but quite frankly, I think that those races could stand to pay out a little bit more in prize money. That series paid out $2500 over 3 races with 6 categories in each race (that is less than $150 per race). If you only had an average of 30 riders per category for each race, the series is pulling in nearly $10,800 which is more than 4 times the prize list. Even with all of the expenses involved putting on a race, that is a pretty good pay day. That said, I think that LWV does put on good races that are worth racing. But, just because you know riders will still come and race, does that mean you shouldn't pay out a little more cabbage?

Yes we all might be amateurs but that does not mean that we should not try to put on as professional of an event as possible. When the big dogs come to race (and I don't mean you P-dog) that raises the bar for everyone which in turn makes everyone better.

Anonymous said...

Dear Joe-

When you sum up and make good, solid points, it stifles frivolous debate and kills your Google ad revenue.