ChiToWn TapouT

First a major network has to carry this. Fox, Abc, Nbc maybe
Cbs in order to gain fans then the sponsors will come out in droves.
Second you have to have smaller boats involved. The type the "average income" fan
can realistically afford. More boats running more action for a first time viewer.
We all enjoy watching the big dogs stomp but everyone cant afford them.
This is how the major sponsors will look at it also.
And only running 1/2 dozen boats is a hard sell to a major network let alone sponsors.

Theres all types of incomes out there and if you make seem like boating is
unattainable to the average joe then why would he or how could he become a fan?

When you have the announcer rattling off sizes and hp ratings and prices of all boats the
average first time viewer might hear something they can actually afford and go over to the
computer and start looking into it, and then it begins.

mr_velocity

You put all those boats on the course at the same time and you can't tell the difference between a 42 and a 36. Hell the people that we had on the yacht right next to the course couldn't tell the difference between the IOs and outboards never mind the difference between SC and SCL. I believe the reason APBA ran us together was to make the fleet look bigger making a bigger impact to the average Joe sitting on the shore. Didn't do anything to build fan loyality though. The races came to town then left leaving with it the one day fans from that town.

Either you build a professional race organization of one or two classes or you have what you have today, self sponsored club style racing. Would it be more exciting to have ricers running the Daytona 500?

We had a corporate sponsor that used the events to entertain clients. There was way too much confusion when the boats ran. Most the the people back at the company would listen to the web broadcasts, they had no idea who was in the lead. The CEO used to say "when you guys going to beat Don Q?" They weren't even in our class. We spent more time explaining who was racing against who than anything else. It was very frustrating to us and guests the company flew in for the race.

To make it work you needs fans, loyal fans and lots of them. Even if every performance boater was a fan there just aren't enough of us.

cuda

I think you missed Mr Velocity's point. I think he was saying there are too many classes, and nobody knows who is racing who.

I could be wrong.
Mr Velocity?

cuda

I'd like to see a fan read a tape of a boat running 80 mph in six foot seas and be able to tell the difference between a 39 and a 41 foot boat.

onesickpantera

iTrader: (1)

No I got his point and I agree, way too many classes. My point is have size classes only, then when TELEVISED it's easy to understand. IE "Here's your leader in the 30-35' class". Then even a redneck Nascar fan can follow and understand!

mr_velocity

First not going to happen until they have a market to sell the "product" to. Without a base of viewers they will never air the show. The APBA LLC used to pay to air the races, backwards of every other sport.

Second, why? Can the average guy afford a Nascar or a Top Fuel Funny car? The difference between either of those and Corvette is the same as comparing an MTI to a Bayliner. Yet a lot of Vette owners like Nascar. Nascar or Drag budgets are higher than that of the average SC team. Rattling off the multi-million dollar budgets of a Nascar team does not turn the average joe off thinking he can't afford to do it. You need the smaller boats if you expect that the sport will be funded by boat manufacturers that need to sell their product to the fans. You don't want to market offshore racing as the sport that all the fans can afford to participate in.

The second point is great for club style racing to get people into the sport. If you want to build sponsors you need to build a professional organization where racing is a business. Unfortunately offshore racing is more about getting drunk in Key West than about running a business. Just look at the posts following Key West or walk through the pits. Again, this was an issue with our corporate sponsor, the lack of professionalism by many teams.

onesickpantera

iTrader: (1)

C'mon Cuda, I was being sarcastic! I meant the classes would be easy to distibguish. No F1, F2, P4, P1, Superboat, Superboat Lite, etc etc confusion. Keep it simple.

I didn't LITERALLY mean they could measure them with a tape off their homemade houseboat as the boats flew by!

mr_velocity

Exactly, way too many classes and nobody knows who is racing against who. And you can't tell the difference between 35 and 42 when it's zipping by. Maybe most of OSO can but most of American can not.

Like I said my experience was dealing with corporate executives that were flown into watch us race from a private yacht. Although it was the most exciting activity that these people participated in they had no idea what was going on. When someone gets it right there is a lot of money to be made in this sport. No doubt in my mind.

offshoredrillin

but nascar does have classes..you make your car to the specs that nascar mandates no more than 750 hp, they provide the tires. if you want to run less hp you race busch.

there has to be a guideline or a starting point to measure from and to...say run as much hp as you wanted but the sanctioning body had everyone run 26 inch props (ie:restricter plates). Nascar has spent millions of dollars to make sure that the races are even. by saying run anything your only inviting mayhem...

there is alot of good ideas, but there has to be guidelines and a base platform to start at...

onesickpantera

iTrader: (1)

First of all, comparing Nascar to Offshore racing is like comparing a granola bar to a dog turd. Nearly EVERYONE owns a car or has owned a car. How many Nascar bumper stickers you see on POS pickup trucks?

Which is the problem, how do we turn the general public on to Offshore Racing?

Simple - ACTION!!! Give any race fan good action and they will watch. Hell, I have watch modified riding lawn mower races before!

And six boats in a 150 mile race isn't going to give the action needed! You will need a lot of boats and some GOOD DECK TO DECK racing, period.

Yes, there are too many confusing classes now. So, break them up into a handful by size only and let them rip. Lots of boats=lots of action.

Is my point getting accross whatsoever or are the batteries dead in my megaphone???