Attracting more entries to Moto GP

:idea: A field of 17 bikes in the premier class is not good .......So how do you increase the numbers????

My view is that the answer lies in the sponsors getting value for their investment.

If the TV coverage showed more comprehensive footage of the entire field to the extent that the sponsors of teams were able to be identified and receive reasonable exposure to enhance sales of their respective products or services, then more sponsors would be inclined to become involved.

However .......as it is, sponsors of teams running toward the back of the pack receive very little (if any) exposure on most occasions during a race.

Split-screen technology is available so why not use it????????

[Roby44]

Thats a good idea..

Especially for some fans as well as the sponsors, who like me cheer on riders who aren't always, well who are hardly ever, at the front of the pack... Roby Rolfo for one!!

Besides sometimes there is lots happening at the back of the pack that we never get to see on the TV

[harsha]

get more teams.....maybe give them...

some boostup/incentive that the other teams have to give them to get them to compete reasonably well.....

get more teams.....maybe give them...

some boostup/incentive that the other teams have to give them to get them to compete reasonably well.....

Yeah.......That sounds great but how do you propose they achieve that without funds from sponsors who want some chance of exposure to the viewers before putting up their hard-earned money????????

[NinjaMaster]

No doubt sponsorship is the key. But with MotoGP really riding a wave of popularity at the moment behind Rossi and the young guns of Stoner, Pedrosa, Lorenzo and Dovi, how can the package become more attractive? I don't think F1 also-rans get better coverage but F1 seems to be in a far healthier state financially than MotoGP. Dorna, the manufacturers and teams have their work cut out for them for the series to grow any time soon. Perhaps a cost cutting scheme needs to be put in place to spread the cream a bit further?

[ChrisS]

The problem is as much sponsorship as it is bike availability. MotoGP needs more manufacturers and/or private constructors to enter. Dorna and FIM must find a way so that bikes like KR, moriwaki, Ilmor etc could be in MotoGP even as also-runs

Aspar seems to have everything sorted for a MotoGP team, sponsors, rider, etc and yet for the last year they have been trying to get a bike without success.

[Mach24]

Affordable machinery.

NinjaMaster...........How would you propose cost-cutting be achieved????

If I was sponsoring one of the competitors other than the top half dozen or so and my investment wasn't reflecting in increased sales, I would certainly be cutting my costs by pulling out.

I would suggest that is why we're down to 17 regular competitors which is not too damn good when you compare it to pre-2004 numbers which admittedly was during an era when the costs were not as high.

Why sit around and wait for that to happen when it seems so easily avoidable. This is why I suggest that better and more comprehensive TV coverage could improve things.

[The Phantom]

Hotter grid girls... that'll do it.

[jonny hurlock]

:idea: A field of 17 bikes in the premier class is not good .......So how do you increase the numbers????

My view is that the answer lies in the sponsors getting value for their investment.

If the TV coverage showed more comprehensive footage of the entire field to the extent that the sponsors of teams were able to be identified and receive reasonable exposure to enhance sales of their respective products or services, then more sponsors would be inclined to become involved.

However .......as it is, sponsors of teams running toward the back of the pack receive very little (if any) exposure on most occasions during a race.

Split-screen technology is available so why not use it????????


The problem is as much sponsorship as it is bike availability. MotoGP needs more manufacturers and/or private constructors to enter. Dorna and FIM must find a way so that bikes like KR, moriwaki, Ilmor etc could be in MotoGP even as also-runs

Aspar seems to have everything sorted for a MotoGP team, sponsors, rider, etc and yet for the last year they have been trying to get a bike without success.

look back in 2004 you had around more than 24 riders for each round, you had aprilla, KR, wcm, pons and moriwaki(part of the season) , the reason you don't have them is that Piaggio (aprilla sister company) doesn't want to be in motogp. pons was sponsorship (because camel cancel there contract very late) they could have checa and stoner as drivers for the 06 season, with wcm and moriwaki i'm not so sure why they left, with KR is sponsors and engine deal that they withdraw this season. its sad, I hope that another 1 or 2 more teams comes into motogp in the future.

with KR team, I wished they was still here, I think the paddock are missing a team like them in motogp in my opinion.

[NinjaMaster]

NinjaMaster...........How would you propose cost-cutting be achieved????

If I was sponsoring one of the competitors other than the top half dozen or so and my investment wasn't reflecting in increased sales, I would certainly be cutting my costs by pulling out.

I would suggest that is why we're down to 17 regular competitors which is not too damn good when you compare it to pre-2004 numbers which admittedly was during an era when the costs were not as high.

Why sit around and wait for that to happen when it seems so easily avoidable. This is why I suggest that better and more comprehensive TV coverage could improve things.

I'm assuming you're having a bit of a go at me? It was just a suggestion.
I'm not sure where costs could be cut as I not aware of where most of the costs are associated. I know that the tyre limit was brought in to lower costs as well as limiting testing. The main criticism of heading to 800's was that it would increase costs and given the shrinking of the grid size I would think that has proved to be the case.

I don't think the sponsorship issue is purely to do with exposure either. Tech3 have been top 5 and on the podium fairly regularly this year yet cannot secure a sponsor. As I understand it, the Rizla sponsorship of Suzuki is minimal, much like Monsters involvement at Kawasaki, despite Suzuki in particular coming off a very solid year in 07. So if podium quality teams can't get sponsors, good luck to any privateer teams looking to enter. Somehow, somewhere along the line the series needs to become affordable to new entrants (and in incumbants) which seems a long way off given how stretched the factories already appear.

Also, now that tobacco sponsorship is basically gawn, the fight for dollars is more intense. Without knowing what sort of dollars a team really needs from a title sponsor these days, it's hard to know what sort of value a sponsor gets for their buck. And as I'm not a marketer, I don't know how MotoGP will attract more, especially given the problems they are experiencing during a 'boom' period. Dorna appear to be trying hard to improve exposure by gaining a second race in the U.S., a new race in Hungary next year, the sensational Qatar night race and the season expanding longer and longer. Hell, they even pressured Bridgestone into supplying Rossi tyres so he would be competitive and people would stop turning off when he was getting beaten!



Hotter grid girls... that'll do it.

I'd sponsor that! Of course, a thorough interview and inspection process would be needed to make sure I got my 'value for money'! :D

[ChrisS]

If I was sponsoring one of the competitors other than the top half dozen or so and my investment wasn't reflecting in increased sales, I would certainly be cutting my costs by pulling out.

You simply get what you paid for. It costs X amount of money to get your logo on the LCR bike but you get Y minutes of TV time. It costs 10X to get your logo on the Factory Yamaha/HRC/Ducati bike but you get 10Y minutes of TV time.


look back in 2004 you had around more than 24 riders for each round, you had aprilla, KR, wcm, pons and moriwaki(part of the season) , the reason you don't have them is that Piaggio (aprilla sister company) doesn't want to be in motogp. pons was sponsorship (because camel cancel there contract very late) they could have checa and stoner as drivers for the 06 season, with wcm and moriwaki i'm not so sure why they left, with KR is sponsors and engine deal that they withdraw this season. its sad, I hope that another 1 or 2 more teams comes into motogp in the future.

with KR team, I wished they was still here, I think the paddock are missing a team like them in motogp in my opinion.

Aprilia was an independent company at the time they were racing the cube. Drop of scooter sales due to new helmet laws and all the money spent on the MotoGP project nearly drove the company into bankruptcy and they were bought by Biaggio at the end of 04.

Pons had Camel and Biaggi but Honda would not give them bikes as long as Biaggi was the rider. Camel on the other hand said they will only stay with their rider

KR Moriwaki and WCM just did not have the budget to keep up with the Manufacturers in developing the bikes. Moriwaki's intention was to wildcard in 03 before racing full time in 04 but it never happened. WCM was racing their R1 based prototype and for 05 they signed with Blata (a Czech mini moto company that though they could make a motoGP bike) but after a year of waiting for the Blata bike it never raced. KR did better than all other private constructors. They were able to keep developing their 990 chassis for 5 years so when they finally got a good engine the bike was competitive but when the 800s came along the manufacturers were able to quickly develop their bikes while KR couldn't

[quote="NinjaMaster"]I'm assuming you're having a bit of a go at me? It was just a suggestion.

Not at all.......I happen to respect your general opinion and input and was seeking your opinion in respect of any other viable and logical way to achieve the objective.

Something needs to be done to either increase the number of teams or to ensure that the present numbers don't reduce any further for the good of the sport and it appears to me that giving sponsors appropriate exposure for their investment would be the first logical step that could be taken in an effort to achieve ongoing and/or increased support.

[mx311]

:idea: A field of 17 bikes in the premier class is not good .......So how do you increase the numbers????
There are two easy ways to increase the numbers in MotoGP.

1) Ban factory teams, this way the money the factories spend on their teams can be spread amongst several independent teams. The big problem with this is some (or all) the factories could crack the sads and take their bat and ball and go home.

2) Introduce a rule that forces the factories to supply more customer bikes, the easiest way to do this is to make a rule that says a manufacturer must supply X amount of customer bikes before being allowed to enter a 'factory' team, so for example Honda and Yamaha must supply 6 customer bikes before being allowed a factory team, Ducati, Kawasaki and Suzuki must supply 4 customer bikes before being allowed a factory team. The problem with this is it guarantees quantity not quality.

There is of course many more not so easy ways to increase the numbers but that all factors around money and sadly there doesn't seem to be alot of that floating around the world at the moment.

[leopard]

Not sure for the third way will work:

3). Champions like Rossi will have to ride satellite team on the subsequent season. ;)