What benefit does the FIM/AMA deal actually have?

MotoCoUSA
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6/12/2018 7:53am Edited Date/Time 6/14/2018 12:07pm
All I hear is the FIM and AMA keep renewing their deal... but what benefit does that provide American moto/SX?? Is there money being brought to the sport because of the deal? I guess I just don't know anything about what the FIM actually does.
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2thefront
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6/12/2018 8:18am
I'm not sure the AMA has the capacity to sanction a series by themselves.
FreshTopEnd
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6/12/2018 8:26am
They contribute nothing that is necessary for racing that a purely commercial promoter couldn't do all-in on its own if it got buy-in from the participants.

That said, the FIM does claim IP rights to call a motocross series the World Championship, so there's that as far as it goes.
Mr. Info
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6/12/2018 8:31am
AMA is suppose to be the American arm of the FIM. What that all entails anymore I have no idea. Its the only way they can run a Feld can run a race outside of the USA and since they only have the one Rep during the series and not their entire staff they use the AMA staff as their support crew to enforce FIM rules.
Outdoors its a whole different ballgame and that's left for someone with better knowledge about the AMA/MX Sports working agreement.
6/12/2018 9:52am Edited Date/Time 6/12/2018 9:57am
It's not a "deal" and it's not really about benefits, unless you want to get all philosophical and stuff.

We all agree motorcycle racing is a sport. Yes?

The modern interpretation of anything calling itself a "sport" assumes it is governed by a set of rules or customs, which serve to ensure fair competition and allow for the consistent adjudication of the winner. That is to say, there is a very clear, fair and universally consistent means of determining a winner, as determined by the rules of said sport.

In order for a "sport" to be universally accepted, it needs to be universally and independently governed. The sport of motorcycle racing has been internationally governed by the FIM since 1904. The FIM has designated the AMA as the governing body for the sport of motorcycle racing in the USofA.

So, in summary, the benefit is that, since 1904, you can call motorcycle racing a sport.




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RichieW13
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6/12/2018 10:19am
The story is a little bit complicated. But I recommend listening to Jason Weigandt's podcast with Davey Coombs and Roy Janson from a month ago. It gives a background on what was going on.

Podcast: http://racerxonline.com/2018/05/04/exhaust-how-did-we-get-here

In a nutshell: in 2001, the AMA contract with Clear Channel to promote Supercross was coming to an end. AMA decided they wanted to promote Supercross on their own. But Clear Channel still wanted to promote Supercross. So the ball was in motion for there to be two separate supercross series in 2003. Clear Channel approached FIM about being the sanctioning body for its series. Since FIM and AMA have an official relationship, FIM said that if they sanctioned a "World Supercross Championship" that AMA would not be able to sanction a competing series on the same weekends.

Because of this conflict, AMA decided to cooperate with FIM and keep Supercross as one series. In 2009, FIM decided they were going to start using WADA for drug testing.

My guess: At this point, AMA would probably have to actively separate itself from FIM to remove FIM from the Supercross sanction. Who knows what the downside of this would be. FIM might sue AMA. FIM might try to start its own Supercross series. AMA probably doesn't think it's a fight worth having right now.

Weigandt has 2 other podcasts with Davey Coombs. One about the history of Daytona and one about the beginnings of AMA Motocross. I recommend them. http://racerxonline.com/category/racer-x-podcast
6/12/2018 10:42am
It stops another promoter from getting another sanctioning body and infiltrating the sport.
Rdubs19
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6/12/2018 12:09pm
I've heard "prestige" and "legitimacy" as the official reasons. Which seems like a nice way of saying "they don't do jack shit". But I'm sure they extract a good bit of money for themselves out of the series. Institutional inertia seems to be the primary reason the FIM deal gets renewed over and over.
Johnny Ringo
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6/12/2018 12:23pm
They help create thread topics on vital
MelonFan123
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6/12/2018 12:48pm
It's a power move. Keeping the FIM as a partner in AMA SX ensures there will be no legitimate competition. FIM wants in on the SX money making machine so if they were not a part of it, certainly they would attempt to partner with someone and start their own series.

The last time Feld (actually Clear Channel which Feld bought out) had a competitor, it cost them $90 million in damages

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/22/business/media/clear-channel-loses-case-with-rival.html
JustMX
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6/12/2018 1:03pm
I guess 2 sanctions = twice as legit

Not sure what would prevent ama from running races in another country. Didn't they do that before the clear channel/ama fiasco?

And how in the hell could the fim have exclusive rights to "world" championships. There were tons of.sports claiming their events were world.championships. I suspect if challenged it would vanish like.smoke on a windy day just like the ama's claim to "supercross" did,
6/12/2018 1:10pm
A handy body to blame when stuff like riders getting caught cheating happens?
FreshTopEnd
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6/12/2018 1:33pm Edited Date/Time 6/12/2018 1:33pm
JustMX wrote:
I guess 2 sanctions = twice as legit Not sure what would prevent ama from running races in another country. Didn't they do that before the...
I guess 2 sanctions = twice as legit

Not sure what would prevent ama from running races in another country. Didn't they do that before the clear channel/ama fiasco?

And how in the hell could the fim have exclusive rights to "world" championships. There were tons of.sports claiming their events were world.championships. I suspect if challenged it would vanish like.smoke on a windy day just like the ama's claim to "supercross" did,
Just to motorcycling. Do not think it has been challenged. The folks who put together the World Cup (or whatever it was that they called the event that took the place of the 02 Comp Park MXdN) ran into this when they were naming the event.

In terms of the AMA running in another country, generally civil courts will enforce the rules of private or quasi public organizations. The AMA, as a part of the FIM, would have to comply with FIM rules. I am not sure whether a dispute between the parent FIM and a member like the AMA would have to go to CAS first (after exhausting internal FIM dispute procedures) before going to a civil court.

All of that said, akin to what ESPN toyed with the XGames, there is no reason why a purely commercial promoter without that FIM/AMA baggage could not come in with sufficient funds to attract the OEM's, teams and riders and put on an "outlaw" series. The trick is getting the talent and OEM's to come in order to draw the eyes. Just my personal opinion, but in the end what would really matter would be creating the confidence that the promoter is going to fairly represent all of the stakeholders and apply rules fairly, something the current sanctioning bodies should be doing.

kage173
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6/14/2018 6:27am
It benefits FIM because they make sure AMA doesn't give them any headaches and it benefits the AMA because they get to keep at least a modicum of relevancy in professional motorcycle racing.

Basically, the FIM and the promoter outmaneuvered the AMA a long time ago, and now we all have to live with it.
ehr400
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6/14/2018 6:41am Edited Date/Time 6/14/2018 6:42am
A way they can instill their oligarchy into our series with some street cred because they have "world" championship in their series and have Euro vitards give us thier moral highground asessments of our series of how they see it should be ran. Dry
6/14/2018 7:05am
As someone else already posted, I would listen to that podcast. Reveals exactly why we are where we are. A lot of mistakes were made, hence why the FIM is now married to SX.
Johnny Depp
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6/14/2018 12:06pm
It's a power move. Keeping the FIM as a partner in AMA SX ensures there will be no legitimate competition. FIM wants in on the SX...
It's a power move. Keeping the FIM as a partner in AMA SX ensures there will be no legitimate competition. FIM wants in on the SX money making machine so if they were not a part of it, certainly they would attempt to partner with someone and start their own series.

The last time Feld (actually Clear Channel which Feld bought out) had a competitor, it cost them $90 million in damages

https://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/22/business/media/clear-channel-loses-case-with-rival.html
This, keep your friends close and your enemies closer.


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