Posts
350
Joined
2/16/2018
Location
Colorado Springs, CO
US
MotoCoUSA
6/12/2018 7:53am
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.
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.
Outdoors its a whole different ballgame and that's left for someone with better knowledge about the AMA/MX Sports working agreement.
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.
The Shop
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
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
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,
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.
Basically, the FIM and the promoter outmaneuvered the AMA a long time ago, and now we all have to live with it.
Post a reply to: What benefit does the FIM/AMA deal actually have?