Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1970's

• • >• 38 The Anaheim event lost a little over $200,000 in two years. 1 made $28,000 this year and that is without jimmying the books at all. That is what was left from the actual costs including the administration of running Anaheim which was essentially a sellout. When you make $28 ,000 on a $250,000 investment without any salary for yourself then nobody is getting too rich let me guarantee you. "1 know the riders aren't getting enough yet and that is where the sponsors come in. But we are not going to get big sPOlJSOrs if we don't show a unified position. Coke has to know that I am not satisfied that I'm not getting paid my commission. By the same token Coke is going to find out real quick that several of the Mr. PiBB National promoters are not at all happy, If we want to keep the sponsors happy we've got to have someone responsible enough at the AMA to make the promoters feel comfortable. "I have to recognize that I'm an abrasive person , but sometimes abrasiveness comes with persistence, In 1972 ·73 I was criticized for taking motocross out of the hills ; that it wasn't pure anymore. It was a decision of whether we wanted $10 ,000 purses for the rest of our life or did we want national exposure , big crowds and the rest. 1 think many people have come to realize now that through my efforts, and sub sequently Pace Management and Bill France at Daytona, that we've brought a lot more attention to motorcycling; good positive attention. "Let me explain a few things. I could probably draw 10,000 people with just a calendar ad in Cycle 'News , The next 10,000 would cost around $2 a head (in advertising monies) to convince them to attend . The next 10,000 cost a little more and so on to where convincing that spectator to come to the race is ac tually costing more than you realize from his ticket price. " It's the law of diminishing return . Unfortunately , you never really know where that is. Advertising is a very inexact science, 1 know I draw more spectators (than other promoters) because I spend more money. But could 1 draw the same amount by spending a third less and make more money? You never know . That's another one Ot the business aspects the riders don't understand. " Hey, get mean investor willing to risk a quarter million dollars of his money with the chance of making about a 10% return and I'll take every one you can find because I'd rather not risk my own money. Don't bother looking. You can't find many who would take a high risk venture like ours which could conceivably be rained out and put their money into it. "The riders have reason to be a little mad after seeing a big crowd. But~~hat they don't realize are some of the business aspects of promoting. At Anaheim and the Coliseum we have to put sawdust down plus plastic sheeting and all sorts of protective th ings on the playing surface before we can-begin to build th e track, The track at the Coliseum cost $123 ,000 plus our time. For that you get four hours use ; four hoursl Advertising for the even t cost $224,000 to get those people in the gate. The bottom line is that you have four hours to make it or break it. .... ~ 11' ~ ; ,; .. ..- There is nothing more perishable than an unsold ticket on Sunday. (Goodwin's events are all run on Saturday night. . .Editor) "People tell me I have a good deal and I do . But realistically you have to figure that you have a chance of being rained out once every three yea rs . My real estate business makes me 80% of my income so I am in the fortunate position where I don't ha ve to devote a lot of time to that. It leaves me free to spend as much time as I do with my promotions. Right now I'm working on a real estate project that will net me $14,000 a month income. It won 't argue with me and aliI have to do to make it work is do a good job. Now 1 think we are doing a good job in motorcycle racing yet 1 probably spend half my time fighting with the AMA. "I've promoted Rolling Stones, Janis Joplin , Bob Dylan and The Band , Donovan, The Doors , Jimi Hendrix and a lot of others. Within a year after we started business we were the third largest business on the west coast. But I was only netting 4% on a $4 ,000,000 gross and I was beating my head against the wall. I can't do any thing halfway . I wish I could and just work a 40 hour week, but when I get into something it is either all go or all stop. "You have to look at the total picture. In Atlanta we are going to spend $150 ,000 in radio adv ertising. Now we have also traded out for an ad package that will be worth $400 ,000. That's what it takes . I don't have enough cash to buy the advertising it takes to sell out Atlanta Stadium . You have to wheel and deal and trade to get other sponsors into th e deal because they see the advantage of being associated with a suecessful promotion . "One of the big problems and a major reason why you have to spend so much money on advertising is that motocross riders are just not household words. The average spectator has no idea of who is who . So what we have to do is educate them. One thing that the riders don't realize, whether Mockett will admit it or not, is that I'm the one who got them $80 ,000 in point fund monies for this year plus TV monies. The AMA shouldn't care whether it comes out of my pocket or whether 1 can solicit somebody else on how valuable it is to contribute money. 1 feel quite confident that if you add the point fund monies we are repsonsibIe for, plus our purses and the television money, you will come up with a sum that no other promoter in the country can come close to putting in the rider's pocket this year. " I want the AMA to work . I want it to work so much that I applied to be a class "B" member. I feel I qualified under the requirements, yet I was turned down because 1 was a promoter and be cause Doug Mockett had told the board that I had threatened litigation which I had not. But hell, I may have to threaten litigation soon to get some action . I ca n' t afford to sue th e AMA . They would pull m y sa nctions and jerk me around and a lot of ot her th ings all of which would be illega l because they would get cru cified in a n anti-trust or monopol y ca se. I don't want to do that. 1 would rat her help our sport grow without all this fighting . " I' ll be candid. O n some even ts like th e Superb owl __ .. • • .c~ l ,r~ .. r 1 make a decent return on the investment. But that is because the event has been around a few years . Last year for all my events the return was just shy of 4 % of our gross. I'm not complaining about that because with the side benefits and other things it is not as bad as it sounds. Let's add the benefits and say that 1 make 8% on my gross. A normal business should make 15% return and we aren't even near that. " People see me in m y mink coat or driving on e of my flashy cars and think Goodwin is making a killing from promoting. Hey , I deal in antiques, I own part of a shop that sells them and I deal in jewels. 1 have a lot of sideline business which are really my main line business although they take up only a small percentage of m y time. " If I was smart I guess I would dress in jeans all th e time and pretend that I wasn 't making any money , but that isn't my style. I enjoy life and the material things money can buy . One of my greatest passions right now is spear fishing for world record fish . I have people who do research for me on where I can locate the habitats of the biggest fish . I fly all over the world to dive for them . I hold four records at the moment and I'm always on the look for more, " Enough about myself. Few people realize that stadium events aren't just races anymore; they are entertainment spectacles and a part of the total aura of the motorcycle business. In short , racing by the factories involved contributes to selling bikes. "As you can probably can tell I'm impatient and nothing comes fast enough for me. I see my costs skyrocketing with requests for wider tracks and bigger purses which I can do anytime I see my profits going up . (Do you know that it costs between $10 and $15,000 just to widen one of the tracks five feet ? That's a fact.) But that sure is hard to do when Doug Mocket takes $20,000 out of my pocket for each of my three televised events. That's $60 ,000 there plus I've gotten no commission for doing either the Mr. PiBB or Toyota sponsorship. The canceling of my Kansas Cit y (Supercross) date cost me $30,000 and that is just plain lost. So now 1 have to make $120,000 just to get to the point that I would have been had not Doug Mockett interfered , I know I'll never make $120 ,000 this year. It boils down to one reason and it keeps cropping up. For some reason or another, Doug Mockett seems to have a personal vendetta against me. Everybody thought I was going to hold one against him. " Let's go /back to the Anaheim TV problem which led to the re-affirmation that the promoters do own the televis ion rights as long as we pay the riders and the AMA an equitable fee , Frankly, the fee is too high, It is characteristic in the motorsports business that the sanctioning body takes 10% ; the riders get 35% and the promoter gets the balance. This is because the promoter pays the cost of doing the televising. As an example , the Anaheim eXp'enses were $2 ,239 for extra lighting , trips to the network in New York and the business that goes with convincing them to buy your product. "Now there are over 50 major events on tap this yea r and if a network buys three from me then I've got to be doing something right - either I'm the best salesman or I have the events which are the most at tractive for a television audience. I feel I deserve a bonus for that. If I spend enough money to get a sell out crowd - and that is one reason that they buy m y events - then 1 should get a bigger piece. "T he AMA doesn't consider that. They put a thing together that the riders get the first 55 ,000 against 35 % which is fair. But then th e AMA gets the next $5 ,000 against 25% and the promoter gets what is left and pays his own expe nses. " Is th ere a remedy?1 don't know. If Mockett has a one yea r no cut contract perhaps there isn't. The AMA was in a situation where they felt they made a mistake with Barry Best and let him go . Maybe they don't want to admit they made the same mistake (with Mockett) twice. Isn 't it better to admit you made a mistake early and get the damn thing out of the way before it drags you to the bottom. You know what kind of mess we could be in six months from now ? Mockett is such a deterrent to the sport that I'd be willing to say to the AMA ' Hey, forget my Toyota deal ; get rid of Mockett.' That isn't just because 1 don't like Doug. "A lot of people ask why am I the most vocal. Maybe I can afford to be the most vocal because th e AMA is not as likely to pull some funny business with me as with others. Mockett can harass the hell out of me, but he knows that th e minute they start jerking m y sa nc tions on som e unfounded basi s he'll be in co u rt real fast. Now that is not threa tening legal action . I'm ju st m aking him awa re of th e repercussion s of ce rt a in acti on s. You ca n' t j ust use a rb itrary situ a tions to tell someone to toe th e line or we'll take your sa nc tion away . 1 co u ld go on and on about it. Look , I've got a letter here asking for a financial ,........,.,.... r t f' ~'rr r & I r t .. ~ ..

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