Cycle News - Archive Issues - 1980's

days - although we weren't unhappy about it . We had 26 ,401 people. which for a first -time event was quite good . The economy obviously has eroded us a little. We are projecting 100. 000 people for th e Col iseum You mean full capacity attendance? What you may not be completely aware of (is) last yea r we drew 74 ,085 turn stile fans. The capacity of the Coliseum, with those big jumps at both ends this year they're even bigger. At the east-end peristyle. the downhill has al ways been 12-14 feet wide. We've taken the seats out (a nd ) now we have a 20 foot wide downhill. because what we're doing is reversing the track. Saturday night we run it the way it's always been run. Sunday we reverse it and they'll be jumping back down the side they usually go up. So, to widen that . we took out even more seats. The Coliseum this year would've held only 82,000 people. At our growth curve. if it stayed the same. we would've sold out. By the same token, some of our surveys showed that there are just some people who can't go out Saturday night (because of) work or whatever else. So we expanded it to a second day of pro racing on 2 o'clock, Sunday. It does several things : It gives the real hard-core people a chance to go both days . Right now , 10 percent of our tickets are selling for both days. Interesting, also. 27 percent of our total crowd is going on Sunday. Looks like a very good spread of the crowd. We feel as we get closer. because our television campaign hasn't even broken it'll break this Saturday - we're going to end up with 100.000 fans over the two days ; we think about 60,000 Saturday. 40 .000 on Sunday. That wa y it leaves us room to grow for the future. The thing that's im po rt a nt is that it's two separate days of pro racing. It 's not qualifiers. it's just like (what) Pace has been do ing for several years. There's a winner Saturday night and prize money; there's a winner Sunday. Eight different heats each day. It 's mirror- image racing both days so people have more of a choice to go . And the response has been really exceptional to it. In fact. my initial projection on it was that we'd have only a six to eight percent cross-over going both days, and we're running 10 percent now before television commercials even started. Obviously what ' that does is the more people at the event , the more sponsorship dollars , the faster you grow . It feeds on itself. The more riders make, the more coverage the manufacturers get. the more motorcycles they sell . the more money th ey can invest in R&D for their racing teams. Supercross has taken us a long way to go and all it's going to take is continuity of television . For example. I really have to take my hat off to U.S. Suzuki this year. They filmed three or four of the National Supercross events. including that one at the L.A. Coliseum. and syndicated it with great success: 70 percent penetration. good Nielson numbers. They use a firm by the name of Eiseman, Johns and Laws in L.A.• do a knock-out job and they're really making a big contribution to the sport. I had a conversation with the people from Pa ce abou t a month ago. We looked a t the various sponsors we had involved: t he Coca -Colas, Honda . without those people Schli tzes invol ved, there would not be Super, cross right now. If all the sponsorship incom e was taken out of the Superbowl , we would lose $100.000 at our projected gross. So (the sport depends on ) people like Honda , who've been with Supercross from 197~ . Before, when people still laughed at me and said , "T his'll never go ." -Honda looked ' 11 1•• ~~ ." ' . ~.I""".' Your dream vacation begins at your local Kawasaki dealership,We're authorized to discount the KZlOOO Shaft up to $200 below regular price. And,to add to your bargain tour, we'reoffering $25 factory coupons good towards the bike itself,or any Kawasaki accessory.Noadvancereservationsrequired-but hurry, onlyalimited numberof coupons are available. Get away fromit allon the KZIOOO Shaft. It'sgot allthe poweryouneed to cruisefully- ••• ~'I"." loaded witha passenger(double occupancy) and all the smooth-running, easy-shifting drive that you need to tour the countrymileafter mile, day after day. The KZlOOO Shaft - a solid bargain on a yearround tour and a guarantee not to loseyour luggage. At participating dealers whilesupplies last . Kawasaki believesin riding safely. Check local laws beforeyou ride. Member ofAMA and MSF. ithout notice. Model availability Specifications and parts subject to change w may be limited. KZlOOOShaft Kawasaki Don't let the good times pass you by. 21 "

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