Cycle News

VOL. 50 ISSUE 26 JULY 2, 2013 Dwindling crowds? Maybe not, Carrera says. More likely inaccurate crowd counts from previous seasons. bikes. There is the situation of Qatar, but there are other circuits that are holding MotoGP and now that Dorna has WSB they are showing their interest. We have some contacts with other circuits that are talking about only Superbike, but we do not have any problem having MotoGP and WSBK on the same circuits - no problem at all. They are completely different products. For a country to have MotoGP they will have the support from the government it is not only to sell tickets it is a big impact in terms of TV exposure in terms of economic benefits for the hotels, for the restaurants. Superbike is different because the fees are lower and it is not that you are expecting you will increase the impact in the area, it is that you will need to make a business of this race by selling tickets, hospitality and all the other possible lines of income from the circuit. Is there some surprise that in Superbike even with the great show, access inside the paddock and so on, there are races that don't attract a crowd - even in traditional motorcycle countries? This is one of the things that we found because the numbers of spectators has gone down because the numbers of spectators they were publishing before we thought was not possible. We were talking with the circuits and we are right. What we are doing is telling the truth. Okay last year they publish 50,000 spectators somewhere, but the reality is 25,000. Media value and TV rights, when they look at reality, is not that high in World Superbike compared to MotoGP. But there are already contracts in place, correct? What they are thinking to improve is to change the TV package we are offering in terms of time. We want to keep the concept of two races, but for TV broadcasters to have one race at 12 and one race at 15:30 does not work. Most of the broadcasters make the first race live then the second race is delayed and P83 they can be even the day after or put on the second channel of the network. What we want to do is make a more compact package, so you have race one, Supersport, race two, all together without any gap between the races. And put this package on in the morning time so we are sure we do not clash with other big sport events. In the summer tennis is coming now and most weekends we are in a clash with Formula One. This time of year the football [soccer] season is finishing, but most of the time, when we do a race at 4 p.m., some matches are starting. So we are working at least to have a clear time slot where the spectators know that 'Okay, this is the time for Superbikes,' because we will be starting before, in the morning. This is the concept we want to create. The situation is that all the sports TV audiences are decreasing, however. When do you see this change, next year or the year after? Next year is too soon, I think. When we see the results, let us say the 'Dorna style,' in our minds it is in three year's time. We have to respect contracts with TV companies and the circuits so sometimes we can do nothing. What we are trying to do now is to involve new partners that we have in MotoGP and are also interested in Superbikes. That is what we can do now. Where do you see new Superbike teams coming from?

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