VOL. 51 ISSUE 50 DECEMBER 16, 2014 P97
dollars is more diverse, expansive, and compel-
ling than ever before. Close to home, Superbike
has to compete with an empowered Supercross
series, which soaks up talent, eyeballs, and man-
ufacturer money and is ready-made for television
with its compact one-evening schedule.
Not only is the number of televised sports ex-
ponentially larger than it was during AMA Super-
bike racing's 'peak,' but so too are non-sporting
options vying for attention in today's always-con-
nected world, right down to the ubiquitous smart
phones lining everyone's pockets.
The recently announced return to
television on the CBS Sports Net-
work alongside online programming
at www.Torque.TV following a year
of streaming alone has been rightly
hailed as a significant victory. How-
ever, merely existing on TV is no lon-
ger enough. Tied to the above, the
sheer number of channels and in-
creasingly on-demand viewing habits
means new fans are less likely to be
gained through channel surfers, who in the past
might have been intrigued by what they saw when
flipping past TNN's American Sports Cavalcade
or Speedvision on some lazy Sunday afternoon
in June.
Practically all viewing–particularly away from
the major networks and very limited selection of
cable outlets such as ESPN–has become desti-
nation viewing.
In addition to the evolution of the media, there
are other critically important external factors of
which KRAVE has no power over
that could limit the pool of eager
new fans available to tap.
While slowly trending upward,
U.S. motorcycle sales are effectively
half what they were a decade ago.
Sportbike sales suffered greatly as
part of that market collapse, particu-
larly middleweight 600cc Supersport
machines. This drastically reduced
the number of young, new riders out
there just primed to be drawn in as
Superbike racing never
lost its entertainment
value as fans who stayed
loyal to the series under
the unpopular DMG
era were treated to
fantastic racing, like this
championship deciding
race at New Jersey
Motorsports Park between
Blake Young (79) and
Josh Hayes (1) in 2011.
