HYDROPLANE RACING MAY NOT BE ON TV THIS YEAR!!!!!

[budrunr]

I CALLED ABRA TODAY AND THEY SAID THAT THEY ARE STILL LOOKING AT A TV PACKAGE, WE ARE 17 DAYS AWAY FROM THE SEASON TO START AND I THINK THAT THEY SHOULD HAVE STARTED THIS IN THE WINTER...WITH NEW BOATS, TEAMS ,FANS AND CITES I HOPE THEY WILL REALLY TRY TO GET THIS DONE.....MAYBE WE AS FANS SHOULD CALL ABRA OR EMAIL THEM TO REALLY LET THEM KNOW THAT THERE ARE TRUE FANS OUT HERE THAT REALLY WANT TO SEE THE SEASON NOT JUST READ ABOUT IT...LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK...THANK YOU.......D.G.

 

[Mike McKnight]

I think the reason behind it is because there was several issues with OLN. One major one being that OLN had been taken off of Dish Network and a number of Cable systems. Comcast owns OLN and was demanding more money to carry it and Dish and a lot of others balked. I as a Dish customer just got OLN back after not having it for almost 6 months. I was getting ready to switch to Direct TV if they didn't get it back. I believe they were also hoping to strike a deal with Speed Channel but they wanted a lot of money last time around.

 

[Wesleys Custom Graphics]

Does ABRA have a series sponsor? If not then no money, if no money then no TV.

 

[Mike McKnight]

Last year Bill Wurster owner of the LLumar and some of the other teams put up their race money to get a TV deal. Now Bill is gone and some other sponsors deals are a little shaky.

 

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

Last year Bill Wurster owner of the LLumar and some of the other teams put up their race money to get a TV deal. Now Bill is gone and some other sponsors deals are a little shaky.

I can't remember the last guys name that owned the Unlimited Series but I talked to him about getting a site in Rio. He gave me a price of $800,000 to get the boats over there, and run the entire event. The city of Rio like the idea it was just a matter of pulling all the sponsors together. Unfortunately, my business partners and I at the time couldn't afford the travel back and forth to secure the deal.

Nevertheless, I know what the sponsor package consist of. I have the media kit. I think there are far lesser series that don't have a problem with getting sponsors. I don't know what the problem is. Some race sites in the Unlimited series reported as many as 300,000 people. Others as low as 60,000. But I think the total sum for an entire season was like 2.5 million. That's not even counting the reach of a television deal. I think there are plently of sponsors that would be interested in a captured audience of 2.5 million. I don't know the owners of the organization now but it seems from their results that even the new team still lacks the necessary business saavy (in sports sponsorship and marketing) to take the Unlimited Hyrdoplanes to a new level.

It seems that it wouldn't be too hard since studies show that Ad agencies are realizing the multicultural, cross gender, and multisocio-economical appeal of professional sports. It's like a one-stop shop for advertisers. In addition, the success of NASCAR should make marketers hungry for a similar approach in a motorsports series at perhaps a much lower price tag. Perhaps, just like NASCAR, to be successful the series may need to be relinquished from the good ole boy mentality and enlist the expertise of some serious businessmen. I would think the sponsor sales department could simply start at the top of the fortune 1000 and work their way down.

I was about half way through the business plan that wrote for the Rio race when the interest from my business partners faded. I wonder what the series would cost to buy from these guys? Would need some hefty investors though. Anybody interested in going big boat racing?

 

[topfuel443]

Ive got 50 bucks in my paypal account....



~James

 

[Gale54]

NASCAR is killing all motor sports. I went to the INDY 500 this year and many teams had no sponsors untill race day and the money was not that great. The Indy 500 had 300,000 people in the stands and at least 1,000,000 people watching on the TV and still falls under NASCAR. So how can the boats pull 2.5 million? How about the ABRA web site anyone look at it lately? The other thing how much longer can we keep going? Boat racing is dying it is to the point I am getting ready to sell out.

 

[Mark Stein]

Most of the TV coverage of Unlimited Hydro racing I have seen has terrible. I am sure it costs alot to promote these racing events. I just remember seeing little bits and pieces of the heats. They did a nice job with some of the video shots from the deck, the cockpit, and rear facing shots. The cover alot of the offshore racing events in the same way. Never understood why they would squeeze a days racing into 20 -40 minutes all patched togather and then think people would be interested. OLN did a great job of covering the Tour De France and alot of the other bike races leading up to it( full coverage end to end. eveen the tunnel hulls overseas they will cover an entire race over here we get bits and pieces.

Want to know why Nascar has been so succesful? Bringing it to the fans. People want to see racing, see the drivers and have a reason to want to relate to it. Be it the brands or the drivers personality or whatever. I live 60 miles from Detriot and you would never know the Gold Cup was going on if you didnt look for information. The local coverage of offshore events gets a blip on the front page and usually no coarse info until a day before the event. Need to get another Bill France to head up boat racing then you might see it come around.

I dont mean to sound critical of boat racing - Just want to see some full coverage and a reason to get hooked - build it and they will come...

Just my thoughts - for whatever its worth

Mark

 

[Wesleys Custom Graphics]

I agree! Every time an off shore boat starts to overtake another boat BAM, They cut to an interview or commercial. I am in to advertising but I don't claim to have any knowledge about television, but didn't there used to be companies that would televise an event. Then sell it to the different networks? What ever happened to those guys?

 

[Mark Poole ModVP]

Lifesize boat racing cannot be compared to NASCAR, here is why. NASCAR is a nationwide association that covers and controls car racing from Friday night dirt trackers to Nextel Cup with many different levels in between. Boat racing best years were the mid 60's to the early 70's. Back then there were factory teams and engine manufacture rivals. There were also many levels of AFFORDABLE racing classes for the family to take part in. The old APBA FE, FJ and FS classes were for stock boats and stock engines. (The F stood for Family) All that is gone now. Unlike car racing, boat racing does not have a large fan/participant ratio. At any car race the stands are full of car buffs, motor heads, mechanics and people who race lower levels of NASCAR. Boat racing only captures the spectators interest on race day. Also, walk into any auto parts store and the products on the shelves have the NASCAR logo on them. That does not even exist in the boat market. If the money in marketing is not there, then the coverage will not be there.

 

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

NASCAR is killing all motor sports. I went to the INDY 500 this year and many teams had no sponsors untill race day and the money was not that great. The Indy 500 had 300,000 people in the stands and at least 1,000,000 people watching on the TV and still falls under NASCAR. So how can the boats pull 2.5 million? How about the ABRA web site anyone look at it lately? The other thing how much longer can we keep going? Boat racing is dying it is to the point I am getting ready to sell out.

The 2.5 Million applies to the entire series. It is probably less now that I think about. I think that media kit only had about 6 races or so without looking at the media kit it is probably a million. At least this is what I can remember of what the media kit said. But 1 million is still a significant number.

In regards to NASCAR... they are just doing a good job and the rest may not be doing as a good a job.

What makes me believe that these big boat associations don't have the right outlook comes from comments like I see on this string. In this same string I have read that "you wouldn't know the Detroit race existed if you didn't look for it." It could be exactly what I see in R/C boating. Contest Directors only care about bringing racers not fans of racing. This could be part of the problem. I hate to say someone doesn't know what they are doing without knowing exactly what they have done...but... our small little "toy boat" race gets coverage in two newspapers before and after the event. It has received magazine coverage, newsletter coverage, radio and TV. This is part of PR... and the thing izzzzz...the better the PR the free-er it is... So I would wonder what these guys are doing if you could possibly have a big boat race that isn't exceptioinally well publicized.

The other thing... if NASCAR is doind such a good job why try to compete at the same level. Maybe I should have said start at the "BOTTOM" of the fortune 1000 and work you way up. I am sure not all Fortune 1000s have NASCAR in their budget. Other series like the unlimited series could be a worthwhile alternative.

I mentioned this once before in a post... Maybe the place to start looking for boat racing sponsors is water boating, and beach related corporations.

...And yes...

There are companies that focus on getting TV deals for Sporting events. They also do strategic PR. I hired a company for a project a few years ago that did exactly that. If we would have went through with the Rio race we would have hired them for the job. They were the first company I saw that had a formula that measured PR using relevant values in advertising to show you just how much PR value that they have generated. Let's say Circus Circus came back and sponsored a whole series and it became the Circus Circus Unlimited Hyrdoplane Series. This company would go out and invite 50 to 100 reporters and photographers to the event. They would evaluate the articles, what publications they went into, how many, and what the circulation is. They calculate the sum of all the coverage compare it to what it would cost to buy the same type of exposure in purchase advertising and deliver a real-world figure on how much money they negotiated for you public awareness. This number alone would be enough to justify the money spent on a sponsorship. This company cost about $40,000 for three months work. They also use the PR tactic to negotiate the television deal, proving that the event is popular enough so that the network pays for the right to air the sports property rather than the other way around because the network would feel comfortable in the fact that they could sell advertising around the event if they aired it.

 

[f41stryker]

I don't know about all this socio-economic and what-not but I do know this. There isn't a big pull for boat races because there is no exposure. If it weren't for model boat races, I would never have even given Unlimited Hydroplanes a second though, but I like 1/8 scale so naturally I like the real thing. You go to these races and they seem fairly unorganized. There is no particular schedule kept, there aren't any major sponsors other than there being some type of festival with the boat racing tied into it. When I go to NHRA programs, it's a complete 180. There are big sponsors (Powerade, Budweiser, Lucas, Miller), tons of telecast (ESPN2, podcasts) and a very structured event. I think the low number of participants in Hydroplane racing also hurts the sport. In any given automobile race, there are 100's of competitors where as in Unlimited you might have 6-15. Also it seems most of the companies don't stick with the boats for long periods of time. Miss Budweiser leaving really hurt things because that was the only boat to have a solid sponsorship deal. It seems most of the other companies that sponsor these boats are lower-budget than major corporations. I think it stinks that there maybe no televised racing because I thoroughly enjoy it. It looks likes Madison Regatta is the only dose of hydroplane racing I might get...

 

[Mike McKnight]

Guys you have to remember one thing. This sport has been mainly the prevue of the thrill-seeker millionaire sportsman from the beginning. Not to mentiion the fact that it has largely been a regional thing with only a few sites that have remained constant over the years. The stalwart 6 sites have always been there with some brief stints at Miami, Pearl Harbor and a ton of other one hit wonders Like DC, Texas, Nashville and others. This sports is never going to get beyond where it is without more places to race. Think about how many set-in-stone sites NASCAR has and the fact that they are all over the country now. NASCAR used to be somewhat regional too. But think about a boat race, it's boring ot watch. Plus, In most locations it's hard to watch because the action is so far from shore. Not to mention the fact that the competition factor hasn't been there in quite some time. As much as Bud did for the sport it probably did as much to hurt it too. I enjoyed last season not knowing who was going to be the winner. I still hold out hope for a rebound.

 

[Gale54]

Guys you have to remember one thing. This sport has been mainly the prevue of the thrill-seeker millionaire sportsman from the beginning. Not to mentiion the fact that it has largely been a regional thing with only a few sites that have remained constant over the years. The stalwart 6 sites have always been there with some brief stints at Miami, Pearl Harbor and a ton of other one hit wonders Like DC, Texas, Nashville and others. This sports is never going to get beyond where it is without more places to race. Think about how many set-in-stone sites NASCAR has and the fact that they are all over the country now. NASCAR used to be somewhat regional too. But think about a boat race, it's boring ot watch. Plus, In most locations it's hard to watch because the action is so far from shore. Not to mention the fact that the competition factor hasn't been there in quite some time. As much as Bud did for the sport it probably did as much to hurt it too. I enjoyed last season not knowing who was going to be the winner. I still hold out hope for a rebound.

Mike you are right on the money....

 

[bsmtboy2]

I agree with Mike too because the mentality of most people here on the East coast who are working class folks look at boaters,boat racers, sailing, and most motorized water sports as elitist and for the well-to-do or the ultra-rich. I have had friends ask me why would you" pick a hobby associated with rich folks" . My answer is my other hobby has more millionaires/billionaires but no one complaines about me doing that (i coach football). Until boat racing is an ok sport to the common man and he and his sons can relate to it and enjoy watching it we will never get to the nascar level. I got into racing as a direct result of watching races on sunday as a small child on the chesapeake bay and my grandparents had a crabbing/fish business so i was always around the water. We need to target the water oriented jobs/business and their familys and it will eventually spread out from there.

 

[WikiWiki1]

Anyone heard anything more about TV coverage this year for the unlimiteds?

Thanks, Brent

 

[Mike McKnight]

As far as national coverage no. I think the only TV coverage your going to see is whatever live coverage you see locally in Washington. I'm not sure if Detroit does local coverage or not.

 

[BoatDoc]

I agree with Mike too because the mentality of most people here on the East coast who are working class folks look at boaters,boat racers, sailing, and most motorized water sports as elitist and for the well-to-do or the ultra-rich. I have had friends ask me why would you" pick a hobby associated with rich folks" . My answer is my other hobby has more millionaires/billionaires but no one complaines about me doing that (i coach football). Until boat racing is an ok sport to the common man and he and his sons can relate to it and enjoy watching it we will never get to the nascar level. I got into racing as a direct result of watching races on sunday as a small child on the chesapeake bay and my grandparents had a crabbing/fish business so i was always around the water. We need to target the water oriented jobs/business and their familys and it will eventually spread out from there.

um...isn't NASCAR just a bunch or rich boys? last time i checked i didn't see too many working class boys running around any super speedways. NASCAR is probably the most boring form of motorsport there is. check out the WRC, now THAT is auto racing. of course, here in the states we still think baseball is exciting so we have a lot to learn.

 

[Roger Hooks Jr.]

need to target the water oriented jobs/business and their familys and it will eventually spread out from there.

This is exactly what I am saying... Someone get Gorton's Fish Sticks and Chicken of the Sea Tuna on the phone. Where else are those guys going to get a televised captive audience of sea lovers?

 

[Glenn 787]

They finally have a TV deal for the last 4 races with Fox-Sports

http://www.abrahydroplanes.com/index.cfm?page=ABRA-on-TV