The Super Motocross World Championship is the newest chapter in the ever-evolving story that is playing out in the sport of Supercross and Motocross right now. To say this announcement has been met with mixed reviews is frankly, putting it lightly. Say what you may and have your own opinion, we are all entitled to one, though should we? (that's another article for another time). Personally, I feel it's a significant new change to the American series that we haven't really seen this level of change in for the last 50 years. Sure Super Motocross World Championship isn't really the most effortless or most original name for a series but, what would you call it? I'm here to put my perception of what we are about to see in 2023.
It has been a couple of weeks since the Press conference where it was unveiled, The Super Motocross World Championship, and the union between Feld and MX
Sports. It was a grand unveil with a host of top riders, former champions, and the CEO's from the two uniting companies. As usual, it was full of the theatrics we have come to know and expect from the Supercross series and Feld Entertainment. But, what did we actually learn?
1) The union between MX Sports and Feld Entertainment.
2) the new 5 year TV rights deal with NBC/ Peacock.
3) The addition of 10 Million Dollars in purse added to both championships and the SMX Playoffs.
4) The additions of a playoff series and the ultimate Super Motocross World Championship decider.
That is a lot of information in itself. Still, it felt broad and I left the press conference with a lot more questions than answers.
I went digging to find these answers and I have to thank Sean Brennen from Feld for assisting me in this endeavor. Once you really get your head around this, the new changes made really spice up these championships and sets us on a journey throughout the year that now reaches a crescendo at the famous LA Coliseum on October 14th.
Let's start here, how does Australia or other none American countries watch every race?. As was announced that all 31 races will stream live on peacock. That is awesome however peacock isn't available in Australia. I have personally watched the Supercross Championship on the Supercross Video pass for the last couple of years, but Motocross, that's been a different story. Naturally, you would assume that they would have all 31 races now on the Video pass and you would be right. Not only all 31 races but race day live will be back and for the Pro Motocross Championship as well. So that means you will have access to watching Practice, Qualifying, and Races all Live and on-demand on the Video Pass App. That is massive for an Australian fan of these championships. Now pricing is where I know there will be complaints, it has not been determined yet as to how the pricing structure will look, though I was told it will be less than we expect, and once broken down as a per-race price, it will be very reasonable.
The Next part of these changes will ride off the back of the TV deal is there is an Injection of 10 Million dollars that will be divided up between the 3 championships. This means the purse for Supercross and Pro Motocross will increase and then a larger portion of that money is set to be split between the 2 classes for the playoff series. The 450 Class bonus for the SMX World Champion is set at 1 million dollars and the 250 class is set at $500,000 which will be very lucrative for only 3 rounds of racing. Another upside to this injection of money is the 30 riders that will be eligible for the playoff series all get paid even if they don't qualify for the playoff races they will still get purse money that once the breakdown is released is potentially more than they receive now for night show purse in Supercross.
Now the biggest change in the grand scheme of things is the introduction of the "Playoff Series". and I felt this is the part I was most confused about. So the intention with this structure is to have all riders compete in both championships. Yes, Eli Tomac is rumored to be SX only next year and Jett Lawrence will ride 250 SX and 450 MX. So how will that work.?. Here is the easiest way to put it. The top 20 in each class (250/450) will be automatically seeded into the playoffs, Then the 21-30 placed riders and race winners from the respective championships that don't have enough points to be seeded will have to qualify for the remaining 2 spots left in the playoff races. So say Eli wins the 450 SX title again and doesn't race MX, he will have the ability to qualify for the playoffs at the 1st Playoff event. So basically everyone can have a shot. This next part is where it gets interesting and helps make sense as to why you need to compete in both series.
The points for both championships tally up to give us a "Regular" season winner they then enter the playoffs with 26 points, Second will start with 23, 3rd starts with 21 and it continues down to 20th with 1 point. So before the gate has even dropped on playoff number 1, the regular season winner already has a big advantage over the rest. Again back to the Tomac deal, so if he was to qualify he would start with 0 points to his name. Now you can tell how it has been set up to favor the riders completing both championships. The points structure over the 3 playoffs is unique as well. Each round the overall points double, which I can see causing chaos, exactly what the SMX crew is looking for. Playoff 1 points will be 26-1 points paid for the event, Playoff 2 that doubles to 56-2 and the final will pay 78-3 plenty of room for massive points swings and to entertain us fans.
The race format and tracks are the last big talking point. Are we just going to see some tamed-down Moster Energy Cup tracks in stadiums? The answer to that is no. Yes LA Coliseum track map looks like that, and with fair play to them, as it was the birthplace of Supercross. In my conversations though the other 2 tracks are set to be different from anything we have seen before and be real "Hybrid" tracks. Not only that the fans that get to attend the events are set to have a completely new fan experience.
In summary, may this be a reaction to WSX? Maybe. Is it rad? Hell yeah, I feel it's a much-needed shake-up to these 2 championships and it should provide that game 7 moment the Americans love. Imagine this, 5 riders all with a shot to win the Championship as the gate drops for the championship race. Not only that, for me as a member of the media, the storylines this will create will serve us with plenty of Content in the 2023 calendar.
Comments