Pay to watch MTB World Championships?

[Turd Ferguson]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tickets-on-sale-for-2009-uci-mountain-bike-and-trials-world-championships

Maybe I am not understanding this but I have never paid to watch any MTB event even the World Championships.

Does anyone else think this is BS? That is a good way for people to not show up and support their favorite riders.

Although, maybe the venue is so small that they can just have everyone and their neighbors show up. Is anyone familiar with the venue?

 

[illest XC]

have you been living under a rock? it is normal to pay for big mtb races. World cups, world champs or olympics, all cost money. At Houffallize for example, you needed to pay just to go into the town this year. Dust off the wallet and fork out the huge $20, which includes transport from various Canberra hubs.

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I must be living under a rock. I have never been to a Euro event just only North American events so I suppose that could potentially be the difference. It just seemed so foreign to me to have to pay to watch a major race.

 

[Hammerhed]

I paid to watch them on the TV/internet by subscribing to the UCI channel. They do such a crappy job also, and the announcer is a loud, fast talking, blow hard idiot on top of it. To be fair though, mountain bike racing is so hard to televize properly. I guess mountain biking is one of those things that fun to do but not much fun to watch.

 

[brightstorm]

paying to watch events

its not that unusual to pay to watch this type of event. If you follow any motorsport its likely you've paid a few notes to watch the days sport. Also allows organisers to provide facilities for spectators. Super small events i'd expect to turn up and watch but major ones require quids.

 

[perry1234]

I guess mountain biking is one of those things that fun to do but not much fun to watch.

 

[Sue George]

We don't pay to watch nearly all MTB events in the US. Many of the courses cover too much ground to control access and there aren't enough spectators to justify a pay to watch model.

Maybe that will change in the future as the sport continues to grow.

Some mountain bike races are quite fun to watch. It can depend on how often you see the racers, whether you know the racers out there, and of course the usual weather conditions, etc.

I think it's a difficult sport to watch if you don't understand it. It's a lot more fun if you can watch the pros race the course you just raced - you can related to how they are riding stuff and often be wowed by how fast and smoothly they cover the same terrain.

Sue George
MTB Editor
Cyclingnews

 

[philcrisp]

Sue, am I right in thinking that most top-end US events are run at ski resorts?

 

[yanpeijian]

Even I don't know the MTB ,is it funny?And does this event connect with Nike Corp.?

 

[badboyberty]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tickets-on-sale-for-2009-uci-mountain-bike-and-trials-world-championships

Maybe I am not understanding this but I have never paid to watch any MTB event even the World Championships.

I have never been to a Euro event just only North American events so I suppose that could potentially be the difference. It just seemed so foreign to me to have to pay to watch a major race.

So you haven't been to the Worlds since 2001?

You've got to remember that on top of the transport from Canberra is being provided in the cost, Australia has taken the title for most litigation crazy country in the world so even spectator's need to chip in for 3rd party insurance, the venue rather than being a Ski resort is a purpose built MTB venue, Canberra isn't a huge city so most spectator's will have more to worry about than $20 in entry fees, and someone has to pay for those annoying flash ads in the right column of this site...

 

[nightqueen]

I was registered at your forum. I have printed the test message. Do not delete, please.

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