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I have thought about this for a long time and I have shared it with a few people.
What do our kids and us have to look forward to with BMX? Once you get out there and are a good rider at the national level what is there for you? A couple of plastic trophies and a plastic plate for a minimum investment of $315 in fees alone.
I have been thinking about a national level series Where the entry fees are given back to the riders. Instead of racing for a $45 trophy and some points that will not do you any good when trying to get into college or trying to travel to the next race or even for registration.
Currently first place at a NBL national returns $11 in NBL bucks to the rider. I think it goes down by $1 increments from there. That totals $60 or barely more than one entry fee for all 8 main makers.
I would like to get a financial institution involved in BMX as an outside sponsor.
When a rider races at a national a good portion of their entry fee is put into a “pot”. The only portion that is not added in is for track rental and fees. So lets say $45 entry fee and $35 goes to the pot. All the riders in that age group are “potted” together at that race. With 16 riders that is $560. The main makers have the winning split amongst them based on percentage. The winnings are sent to the financial institution to be held there for them in their account. In turn their licenses are also bank cards that they can access their winnings with. It can not be withdrawn as cash, but can be used to purchase anything.
Also the financial institution has ties with other industries such as Airlines (free bike travel on flights), hotels, car rentals, Colleges (tuition discounts) etc. that will also benifit the riders.
The winnings earned are the “points” used for the title of the series. The more riders you have at a race the more points/winnings to show the tougher competition.
Riders are not given cash (thus not “pros”) and are given credit.
Kids can use their bike riding skills to help pay for college, travel, bike parts and entry fees.
sounds good to me– think of how much you will spend each year in entrance fees alone and this makes total sense
Good in theory, but for a lot of riders, accepting any kind of prize money whether they get the actual cash or it is put in an account for them, would make them ineligible to play any other sport in middle or high school. That was one of the major reasons most girls quit BMX when they turned 16 and had to go to Super Girl (now Elite Women). They couldn’t race and participate in any other sport because of the state’s “amature” clauses. When the NBL brought the classes in to alignment with the UCI and made the Junior Women’s class for 16-18 year old girls, it allowed the high school girls to stay in BMX and participate in their school sport, because Junior Women is a trophy class, not a money class. Same goes for the guys, if they play a school sport they are risking being disqualified from that sport by turning Super, Elite, or running the 16 & over Opens.
Alot of these riders must also make a token payment or get a letter signed by their team managers, that all equipment they receive from the team is “on loan” or was purchased by them for the duration of their membership on the team.There’s other sports besides BMX?
Unfortunately the high school sports sanctioning body would still consider it money earned. We’ve had to deal with this very situation with girls who prior to Junior Women, would have had the possibility to earn money at Nationals. We posed many questions, such as if they placed and qualified for money in a class, but turned it down what would happen? If they are sponsored and receive a frame, what happens? Etc. In all cases, the fact that they could have, would have, or did receive compensation in any form, that would make them ineligible for high school sports and any scholarships that may come with it. NBL Bucks or ABA Saver Stamps are treated as a trophy since they have no value other than as a coupon for entries or parts. If a financial institution is involved it puts a cash value on the points and therefore becomes money earned whether the kid sees the cash or not.
So, putting money into a scholarship fund constitutes being a pro?
This is no knock on Janeen, who knows the facts but being realistic, these idiot colleges offer all sorts of “incentives” to bring in top athletes.
Perhaps there is a way to take the “money” earned and put it into scholarship, travel accounts.
There is a way around everything, that is guaranteed.
On a different thought about sanctions…
Nationals should be cut down to at MOST 9 per year with a Grand National. This would boost local level racing and grow the sport. BMX is desperately in need of new blood running things instead of the old guard just keeping the status quo.
A sanctioning body that doesn’t care about Olympics, or only their national series but what is in the best interest of BMX racing. Are there no ex-BMXers out there with some venture capital? lol….
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