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The NBLs bring a buddy campaign is a step in the right direction
The ABA ran a “Recruiter card” program for 10 years. It didn’t work. The NBL’s Bring a Buddy program is surprisingly similar to the defunct ABA recruiter card program.
So it appears the ABA is rewarding one of their own instead of going out and getting an outside expert on promotions.
Brad Fanshaw left ABA over 20 years ago. He has strong credentials in marketing and bonspeedMedia is his new company.
Neither is actively trying to bring new people in. They simply rely on word of mouth and people stumbling across BMX tracks to keep BMX going.
Major Market advertising costs millions. Have you seen youth soccer or little league baseball advertise recently? Advertising nationally is a quick way to put a company out of business if they don’t have the millions to spend at that level. The type of advertising that is working in BMX is local market targeting. It maximizes the return for the local track.
ABA offers all their tracks an ad coop program. A track can apply for match that reimburses them for money spent in major media advertising.
Pacific Cycles is the largest bicycle company in the United States. They sell more units than many companies combined. Their bikes are found in every single mass retailer and in many bike shops.
We have a free membership program with Pacific. Every single Pacific brand (Schwinn, GT, and Mongoose) BMX type bicycle comes with a free 30 day ABA membership. These are found on bikes sold in every Wal-Mart in the United States. We also have a similar deal with Redline, Diamondback, Felt and Inten$e Cycles.
Those brands cover the majority of every single every BMX bike sold in the United States. Each bike has a similar membership offer, this is a $25 value that we are giving away on hundreds of thousands of bicycles. A person holding one of these only needs to bring it to a track and receive a free 30-day membership
ABA also has a one-day free membership available for promotions. It allows a rider to try BMX with no expense except getting to the track. This is a sucessful tool in trying to bring in new riders.
they will tell what ever you want to hear to get you home with them. But the next day after the deed is done the story changes.
I can think of Whip City BMX in MA. They were the largest track in the NBL when they switched to ABA. Please contact the track operator about his feelings regarding the switch and the support that ABA provides to him.
ABA is dedicated to support for the local track. We have a website for ABA track operators http://www.abatracks.com/ that was built for our family of track operators. The site is loaded with promotional ideas, downloadable supplies and a full service shopping cart for tracks to reorder supplies after business hours. ABA has a 10,000 sq ft print shop that provides free of charge, printed promotional material to our tracks. We design, print and ship at no cost.
The tools available to ABA track operators are unmatched in the BMX sanctioning business. Yes, it is a business. The track and the members are our customers. ABA has to provide a quality consistent product (racing) for our customers. We only succeed if our tracks succeed.
I invite anyone to contact me if you have any questions and all communication will be in strict confidence if you fear reprisals from the “Draculas†of BMX.
I’ll back Bill C, on the Whip City thing 100%, cause when I worked that national, I talked with Al, the track operator, and he is extremely satisfied with the change. The track is now pulling like 40 motos on a Fri, up from whatever it had. Also, if you talk to Joey Albright at Kingston, they went to the ABA with their problem as to their rider counts, and he said the ABA gave them some new ideas a nd direction to go. As far as growing your local program, it is really up to an operator and his crew as what will work best. Rob Vargo has really made a go of Cedar up in Clarks Summit, with flyers that he has been putting everywhere and anywhere!!! And through contacting the local media!!!!!
arg…i hate this part of bicycle motocross..why cant we just ride
Rob Vargo has really made a go of Cedar up in Clarks Summit, with flyers that he has been putting everywhere and anywhere!!!
Rob called me tonight, he had 170 riders today…in the pouring rain!
Another thing, ABA track operators have 7 day a week access to the ABA staff if they ever have a problem or question.
Rob ran an awesome race today, considering what he was up against with the weather. A whole lot of speedy dry went down
ABA will help put NJ BMX back on top. 😛
BillCurtin
Thanks for all the info.Hayden
Cedar have a 35+over classPete I only raced yesterday, I’m still NOT supposed to be racing!!! Ooops they used to not sure I’ll make a call
I dont know if aba has ever done anything like this before but i remember back like 5-6 yrs ago espn partnered with the nbl and they telavised races like south park and others that had big turnouts. Now obviously they didnt show the younger riders, but during the event they also ran an nbl commercial. Also during this time, EHT was having anywhere from 30-40 motos at local races. But espn’s reason for canceling was “BMX racing will never pull in enough veiwers to keep the show going” As everyone remembers BMX was in the x-games, espn used the same excuse when they canceled that time as well.
college teams competing that would get some attn from riders/parents/sponsors/media
face it a very small % riders have the talent to make this a job. why not have colleges have bmx as a competition sport like football, baseball etc with scholarships…the works..
if a kid w/talent in a sport like football take mcdow for example.. he is one of the fastest riders out there… now next yr when he thinks about college and he will prob get offered some sort of assistance/ ride for school do you think he is goin to say forget it i want to ride my bike?? athletes have to make decisions that will benifit them for the future and unfortunately if he was to sign a letter of intent i dont think they would take to highly to him racing bmx in his spare time. i dont know this as fact but i think this is more common than we think. hs coaches get ticked off if you injure yourself doing “outside sports” other than what your varsity sport is i can only imagine colleges being strict as well.
so what do these kids do when the parents are faced with a decision? football or bmx? the ride could mean the dif of getting in a better school that the athlete wouldnt necessarily be accepted to otherwise.
i dont know what the answer is. would be nice if bmx racing was a more mainstream sport for this reason alone.
college teams competing that would get some attn from riders/parents/sponsors/media
face it a very small % riders have the talent to make this a job. why not have colleges have bmx as a competition sport like football, baseball etc with scholarships…the works..
if a kid w/talent in a sport like football take mcdow for example.. he is one of the fastest riders out there… now next yr when he thinks about college and he will prob get offered some sort of assistance/ ride for school do you think he is goin to say forget it i want to ride my bike?? athletes have to make decisions that will benifit them for the future and unfortunately if he was to sign a letter of intent i dont think they would take to highly to him racing bmx in his spare time. i dont know this as fact but i think this is more common than we think. hs coaches get ticked off if you injure yourself doing “outside sports” other than what your varsity sport is i can only imagine colleges being strict as well.
so what do these kids do when the parents are faced with a decision? football or bmx? the ride could mean the dif of getting in a better school that the athlete wouldnt necessarily be accepted to otherwise.
i dont know what the answer is. would be nice if bmx racing was a more mainstream sport for this reason alone.
Mid to late 90’s the ABA partnered with panasonic and Fox sports, the problem with either sanction is that there has to be a viewing audience for it to be profitable, meaning we need to grow the sport, so someone would be willing to spend money on sponsoring TV time
Mid to late 90’s the ABA partnered with panasonic and Fox sports, the problem with either sanction is that there has to be a viewing audience for it to be profitable, meaning we need to grow the sport, so someone would be willing to spend money on sponsoring TV time
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