Feld Motor Sports looks to build on one of the best years ever for Monster Energy AMA Supercross as the 2015 season opens Jan. 3.
A significant factor in last season’s success was Fox Sports converting its old Speed channel, which showed supercross events, into Fox Sports 1 in August of 2013.
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All 17 of the 2014 Monster Energy AMA Supercross races aired nationally, a first for the circuit.
Photo by: FELD MOTOR SPORTS
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The move allowed all 17 of last season’s races to be aired nationally for the first time — 15 on Fox Sports 1 and two on Fox Sports 2. That resulted in 35 percent growth in viewership of males 18-35 and a decrease in median viewer age from 45.7 in 2013 to 40.7 in 2014.
The 15 races that aired on Fox Sports 1 averaged 319,000 viewers. In 2013, Speed broadcast 12 races and averaged 329,000 viewers.
“You’re going from a network that is 100 percent motorsports … to a stick-and-ball, well-rounded, emerging sports network,” said Ken Hudgens, Feld Motor Sports COO. “Being on the network exposed us to the fans that maybe wouldn’t be tuning in.”
The coming season will be the second under a five-year deal with Fox Sports that was signed in November 2013. Terms of the deal were not available.
Feld also saw record total attendance of 876,370 in 2014, nearly 28,000 more than the previous year. Eight of its sites had record attendance numbers.
Supercross will have races in two new venues in 2015: Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara, Calif., and Petco Park in San Diego. The series also will return to the New York market with an April event at MetLife Stadium, where last year it held its first race in the Meadowlands since 1991, drawing more than 62,000 fans.
“We’re committed to trying to run the series through the best stadiums that we can in the country,” Hudgens said. “We feel like we have really taken a step up in quality.”
The 2015 race at MetLife will be the first supercross event to air on Fox’s main network. The main event will begin at 2:30 p.m. ET, the first time the series has broken its standard of 7 p.m. start times.
Sponsorship for the series is strong, as highlighted by a two-year renewal with Toyota. Monster Energy has two years remaining on its contract as title sponsor, which started in 2008. Hudgens said the series is still interested in adding partners in the telecommunications and financial services categories.
