MotoAmerica: Raising The Bar For TV/Video Coverage And Sponsor Exposure
Back in the 2000s, AMA Pro Superbike racing was covered on cable TV by Speed (formerly known as Speedvision), which served the series, its sponsors, and its fans well for many years. The network was available to most cable TV subscribers at little or no extra cost; the races were usually broadcast live or same-day-tape-delayed; the coverage was good; and sponsors (primarily the four Japanese motorcycle manufacturers) bought commercials to support the broadcasts. Most people involved seemed happy.
But in 2014, Speed went away as a standalone network; Daytona Motorsports Group (DMG, which owned AMA Pro Road Racing at the time) failed to come up with a viable alternative broadcast plan; sponsorship and fan support for the series dwindled rapidly; and America’s premier motorcycle road racing series was hanging by a thread. DMG initially announced a four-round series of events (all east of the Mississippi River) and added a fifth-round at Laguna Seca at the last moment, but stil