Why no Cable network coverage of the Motorcycle Cannonball race?

[tomcat1]

Last year HD theater covered the 6 day mille miglia tribute car race in Calif. But in 2010 one of the coolest races that I know of "The Motorcycle Cannonball race" had no cable coverage that I know of by HD theater or the new Velocity network or any other network of my knowledge. Are vintage motorcycles just not that interesting?

[Rubone]

Are vintage motorcycles just not that interesting?

Do you have any idea how small this community is?
The largest "club" in the USA is H-D's HOG, which has a membership of close to a couple hundred thousand. all bought and paid for by buyers of H-D products. The majority of who do not even know motorcycles existed before 1980! (Bit of an exaggeration but you get my point!).
The general public could care less about us and really just wishes we would go away. Unlike most European countries that love motorsports and Motorcycles in particular.
The AMCA is holding at just over 10,000. That is nothing to a marketing exec. H-D could care less about the old junk other than trying to make money off its perceived history, which it is happy to modify to suit its marketing needs.
Some of the largest and most organized groups are the BMW ones but they are not players in the pre-war game. So unless big sponsors came forth to promote it, television does not care.
But then American MC sport has never been televised. Why promote something you wish did not exist??
Robbie
and don't forget, a HOG member is not far removed from a hog's member!

[Ar Amytas]

Do you have any idea how small this community is?
The largest "club" in the USA is H-D's HOG, which has a membership of close to a couple hundred thousand. all bought and paid for by buyers of H-D products. The majority of who do not even know motorcycles existed before 1980! (Bit of an exaggeration but you get my point!).
The general public could care less about us and really just wishes we would go away. Unlike most European countries that love motorsports and Motorcycles in particular.
The AMCA is holding at just over 10,000. That is nothing to a marketing exec. H-D could care less about the old junk other than trying to make money off its perceived history, which it is happy to modify to suit its marketing needs.
Some of the largest and most organized groups are the BMW ones but they are not players in the pre-war game. So unless big sponsors came forth to promote it, television does not care.
But then American MC sport has never been televised. Why promote something you wish did not exist??
Robbie
and don't forget, a HOG member is not far removed for a hog's member!

All I know is that the HD shop I was in last week looks like a Macy's clothing store ( and the prices are comparable ) !

[Buzz_Kanter]

I posted a load of videos on youtube. Try checking Buzz Kanter and Motorcycle Cannonball for them.

[speedmerchant]

In order to get a network deal you first need a production company behind you. The production companies are the people that actually go out and film the event and do all the editing and basically "produce" the show. Before a production company can invest a huge amount of cash to produce this show they need to have it sold to a network. In 2010 the cannonball didn't have a production company behind them because they were an unproven event, and no one knew how it was going to turn out. Yet there were several individuals who believed in the event and knew that it would make for good TV, and they invested their own money in filming as much of the run as they could. And they were right ,it would have made for good TV. Even to the uninformed people who know nothing about old bikes, the daunting challenge would have been interesting because it was a story about people facing hardship ,and seeing every square inch of America.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=PK5mSQ-kK-M

After the event was over this teaser reel was produced to start shopping the show around to the networks. Again without an accomplished production company behind us most networks wouldn't even watch the 2 minute film. So a year passed, and the 2012 event was announced. Over 70 riders signed up and the word got out. By sheer luck we were noticed by a very successful production company, who could see that this had some serious potential. {if you have ever seen anything about the Titanic on the History channel, you know who they are.} In the last 4 months the Cannonball has been seen by every network on the planet, and many of them were interested, but as of now none have commited. Most of them love the concept, but seem to think that the bikes aren't "beefy" enough. Whatever that means. They also think that the riders are too old. All the shows out there are targeting men between the ages of 18 and 40 as their biggest demographic.

For what its worth we are much farther along than we were last year, and the fight goes on. If it were easy ,then everybody would have a show.

[Mr. Big]

I think it beats the heck out of watchin' most of the crap they put on teevee. Catch a catfish with your hands? Ok, here's your show. Are you obese or a hoarder or a mom that abuses your kids by puttin' them in a beauty pageant? Here's your show. It's all fubar!!!