I know this is "preaching to the choir" posting this here, but I thought you
folks might find it interesting. I found it on the Racer Magazine site,
www.racer.com .
Bill Oursler: Creative License
Harrisburg, N.C., June 22 You can tell a great deal about the universe
from ones toys. Forget the fads for a moment; revitalized goofy babies don
t count, nor does the legion of collectible Star Wars items. Rather, its
long-term success which counts. And, in the long term, children today are
wait here for the surprise computer-, not automotive-oriented.
Where once cars, planes, ships and trains ruled, now its the hard- and
software of the Internet which are king. To be sure, toy and collectible
cars form a good portion of the billion-dollar-a-year NASCAR memorabilia
industry. Moreover, there is a growing interest worldwide in the downsized
arena of model racers. Yet, the demographics of the collector audience show
it growing older, not younger.
Buried in the raft of positive racing business statistics is the stark fact
that, for the most part, neither is the sports audience. While there are
those who will point to the increasing popularity of the sport in terms of
fans here and abroad, in large measure this can be attributed to the
increased television exposure the sport has received in recent times.
Although things look great on the surface, like a rusty used car filled with
bondo, the rot is coming from the inside. If we dont do more to interest
todays children in motorsports, the industry will gradually die out along
with its fan base. To that end, racing has to thank the software folks who
have and continue to produce competition games; games that have proved
popular with ***agers.
Even so, these are more costly than they could be, since the current
motorsports universe if one filled with licensing fees. No one here is
suggesting that drivers not be paid for endor***ts, but when car
companies, sanctioning bodies and sponsors become involved, then somethings
wrong.
Given the fact that the premise of involving oneself into the sport on a
professional level in the first place is to increase awareness of and sales
for ones company, then anything which can contribute to those goals should
be utilized. Demanding licensing fees is clearly counter-productive.
Yet, in the short term, it provides a good revenue stream, and revenue is
what its all about. The question is whether or not were letting greed and
avarice get in the way of security and vision.
