A Supercross rider takes to the sky during a stadium show. (Courtesy Feld Motor Sports)
Rodeo companies, monster truck tours and motocross organizers have pursued growth and increased visibility in 2018, working to strengthen ties with existing fans while cultivating connections with new audiences. Producers have aimed to appeal to the die-hards while grabbing the attention of those not yet in the know about their sports. Out of both necessity and opportunity, these producers are working on multiple fronts to promote their brands to audiences whose entertainment options are nearly limitless.
Ellen Newberg, senior vice president of live event marketing for Professional Bull Riders, said many of the issues that are top of mind for producers as they chase these goals are shared not only within their niche but also with the rest of the sports industry.
“Maintaining a great on-field product, keeping fans engaged (including outside the arena across media), athlete accessibility and providing great value for the entertainment dollar are all trends any sport has be on top of,” Newberg said.
Testing new markets
Among producers’ points of emphasis is identifying and reaching new markets. Organizations are taking a variety of approaches in tackling this task.
For instance, Howell Rodeo Co. formed a partnership with Plus 1 Productions to use the company’s portable rodeo arena.
“The ability to bring our own portable arena means that we are not depending on the venue to provide this, and opens up the doors for new locations that were not previously possible,” said Howell’s Chelsea Howell. “Plus 1 Productions is based in the Northwest, but they are traveling all over the country to set up the arena for events.”
For the Traxxas Monster Truck Tour, the search for new markets meant a bold push into China. That move into a large international market helped spur attendance growth, said Tony Maderazzo, chief operations officer for the tour, and Traxxas has plans to continue to add events in China as well as in other international markets. Maderazzo also said the tour is gaining more young fans and more old fans than it ever has, making it more of an all-ages attraction.
“The fan base and markets that we can reach are continuing to expand,” Maderazzo said.
The PBR also has integrated international opportunities for its competitions. Most notably in 2018, the new PBR Global Cup made its inaugural stop in Australia in June at the Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney. The event was first held in November 2017 in Edmonton, Alberta.
“This unique country vs. country bull-riding competition brings a team element to what has traditionally been an individual sport,” Newberg said. “The best riders from the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada and Mexico battle for national pride, global bragging rights and the home country’s soil that goes into the horns of a special trophy.”
In addition, PBR formed a partnership with Brazilian company IMM in August to create new bull-riding events in that country. The efforts in Brazil will include a proprietary tour that serves as a steppingstone for the sport’s elite series in the United States, covering six cities in 2019 and up to 10 by 2020.
Always with an eye on global audiences, ESPN’s X Games continued its ambitious staging of events in both domestic and international markets.
“2018 was a very solid year for the X Games,” Vice President Tim Reed said. “We produced four major events globally in Aspen, Norway, Minneapolis and Sydney. Attendance at both Aspen and Minneapolis was over 100,000 spectators, and we had double-digit growth for our TV audience and triple-digit growth across our social and digital platforms.”
Putting on a show
Talent and the quality of competition plays a critical part in fan engagement. Maderazzo said a key highlight of the year for the Traxxas Monster Truck Tour was that the points championship was a tight contest that wasn’t decided until the end of the season.
Producers are forever looking for ways to improve the quality of the competitions themselves. For instance, PBR, where each ride is scored half for the bull and half for the rider, is turning to technology to sharpen scoring accuracy.
Endurocross riders challenge for the lead. The circuit runs a schedule through the western United States. (Courtesy Endurocross)
“A new project placing data sensors on bulls will provide objective data to a human-judged scoring system that is inherently subjective,” said Andrew Giangola, PBR vice president of strategic communications. “PBR hopes to implement the new scoring system for the bulls in 2019.”
As with many sports, however, the merits of the competition itself do not always suffice for some fans.
In the category of motorsports, Shad Petersen, CEO of Wyoming-based MotoTrials team Play With Gravity, said he worries that “participation in the competitions themselves seems to be getting lower and lower each year.” Play With Gravity produces shows featuring its riders, who also compete in MotoTrials competitions, which are scored based on how well riders handle a series of obstacles.
“The biggest emerging trend we are noticing in motorsports is that it seems that less people are interested in true competition and are more interested in a ‘show,’” Petersen said. “That's not to say that races themselves cannot do well, but I think for them to survive going forward, they are going to have to focus more on being a better show.”
To that end, Petersen said, Play With Gravity has emphasized improved showmanship in the past year, particularly being “more focused on keeping the show more entertaining by using the mics better and more crowd interaction.”
Similarly, Maderazzo said the Traxxas Monster Truck Tour launched “Truckin’ and Buckin’’’ events this year that combine monster truck and bull riding competitions in the same event and give crowds a greater sense of spectacle in one experience.
ESPN X also organized new twists for its array of events.
“We introduced a new event call Snow Hill Climb at our Aspen event in partnership with Harley-Davidson. This event took place on our SuperPipe and showcased motorcycles racing side-by-side up the pipe,” Reed said. “In Minneapolis we made significant venue adjustments and ran our Flat Track motorcycle race inside U.S. Bank Stadium. In Minneapolis we also produced our music shows at the Armory,” a historic building renovated as a music venue that reopened early this year.
Creating content
Providing a satisfying, comprehensive experience to fans goes beyond the product on the dirt. Reed said ESPN X also aims to “remain ahead of the curve” in offering fans a rewarding experience outside of the venue.
“Overall consumer experience is critical for events and brands,” Reed said. “We’ve made significant efforts to bolster the content around the competitions and we’ve built out significant content in music, film, photography and art to provide a robust experience to our fans.”
The digital reach of a sport can be a crucial draw for potential fans. Petersen said, “MotoTrials itself is getting some better publicity these days, due to more and more YouTube videos getting shared.”
Newberg said digital and social media have been on the rise as part of PBR’s marketing mix, as the sport aims to build emotional connections between athletes and fans while promoting events.
A competitor holds on tight at a Howell Rodeo Co. event. (Courtesy Howell Rodeo Co.)
The organization’s digital and social spends have grown 69 percent since 2016 to promote events during the season. Newberg said the sport now generates more than 1 billion impressions per year on social media and enjoys one of the “fastest-growing and stickiest” social media networks among the country’s major sports.
“Within digital/social, content marketing is in many cases supplanting more traditional brand and hard-sell marketing, especially to counter preconceived notions or stereotypes about our sport,” Newberg said. “Content marketing allows us to better ‘sell’ a sport that sometimes needs a little explanation. Social marketing affords us an opportunity to expose in an authentic way stories about our athletes and events to highly targeted audiences.”
Looking ahead
As 2019 approaches, producers shared some of the goals and objectives at the top of their agendas for the coming year.
Play With Gravity’s Petersen said his organization plans to expand its show offerings and — in response to changing fan preferences — improve in some areas it has not previously embraced, especially feature entertainment shows.
At ESPN X, Reed said “our organization’s goals continue to be to grow audience across all of our events and platforms and continue to provide a world-class experience to our fans, athletes and sponsors at all of our events. We’ll look to continue to develop additional events and content across the globe.”
Reed said a steady influx of young athletic talent has fueled ESPN X’s success and provides optimism for the organization’s future events.
“The strong youth athlete base for all the sports that we produce continues to excite me,” Reed said. “Each year new athletes come onto the scene and drive progression and interest.”
Giangola said PBR will build on its collaborations with Endeavor, the sports, entertainment and fashion holding company that acquired it in May 2015, to gain a foothold in mainstream culture, including through the use of original content, such as a Netflix documentary series and a Facebook streaming series; proprietary fan base and custom research for partners; and creative services producing advertising.
In addition, Giangola said, “PBR is excited about the growth of popularity of the western lifestyle and western sports” and will develop storytelling touching on the message that “the world needs more cowboys.”