Mike Murray
That was 2 years before the USCF and all the other Olympic sports suffered
an insurance crisis which was the beginning of increases in the cost for
producing bike races. Prior to 1986 the cost to get a permit was fairly
small with a tax on the prize list, i.e. a percent of the prize list value
was paid to USCF. This included liability insurance at no extra cost. In
1986 the premiums for liability insurance increased tremendously, not due to
a large number of pay outs or a change in the insurance market but because
the USOC required that all the NGBs have an unlimited cap on liability,
something that was only available through a single company which was, not
surprisingly, selling insurance to all the NGBs. Having a lock on the
market, they raised premiums. You have to wonder who was in whose pocket to
get this deal. The initial response from USCF was to divide the increase in
premium by the number of sanctioned races and then charge that as an extra
fee to get a permit for races. The number arrived at was $1,000. This lead
to a huge decrease in the number of requests for permits. Seeing this
catastrophe for their business model USCF reworked the problem and changed
the deal from a large upfront fee that was the same for all races to a per
rider charge that paid after the race. This improved the problem of
decreasing race permit request but started a process of steadily increasing
entry fees to cover the increasing cost to produce races. Obviously
increased insurance costs were not the only increased costs. Road authority
and land owner imposed fees, officials costs, traffic control, etc. all
started increasing which was passed through to the customer. Eventually
this expanded to the now common practice of using race fees to cover prize
list, something that was never done in the 80s.
As for the distribution of when CX were promoted it is tempting to just say
that race organizers have become much more sophisticated and now have a
better idea of what their market is looking for. Certainly the quality of
the race flyer Dan linked is an argument for more sophisticated race
organizers, at least from an artistic and spelling point of view. Probably
the bigger issue was that in the 80s CX was a fringe cycling event.
Participants were generally all were active road racers. Most importantly
there were not the hordes of participatory riders that we see at races
today. In the 80s there were only about 500 bike racers in the entire state.
Road races had small fields with few individual groups. CX races were even
smaller. Crusade races now have 34 different categories. The race in the
linked flyer had 2; USCF licensed and not USCF licensed. I think that the
average 80s CX racer had a lot more in common with the people calling for an
increase in the length of the CX season in this thread. The catch is that
this group probably doesn't represent the average CX consumer. There is no
doubt that a December race now would attract a much number of riders than
any CX race in the 80s but the numbers would be small compared to races in
September and October. Race organizers know this so they angle to put their
races on when they will get the biggest turnout.
Ultimately this is really what I have always satirically called Rule 27a
:"If you don't like it put on your own bike race". Pretty much anyone could
put on a race, though it can be considerable work. Maybe all the organizers
and pundits, myself included, could be wrong and a December race could be
sustainable. Roll the dice.
Mike Murray
-----Original Message-----
From: OBRA [mailto:obra-bounces@list.obra.org] On Behalf Of via OBRA
Sent: Tuesday, October 24, 2017 13:12
To: OBRA
Subject: [OBRA Chat] 1984 CX Schedule
Jus sayin'
https://www.facebook.com/swbllc/photos/a.178061292239462.39042.177805832265008/1540614542650790/?type=3&theater
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