Thomas Hoffman
Maybe we can get it done if we coordinate with an Indian Tribe and PDX's
Japanese Sister City!
As a Cultural exchange with our Japanese sister city! Part of the time the
facility can be for Kerin Racing, to be held at or sponsored by an Indian
Casino. Every now and again, the Japanese Kerin Racers would come to town
making PDX the center of the North American Track world. The rest of the
time the casino could "donate" the track time to OBRA for local racing.
Even the city should embrace this idea, as a way to attract more Japanese
companies to the city. We are not going to attract Asian companies to town
with more bike paths. Unless it is made of wood, and steeply banked, and
offers adult beverages.
-----Original Message-----
From: mike.m-@obra.org [mailto:mike.m-@obra.org]
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 12:40 PM
To: ob-@topica.com
Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] Indoor Velodrome??
I don't mean to be a wet blanket. After all, I have been the principle
proponent of the idea of an indoor velodrome here for many years.
Unfortunately it is something that I have been unable to accomplish. That
is not to say that it is impossible or that there is not someone else that
could do it, just that there are considerable hurdles to be jumped and that
I have a reasonable idea about what those are.
A couple of points that come to mind reading Rick's note:
- An indoor velodrome in Oregon would not be a first. There is an indoor
velodrome in, of all places, LA where they really don't need one for weather
reasons. It is fairly new and is heavily supported by AEG. They are
struggling to keep afloat and meet the mandates of their owners which are
more oriented to producing occasional high level competitions, like the
Worlds last year and the up coming World Cup, as opposed to being used as a
local training or racing facility. There is a long story about how the LA
facility came to be and it remains to be seen if it will last. There are
also now 2 indoor facilities in Canada. The closest is in Burnaby, BC near
Vancouver. They seriously struggle to keep open and to remain in good
graces with the volleyball group that they share the facility with. There
is also a new tiny velodrome in London, Ontario which is, by reports, going
great guns. I do not have much info on the back story to that facility.
Historically there were very many indoor tracks in the US during the heyday
of the Six Day, including a temporary one in Oregon, although there were
also many buggy whip manufactures then too.
- The idea that a single day bike ride might raise a large amount of money
is not at all far flung. In fact, there are several that raise large
amounts of money. We are routinely contacted by people that wish to put on a
bike race to raise money, which is a much dicier proposition.
- Drawing an analogy between an indoor velodrome and the Oregon Symphony is
a bit of a stretch. Corporate support of symphonies is routine. Although
corporate support for sports is also fairly routine there is not much for
bike racing in general and essentially none for track racing. Outside of
Air Products at T-town and AEG in LA other support from commercial concerns
is limited to small amounts and small companies. This makes sense as the
number of participants, not only racers but also spectators, officials,
fans, etc., is pretty tiny in the grand scheme of things; far lower then the
number of people involved with the Symphony. I would bet that tickets sales
for a single Oregon Symphony performance are close to the total annual
spectators and racers combined at Alpenrose. It is estimated that there are
only around 2-3,000 active track racers in the whole US. Even if we could
aspire to the ticket sales to total cost ratio that the Oregon Symphony has
that would only net a budget of around $100,000/year with the current market
which is below the projected costs.
- Although there appears to be a lot of support for Major League Baseball
that is a project that has really not yet got off the ground. Support is not
enough, money is what is needed.
Once again, I don't want to be too discouraging. I just want to be
realistic and make sure that people know that even what is currently
happening with track racing in specific and bike racing in general is only
happening because a small number of people are investing a large amount of
effort as opposed to being driven by easy availability of funding or the
possibility of profit.
There are also a few funny points on this subject:
- Many people do not understand the economics. Every year there are several
people that contact me or USAC or other people running track racing in the
US to tell us of their plans to build a velodrome, run a big program and
generate lots of money. If this were possible there would be velodromes
like there are Starbucks instead of only 20 struggling facilities.
- Many people already think that Alpenrose IS indoors. Every fall I get
contacted by several people who have been riding in the sunny summer weather
and now want to ride indoors at Alpenrose.
- Most of the posts to this list on this subject have come from people that
don't use the velodrome that we are already lucky enough to have. The first
step in supporting the idea of an indoor velodrome would be to come to
events at the current outdoor velodrome. Even better would be to support it
by helping with organizing programs or finding sponsorship. As use of the
current velodrome grows the possibility of supporting an indoor velodrome
becomes much more likely.
Mike Murray
-----Original Message-----
From: Rick C Johnson [mailto:RCJoh-@attglobal.net]
Sent: Sunday, January 29, 2006 11:43 AM
To: mike.m-@obra.org
Cc: ob-@topica.com
Subject: RE: [OBRA Chat] Indoor Velodrome??
Quite the wet blanket there Mike, but a good reality check. But with
your points in mind I'd still like to offer a few encouraging words.
Oregon is a land of firsts. The first state to protect public access to
beaches and waterways. The first to address widespread littering of
beverage containers with our bottle bill. The first to seriously attempt
solving the problem of seeing every citizen receives health care
coverage. The list goes on. Perhaps there is a way to make this idea
viable and in doing so accomplish another first. But it truly will be
impossible if everyone believes it is. How many would have thought that
raising 1.3 million dollars for cancer research with a single day bike
ride was impossible? But it happened.
There are many civic institutions that were born in red ink, and some
continue inspire of it. The Oregon Symphony covers just 41% of it's
operating costs through ticket sales. The rest comes from corporate and
individual sponsorship. There has been considerable effort invested at
both the city and state level in creating viable financial conditions
for bringing Major League Baseball to town. Those dreams survive because
there is a group of people that believe in them.
So, that's the question - are there enough people that believe in this
particular dream? Are they ready to sustain the years long effort to
keep it alive? Mike is correct, the financial reality is a tough issue
to overcome. Just thinking it's a good idea contributes little to
actually making it happen. But maybe there are enough people willing to
make this dream come alive. If so, I wish them luck.
Rick
mike.m-@obra.org wrote:
I have been trying to keep quiet on this subject but find I can't.
There are several reasons why we don't have a indoor velodrome but the
biggest one is that there are no indoor velodromes in the world that
actually cover their operating expenses. In the US few outdoor
velodromes cover expenses. If anyone wants any more particulars, cost
estimates, revenue projections, etc. send me a note.
Mike Murray
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