Thnx Wiles.
Those new prices definitely arent outrageous or anything. $330 and $240 is completely within range. WERA charges $320 for 3 races at their expensive tracks and $275 for cheaper tracks. CVMA charges $275 for 3 races.
Your analysis is really close Robert.
Before raising fees, we did an analysis of all of the West Coast clubs. The AFM was priced an average of $90/ weekend cheaper than the other clubs. That's $
almost $80K/ year (using 2019 attendance figures). We've been resistant to raising fees too much, hearing the members voices on keeping fees low. That decision has impacted us in 2020 with the low attendance figures in rounds 1 & 2 and now, we need to mark our rates to near market. Our tracks have raised fees, ambulances have raised fees, insurance has raised their cost, etc. We have not kept up with those cost increases in the hopes that increasing attendance will stem the outflow of cash. That being said, we moved pricing to be under that $90 deficit to other clubs pricing.
There was considerable thought and discussion on our fee moves this year. We have planned to invest any extra funds into improving a few areas in the club, aimed at more exposure/ promotion.
Don't forget - if track rental prices are going or have gone up, trackday prices are going up too. Nearly everything gets more expensive year after year. That's life.
You really should run for a board seat! This is well said and the place we're at. Tracks have hit hard in their pricing the last few years. We have been resistant to mark our pricing to market. Time's up. We have to, now. Everything else is more costly too...
DHs are a great way to drain your racing budget in half the time :laughing. That's not a solution to increased costs.
All these problems might be solved by smaller attendance. If the number of classes, races, and racers decreases , maybe the whole schedule will fit onto one day with 2 quick practice rounds. Then operating expenses decrease because AFM doesn't have to rent the track for 2 days to host a single round.
Good thoughts, again. We've gone over the structure of our weekends since I started as President and even before that. The consensus of several different boards has been that the AFM's "thing" works. We're different from other clubs, but our 2-day event is a community thing AND a racing thing. The rider's support crew contingent is a big deal and a fun deal. An AFM weekend has it's own flavor and draw beyond racing, IMO.
That said, we have discussed plans on how to do a 1 day event if it comes down to that. Likely, we'd partner with one of our TD partners and work with them.
I really appreciate all the AFM BoD is doing to keep this show running.
Thanks Danno for the nice words about the BOD. The BOD is a hard, smart working group of people. In 2019, I think 9/11 raced. Several won races and championships and there were many podiums from our racing board members as well. So proud of all the girls and guys on our board!
The fees increase itself is not a big deal. Leave it at that.
We know, In order to qualify for a Formula class you have to pay for practice. (which is BS) Now, theres talk on a fee increase on top of the newly added increase to run a Formula class. (which is BS)
The Formula class transition has been a longish transition. The plan started with making a rider's Formula class their premier race. This is the race for freinds/ family to come watch and one where all the riders of the cc class would be competing. We have this for FP, but not for riders who do not race FP. Formula classes were moved to a prime spot in the middle of the day and qualifying was added. Our next move is to add more laps for these races. As track time = cost, we did discuss increasing the fee and using the funds for better, higher quality trophies and possibly; payouts, but haven't gotten there yet. Trophies may happen, but not until we know what our turnout is for 2021.
Increased fees for Formula classes is NOT taking place for 2021.
Here's how I'd bet the AFM could ditch Saturday entirely. Get rid of Clubman, F50, Legacy, and AFemme. At least chose 3 of those 4, probably the whichever is least attended. Add another practice Sunday morning and make the 2nd one count as Formula Qualifying. Move the lunch break up to before all the racing and move the podium until after all the racing. Saturday becomes a trackday run by someone else or AFM runs a double header. Offer Tech Sat evening of course. Don't charge extra for qualifying since its just a timed practice, but do charge more if they get longer races.
We've had this discussion several times too. One of the weirdnesses of the AFM are riders willing to leave the AFM racing scene if their "prime" race is eliminated. A prime race can be F40/ F50 or afemme. Each rider is worth an average of $340 or so/ weekend. Losing 5 of those in a year is almost $12K....it's these shitty facts and decisions that make the AFM matrix worse than anything Keanu had to deal with. Income for each day is pretty well even when factoring in crashes, etc. There are disproportionate advantages with fixed costs for a weekend/ day to having multiple days.
This proposal fails to go through on annual basis :rofl
Any plan to remove some classes receives a really vocal opposition. One of the reasons is that the discussion usually happens relatively late, and people have already invested in bikes for specific classes. In addition to every class being somebody's favorite class, of course.
IMO, if we want to have a discussion on removing classes and have the proposal go through successfully, the classes to be removed/evaluated for removal for 2022 season should be listed as such in the 2021 rulebook or a bulletin.
Agree and well said. Hail to the #402!
i also think they should do away with the age bracket races. 40-50-60-70 year old classes... come on...... boomers complaining millenial snowflakes always getting a participation trophy, then go ahead and make a class they'll be able to podium in. (with a few exceptions...
My comments above speak as to how AFMers are very (VERY) particular as to their preferred prime class. FWIW, since as long as I've been on the AFM board (15 years now?), the average age of our racers has been in the mid to late 30's. These are the people with jobs, careers, accumulated wealth, grown kids (some), etc, and have the resources and time to commit to racing and being a part of the AFM. We also have a respect for those who have blazed the racing trail and as such, give them a place to race with people their own age. Sometimes those kids can help you hit the ground...ask me how much GoPro videos I have of the 600 hotshots putting themselves and others on the ground!
you're reading comprehension needs some work.
Gavin's not wrong though; AFM'ers love their classes and want to eliminate someone else's class. We try to not eliminate classes if we can make it all work...right now, we're stretched, IMO.