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Fledgling Supercross world championship gets an infusion of cash to lure teams

Mar 02, 2022

There are still details we don't know about the FIM Supercross World Championship that is scheduled to launch this year, but new information was released this week about the strategy, structure and funding, in the form of an investment from a subsidiary of a Middle Eastern sovereign investment fund.

Last year, the FIM, the world motorcycle governing body, announced that after a 20-year run, the Monster Energy AMA Supercross series would no longer be an FIM world championship and a new, truly global series would be launched. While technically a world championship, the AMA Supercross series races have taken place entirely in the United States in recent seasons and the majority of the riders are Americans. The FIM signed with an Australian company, SX Global, to create the new series. 

SX Global is led by Tony Cochrane, who founded the V8 Supercars racing series, along with Adam Bailey and Ryan Sanderson, who created the successful AUS-X Open Supercross event in Australia. With motocross racing already filling the calendar throughout the year — with AMA Supercross, Lucas Oil AMA Pro Motocross and the MXGP World Motocross Championship — the question was how the new Supercross series would attract top riders. The answer came this week: money.

SX Global announced an investment from Mubadala Capital, the asset management subsidiary of the Mubadala Investment Company, a sovereign investor based in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates with $243 billion in assets under management. Mubadala Capital has invested in sports and entertainment entities before, such as the Ultimate Fighting Championship, to name one example.

That money will be used to provide $250,000 in purse money at each round as well as $50 million in direct support to teams over the next five years, including seed funding, appearance fees and logistics and freight support.

Instead of relying on motorcycle manufacturers to support the sport, the World Supercross series will be based on independent teams. To fill a 22-rider gate, 10 teams will each field two riders in the 450 class (called WSX) and 250 class (SX2) and there will be two spots at each round for wild-card riders, to give local favorites a chance. On a lower level, the Daytona Motorsports Group, following its NASCAR strategy, tried a similar approach when it took over the AMA Superbike championship more than a decade ago. That effort was unsuccessful, but on an international level and with lots of money invested, it could work — if the money is enough to lure top teams and riders to compete in the world championship instead of the traditional motocross and Supercross series.

The organizers say the World Supercross series will consist of five rounds beginning in September this year and will expand to more rounds next year, starting in June. That means in 2023 teams and riders will definitely have to choose which series they want to race in, whether that means sticking with outdoor motocross at the world MXGP level or at the national level in AMA motocross or choosing to compete for the World Supercross title instead.