> 10k-50k people 'watch from the side of the
> mountain' (often w/the help of generous amounts of schnapps, beer and
saki)
> at multiple events every year
With enough fermented lubrication, people will watch _anything_ ;)
> I guess the only thing to be learned here is that there is ALWAYS an
> audience for something IF it captures their imagination.
This point is well taken, and actually serves to amplify my argument that
the road to "success" is paved with spectators. We are currently very
spectator-unfriendly, and that needs to change.
I've been working out a plan for what I consider a bare-minimum paid
spectator event. When I say bare-minimum, I mean "what is the minimum level
of extra activities that must occur on a ProSolo weekend to support having
paid spectators with the minimum level of disruption to the usual
well-oiled routine". And the mindset here is very much Mudville 9 (vs Major
Leagues). I'm talking grassroots spectating here, no frills, and no changes
to the event procedure to accomodate the spectators - here's what we do,
come watch.
Some of the stuff is just a no-brainer scaling up of what we already have -
more trashcans, more Blue Rockets (when was the last time you heard someone
complain about too many porta-johns on site?) You also need a
concession/canteen, which can either be run by the home region for a little
more money in the kitty, or you sell the rights to provide canteen services
to an outside caterer. The canteen may-or-may-not sell beer - beer
increases revenue and the likelyhood of return business, but it potentially
increases crowd-control and site cleanup issues.
You also need seating. Not only to provide a good view for your paying
customers, but having bleachers tends to concentrate spectators in a given
area, which makes crowd control a little easier. Basic bleachers can be
built fairly cheaply, or in many cases they can be rented.
The killer tomato is crowd control. You have to:
1) Keep people from gaining access without paying
2) Keep people from wandering on course!
3) Reduce the amount of people wandering through the paddock. Paddock
access is one of the little perks we'd have to accomodate (we want people
to be able to talk to the drivers) but the route from spectator parking to
the bleachers must NOT pass through the paddock!
Segmenting most of the sites we run at currently isn't much of an issue
(Virginia, you put the bleachers on the dirt area, with parking in behind.
Harrisburg you split the current paddock in two (making it narrower in
frontage, but deeper) and put spectators/spectator parking on the right,
and paddock on the left. etc) Marking the controlled access zones is doable
too, using ropes or that flag-tape used at Harrisburg, perhaps with some
cones or sawhorse barriers at strategic points.
But unfortunately, nothing short of an actual 6' fence is truly
spectator-proof, which means all the access points have to be actively
patrolled by a real live human being, who acts as traffic cop (and quite
possibly, bouncer) The potentially confrontational nature of this job means
that I don't think it can be made into a worker position, which means you
need about 10 people working full-time security, which means they need to
get paid somehow. You don't need Rent-a-Cops, just 10 burly boys who can do
"excuse me, don't walk under that rope, the gate is over there" stuff.
Anyway, I think that it's all doable with a little more advance planning,
and there's no reason why there couldn't be a National Staff position or
two for people specializing in spectator control issues at events (so each
event would come with a Security Chief, courtecy of Denver, to help advise
the event planners and to supervise the actual event security)
While not *simple*, I think it's simple *enough* that one of the 2001 Pros
could be a promoted spectator event, if planning started now. Try it out,
and see how it goes, and make note of any lessons learned. If it goes well,
then you increase the scope for 2002 to make every event a spectator event,
and then if *that* works, then you start planning on how to make the
spectator experience more enjoyable. Of course, now that you have paying
spectators, the events are making more money, and it's a lot easier to land
series sponsors if there's people in the stands....
Baby steps.
My vote would be for Peru. It's fenced, so external security is easier
(aside from a couple of key points that need to be closely watched) and I'd
bet that the event organizer _might_ even be able to swing security from
the local National Guard unit in exchange for a little promotion (I've
never met a Reserve unit yet that wasn't short on recruits, and a
recruiting booth on a site where a bunch of 17-25 year old males were
likely to congregate is enough to make any recruiting officer drool....)
Anyway, it's doable. It just takes money, time, and the will to try it.
DG
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