patrickv155

I doubt many (if any) fans were clamoring for playoffs and the same can certainly be said for "shootouts". Again, who is asking for this? Which athletes brought this to table? Why? What do these athletes think it's going to help with? What does the organizing body think it's going to help with? What influence does the broadcaster/promoter have on these entertainment-based decisions? Were fans consulted? Both of these changes make very little sense from a sporting perspective. Can we get some interviews with the people behind these ideas?

Not to be a cranky old fuss here...but it feels like I'm watching investors and network execs attempt to kill the sports I love the most. Motocross/Supercross just finished their third year of "playoffs". X Games is instilling a "draft" for the "X Games League" this year. Now slopestyle is adding playoffs? NASCAR admitted outright this year that the playoff format they currently use was a BAD idea and that their fans do NOT want it, with changes expected to be announced soon. The promoter for motocross admitted that a primary reason behind uniting with supercross for "playoffs" was because the Network (NBC) WANTED to have playoffs and would pay more for the TV rights if they had them. I can guarantee you that the vast majority of people watching slopestyle broadcasts don't sit there watching Joyride and go "Hm...you know what would make this event better? A playoff format." I fell in love with the FMB tour as a kid because it was the coolest thing ever, every event felt unique and had their own personality, from Joyride to Vienna Air King to Whitestyle to Chatel: Mountain Style to the Bearclaw Invitational to District Ride and everything in between. I try not to be too negative about the face that the Crankworx expansion has resulted in Crankworx being the only events that matter on the FMB circuit but this....why this? Did FMB or Crankworx ask any of the fans before deciding this was the way to go? Did anyone ask themselves if this is really an improvement on slopestyle or if it's just trying to model slopestyle more like stick-and-ball sports because those are more successful? And even if you were going to do playoffs (which you shouldn't), why would you not make the crown jewel of the Crankworx/Slopestyle circuit (Joyride) the final? Instead it's a "regular season" round for the playoffs? An event called the Superbowl of slopestyle at times is somehow going to.....NOT be your Superbowl???? I don't understand this at all. I know journalism in freeride and BMX is middling at the best of times, but can anyone get an interview with these guys? Ask them who this came from? Why they're doing it? Why the extreme sports world is trying to align itself to stick-and-ball formats? And I don't want to hear "It's better for the fans/athletes" unless they can directly explain WHY it's better for them, and why the current format either didn't meet that need or couldn't be adjusted to address it.

12 years old, fell in my qualifying heat in the NBL BMX Grand Nationals, got up, tried to do some jumps along the next straight to give the crowd something to cheer about, immediately dead sailored onto my face in front of everyone for a second time. Not a fond memory

Can’t wait to hear it blatantly hallucinate incorrect data on broadcasts - this’ll be fun

Didn’t they just send an email about it? MTB street jam at a local skatepark?

@Tmackstab: pretty sure the judges already have a good idea of what’s going to happen, even if it’s not the exact. Everyone on the mountain knew Zink was gonna flip last year and seems most people on the mountain this year knew TVS was gonna frontie. Also….pre-submitted runs come with their own disadvantages. Just ask Szymon Godziek’s brother how Nitro World Games went for him years ago and what the rotation of a Cash Roll is…

Simply because keeping track of stuff like this in both BMX and MTB is my hobby and something I feel obligated to correct when people get wrong even if it means the downvotes...Not a world's first flat drop flip to flat over stairs. World's first on an MTB sure...but Kenneth Tencio did it on BMX years ago: https://www.redbull.com/us-en/videos/world-s-first-backflip-over-a-set-of-stairs.

Nollie Backflip by Tom VB??? SICK

@lepigpen: Gary Young detailed the reasons he turned down a Red Bull contract earlier in his career on an episode of the Unclicked podcast. Funnily enough it was because he doesn’t drink carbonated drinks as a rule and didn’t feel like he should rep a brand he doesn’t actually stand by

"Insurance and prizing that's out of sync with risk factors." - am I missing something here? I thought only the broadcast rights were bought by discovery. I didn't think that event insurance or prize money was the responsibility of the broadcast company. That's the job of the promoters and organizers, not the broadcasters.