On 8/21/2015 6:22 PM, Martin Gregorie wrote:
On Fri, 21 Aug 2015 17:23:09 -0600, BobW wrote:

Snip
By way of Devil's advocacy...when I look at America's Cup and Formula 1,
I see two of the most expensive sports in the world; both have been that
way for "quite some time now." Arguably, each has *always* been at the
pinnacles of their respective sports' costs. You might even argue that
both today are examples of "If you build it, they will come," sorts of
sports in audience terms. How exactly might we make that work in
soaring?

FWIW, in both sports, there's far more participation in headcount terms
in the lesser expensive spectra...

With all due respect, the active participation in headcount terms is
bugger all. 20 or so drivers in F1 and under 20 yachts with crews of
around 10 in the AmCup aren't exactly large numbers of participants in
global terms. The numbers who will take the trouble to go to the track to
watch are also pretty insignificant compared to the headcount of those
whose total participation consists of vegging out in front of the goggle
box.

This is the exact opposite of soaring, where almost the entirety of
people involved in the sport are either active participants or those who
have stopped flying due to infirmity or age. We have almost no passive
spectators and I, for one, am happy with this situation because soaring,
along with ocean sailing racing and mountaineering, is one of the least
spectator-friendly sports in existence.


Thanks for clarifying what I attempted poorly to suggest in my 2nd paragraph.
In the U.S., the Sports Car Club of America (to name one of the national
groups promoting "average Joe" racing for weekend warriors) might be
considered analogous to SSA and its membership when comparing SCCA to Formula
1, where the aoaring equivalent of Formula 1 doesn't exist...and never will
exist in any of my imaginary futures, except maybe in some perverted form in
support of nationally-backed warfare.

The point I sought to make is that in soaring - just as with automobile and
sailboat racing - there's some sort of inverse correlation between the cost
barriers to entry and participation levels. "Qu'elle surprise!"

Bob W.