Kickstart | What To Expect Of Supercross In 2021

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2021 SUPERCROSS RACE TEAM ROSTERS & RUMORS

We’re hours away from Feld Entertainment’s release of the 2021 Monster Energy Supercross Series schedule. Knowing there’s some sort of plan to go racing brings peace of mind to many, from the riders and teams to industry people that rely on racing to fans that just want to see some of the world’s best do battle on the track, and we’re excited to see what has been created amid “these trying times.” The final details of the 2021 schedule are only known by Feld’s executives, but things that we’ve heard from people in the pit area plus restrictions in place around the country make it clear that Tuesday’s announcement will bring big changes.

Sketching out a tentative Supercross schedule is something that Feld Entertainment has tackled over the last few months. The Florida company, which holds the promotional rights to Supercross and runs family-centric live shows with Disney/Marvel/Jurrasic World, was rocked by the pandemic. Restrictions on large gatherings that were enacted around the world forced Feld to halt their operations in March and after a month of inactivity, the company laid off more than 1400 employees from their office and tours.

Supercross is arguably the most unique piece in Feld Entertainment’s portfolio. Unlike Disney On Ice (which is purely entertainment) or Monster Jam (the majority of the trucks are owned by Feld), Supercross is the only property designated as a world championship by a major officiating group (thanks to recognition from the FIM) and the participants are “independent contractors” employed by race teams, all of which are separate from Feld. The pandemic’s pause affected all parties in different ways, but because all risked a level of financial trouble if the 2020 Supercross series was not completed, they worked together and made the seven-round run in Salt Lake City possible.

Supercross was never far out of mind during the nine-round 2020 Lucas Oil Pro Motocross Championship and we had plenty of conversations with friends that discussed what 2021 might bring. Word of possible dates and venues spread in September and by the time the Nationals wrapped up in October, everyone “in the know” decided the first gate drop would happen on January 16, 2021.

With restrictions on crowd size and pod seating to encourage social distancing between different groups, should we expect photos from the 2021 SX season to look this sparse? As long as it gets us all to track, we’re good with it.

While talk of the tentative Supercross schedule has been nonstop for us, it’s one of many things that Feld Entertainment has going on. Over the weekend the company held its first production in front of a live audience since March with Monster Jam shows at AT&T Stadium in Texas, a series of events that brought thousands of fans to Arlington. The project was months in the making, made possible after surveys showed that fans felt increased safety measures would be worthwhile if it meant that could see the action for themselves again. 

“We conducted a lot of multiple surveys over the summer, and it really seemed like every other week that we were coming up with a new question to ask the fans just based on how intricate we wanted to get with the questions. But the overwhelming one was they were just eager to attend Monster Jam,” explained Jayme Dalsing, the Director of Operations for Monster Jam. “They wanted it to be safe, 100%, but they want to come to see Monster Jam. So we took all those enhanced health measures that we could come up with to ensure them that we were going to do it and we were going to do it safely.”

Once public interest was piqued, Dalsing and the rest of the Monster Jam staff came up with a plan. “The first time we started talking about Arlington Monster Jam, it was probably a June or July, and I’d be lying if I didn’t tell you that there was about a month there where we thought the event was going to go away because of the restrictions that were being put on Texas and the restrictions that were being put on AT&T Stadium,” shared Dalsing. “Arlington was one of those that we kept working on and we set ourselves a deadline and we got past that deadline and it was a no, and we just kept working on it. And then they came back around.”

Arlington will be an important location for live entertainment companies as they look to return to business in 2021. Jerry Jones, the owner of the Dallas Cowboys and AT&T Stadium, has encouraged fans to attend the Cowboys games held at the stadium this NFL season and the venue has a number of things scheduled for the next few months, including the PBR World Finals in November and a boxing match in December. “AT&T Stadium, Jerry Jones, and the Cowboys just did a really good job to put up a good fight to say we can do this and we can do it safely,” explained Dalsing. “And by them leading the charge on that and other NFL teams kind of leading the charge on that, it really helped us in our conversations with the counties and with the local governments to make sense of doing it and actually bring fans in.”

The push to hold events doesn’t mean that AT&T Stadium is skirting restrictions. If anything, their on-site rules might be more strict than what’s required in other parts of Texas. All visitors and employees are required to wear a face-covering when on-site, including when outside of their vehicles on the stadium-owned parking lots and can only be removed when the individual is eating or drinking. AT&T Stadium has adopted a list of other policies, including a move to completely cashless transactions at the concession or retail sites, “frictionless entry” that reduces contact at the security checkpoints, restrictions between different groups during tailgating or intermissions, and enhanced cleaning. 

The most important detail of any event in 2021 will be reductions toward crowd capacity and interactions. Per Dalsing only 17,000 people were to be allowed on-site for Monster Jam events, which is a fraction of AT&T Stadium’s 80,000 maximum capacity, and tickets were sold in sets of two-four-six-eight to create pod seating for groups and to encourage social distancing. 

“Pit parties and all that stuff have always been a big part of Monster Jam, but that’s not going to be able to be an option,” said Dalsing. “The protocols that we have in place are to keep everybody safe. We’re requiring masks, we’re asking fans to temperature check before they come in. We’re doing as much as we can. And like I talked about before, trying to take the lead of what AT&T Stadium has done for the Cowboys and their fans. They’ve done a great job so far. They’ve kind of led the way as far as protocols as far as fans are concerned. So we’re excited to work with them and follow their lead because they’ve done it and they’ve done it really well.”

It’s no surprise that the measures which were put in place at Monster Jam will be the standard for Feld Entertainment’s future events, both in terms of employee and audience safety, and they have already announced more Monster Jam shows (Texas in November, plans to go to Nevada, Ohio, and Washington starting in January). “We’re following what Supercross did as far as a bubble. We’re taking some lead from the NBA and NFL as well as far as what their back gate bubbles look like. I guess I would say we’re being as tight as you can be on bubbles, even breaking down our staff into groups and then subgroups between that too,” Dalsing explained. “We’re testing all of our staff, including drivers before we get onsite and when we get onsite. So we’re doing double COVID-19 testing for that, we’re doing daily temperature checks and questionnaires, and masks are required for everybody backstage too.

“When we started making these calls, everybody’s just so excited to come back and everybody’s under the same kind of mindset; let’s do this thing, let’s do it safely, and let’s keep it rolling. Because we’re going to set a standard here that’s going to lead the way for Supercross, having live events with fans and Monster Jam into 2021, and Disney on Ice for that matter too,” he continued. “We’re all trying to work under the same guidelines to make sure that all properties that are under Feld Entertainment can go out and start touring in 2021, and Supercross being one of those. They have some great ideas, and Dave and Todd have been working on some big things to be able to bring back Supercross. We have every precaution under wraps. We’re trying to do everything. The standards that NFL has put out there, we’re trying to follow those protocols and I think once this one goes off, the doors will be open for the rest of the industry.”

Which leads us to the topic of the schedule. Yes, we’ve heard some rough dates and venues, but no, we’re not going to blow all of that out right now. It’d be like reading the doctor’s letter to everyone at a gender reveal moments before the expecting parents make their announcement. Feld Entertainment has put in lots of effort to make this possible and Tuesday will be a big moment for everyone involved. Instead, we’ll talk about things that have been mentioned to us as “potential details” and that seem very likely. 

It’s universally understood the series will not kick off at Angels Stadium in early January, all due to the restrictions for crowd sizes in public spaces that were recently announced by California. Because these measures are expected to run for much of 2021, it’s unlikely we’ll see any Monster Energy Supercross Series race take place anywhere in the state. This is a massive loss, as the SoCal is “home” to most in the sport and the Anaheim-Oakland-San Diego races make up nearly a quarter of the usual schedule.

States like Washington, New York, and Massachusetts, plus metropolitan cities like Las Vegas, Atlanta, and St. Louis have comparable restrictions for large crowds, and although things can change at a moment’s notice, this would limit the total number of locations even more. 

A possible lack of available venues, plus a dip in profit due to reduced ticket sales at each race, is something that Feld Entertainment can counteract by holding multiple rounds at the same place. We should expect to see things like “INSERT CITY One Supercross” and “INSERT CITY Two Supercross” on Tuesday’s press release, with just a few days between each race. While it wouldn’t be as intense as the seven-race run in Utah, some sort of weekend-weekday-weekend routine seems likely and riders have been very receptive.

There are two things we can say with certainty. The first is that the 2021 Daytona Supercross will take place on Saturday, March 6, a date that the famed speedway announced a few weeks back. The second is that Salt Lake City will again host the final round, as the possibility that championships could be crowned in Rice-Eccles Stadium is something that Utah’s sport and tourism boards take pride in.

Tuesday’s announcement is set to be the biggest change that the Monster Energy Supercross Series has seen in years. After years of talking “what would happen if we went to a new city at a different date” or “how well would people attend a mid-week race” during bench racing conversations, we’ll get to see these ideas play out in real life. Yes, there will be plenty of discussions about the safety measures that Feld Entertainment will have to put in place, both good and bad, but that is all standard-issue due to the pandemic. It’ll be another challenging time, vulnerable to change or uncertainty, but it’ll be worthwhile if everyone makes it to the end safely.