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Costs sink annual boat races

The roar on the river is over. The Kankakee Regatta and Festival Committee announced Wednesday that the 30-year revived tradition of Labor Day weekend boat racing has ended.

"It's absolutely painful to see this happen. These races were a part of my childhood," said 2013 chairman Brad Kuntz. "But the decision was made to not pursue hosting the 2014 Regatta and the decision has been made to cancel the event."

The four-day end-of-summer party involved hundreds of competitors and thousands of fans, but did not generate enough revenue to justify the financial risk. Last year, for example, the event was blessed with perfect weather, but — even with considerable local sponsorship — generated less than $1,000 in proceeds — after expenses were paid.

Lesson to be learned from this. You must realize your limitations in these type of events. Sometimes the extra costs incurred by going larger offset any possible gain in revenue. Sad story, but this does tie in with one discussion we had at last weeks TORC meeting.

I think one of the biggest mistakes we boat race people make is to assume that the general public share the same passion for the sport as we do.
The realistic view is the sport is boring, people cannot relate to the classes or the motors and it is same- same year after year.
If you get involved with in the sport, you soon find out that it is a few people that do most of the work and the majority just want to race.
Without volunteers most races cannot happen. It is too costly to use PAID support and promotion people to do the work.
The cash flow is not there to support them.
Motor manufacturers need to see a return on investment in order to justify a support commitment.
The catch 22 is manufacturers need to see their new motors racing and the racers for the most part cannot afford them.
Another catch 22 is technology. It is difficult to standardize a class when the motors change almost every year. But we must get these new motors racing.
In Canada we have a more difficult situation. In the USA APBA run the show. In Canada we have CBF which is supposed to be the governing body being push aside by APBA and an outlaw group.
UIM is neutral , so CBF is powerless.
Because of this Toronto Outboard Racing Club [TORC] has been widening their vision to promote new motors. It is most important to get new people into the sport. NEW SCHOOL people are the
future. They like high tech stuff and playing with computer programs. The sport needs to be Cleaner and new engines promote GREEN.
How do you get this new motors in? We first get them out to race. We judge their performance and the following year make minor rule adjustments to make them competitive.
We also plan ahead. Classes take time to develop interest. We look at the boats in the local area to see if there is an opportunity. We get feedback thru web sites and go from there.
A boat race event has to be a SHOW.
The best show has a lot of boats and boats that the fans can relate too. You cannot be selfish. Remember you need other boats to race or there is NO RACE!

Amen, last time someone had such succint statements, he came off the Mount with 2 tablets.
Well said Houndog, must establish/maintain long term strategy & execute.