CYCLE – The Business of Racing: Agents and Riders

Editor’s Note: In this, the last in our series on the Business of Racing, we explore the role agents play in supercross and motocross.

In professional supercross and motocross racing today, nearly all of the top and mid-level riders are represented by an agent. Agent representation is relatively new to the supercross and motocross racing circuit. In the 1980s and early 1990s, riders often represented themselves during contract negotiations, or had a parent acting as a manager. If a rider had an attorney or an accountant for representation, that was considered big-time.
With supercross racing exploding in recent years, and motocross riding on the heels of the SX success there became a need for formal representation, at least at the top echelons of the rider community. “The marketing of the rider and his position in the market is extremely important,” observes Fred Bramblett, president of OMS Sports, a sports marketing agency based in Anaheim, Calif.
Bramblett founded OMS Sports in 1997 and has an impressive roster of clients including Ben Bostrom, Mike LaRocco and Troy Adams. Bramblett believes his company was the first full service agency to be involved in off-road racing. “Initially, there was a tremendous amount of resistance from sponsors and teams. Racers were the first ones to open their arms to us and accept us. They knew they needed the help more.”
With the crossover of supercross racing into mainstream America via the television airwaves, as well as the big money that was being poured into sponsoring races, it became extremely important what logos the top racers were sporting on their riding gear. Savvy racers knew that in order to get their fair share of the sponsorship pie — that is companies willing to give them product and money to represent them — they needed an agent to help assess their market value. It was inevitable that agents would become part of the ever-growing off-road racing scene. “Teams starting talking to us, too,” recalls Bramblett of those early days just a mere seven years ago. “We created the Universal Studios relationship with America Honda and Woody Woodpecker. We brought in Doc Martins and other mainstream companies to the sport.”
A smart agent is able to determine the market value of a sponsorship relationship, something desperately needed in a growing sport like supercross. “We were better able to define the value for our clients. They could understand what they truly were providing their sponsors and help their sponsors understand their return on investment.”
A good agent will also go beyond trying to attract just motorcycle companies. They’ll shop corporate America. Bramblett says it’s important an agent know how to do that effectively. “Corporate America wants to have some kind of interactive relationship. They just don’t want to buy wallpaper. They’re already saturated with having their logos on the hood of a car. What they’re looking for are more ways to activate that relationship and leverage it.”
Much like Hollywood, a good agent will position a rider and develop a marketing strategy for him. Bramblett explains, “Fox clothing was a terrible fit for Mike LaRocco, but O’Neal is a perfect fit because he’s all about the masses, the hardcore enthusiast guy. Not the same niche as Fox. Fox does not go after the plus-30 rider.” He goes on to explain that LaRocco is branded as the blue collar working man’s hero. He’s the plus-28 crowd favorite at almost every event. “He’s not won was many events in the last two seasons as Ricky Carmichael, but if you look at the autograph lines and look at his following, he’s very entrenched and has a loyal fan base.”
With top riders like Carmichael demanding several million dollars just for a factory sponsorship salary the need for agent representation becomes clear. However, while most of the industry recognizes the need for formal representation at top levels, many fear some agents may be preying on young and up-and-coming riders. “It’s made things very difficult with riders just coming into professional racing getting agents right from the get-go,” says Gary Christopher, Honda’s senior manager of motorcycle press and motorcycle sports. “It has, in a lot of cases, caused the ante to go up quite a bit in the compensation of these young riders. While no factory wants to undervalue riders and give them fair compensation for what they do, I think the expectation gets raised way above a reasonable level for young racers who have never even competed in a professional event yet have expectations of pretty large salaries — salaries that most working Americans would love to have. There has to be a bit of balance and a bit of reason there.”
Bramblett looks down upon agents reaching into the amateur ranks. “I think it’s a bad part of the sport. We don’t go there.”
Christopher says having agents as part of the contract negotiations has forced aftermarket companies and OEMs to raise their game. “It’s made us certainly increase our professionalism in terms of our own racing organization and rider relations.”
Bramblett wants to be clear that with agents, like himself, a deal is not always about how much money he can get for the rider. It’s about building the rider up as a brand. “We just placed a young rider with a major OEM. For his clothing contract, we’re looking for a fair and adequate compensation package to include how many pages of advertising that company is going to pledge to feature him. We’ll give up a little bit of dollars now to increase his brand value in the market.”

– Genevieve Marie Schmitt