As much as I love the World Supercross Championship and loved even more their investment into the media to cover the event, you just know that WSX has a tough job ahead. Building any supercross race, let alone a series is near impossible.

They can do it in America, Australia and France, because these countries have had supercross events going back into the 1970s and 80s and those series have been built on similar things.

While the AMA supercross championship is the number one supercross series in the world, the Aussie series grew from promoters like Phil Christensen, Alan Horsley and Phil Harrison, who ran their first major supercross back in 1981. Other events had been run before that, the very first by Sid Hopping at the Parramatta speedway in the late 1970s. In the west, it was Bob Leisk who ran events and John Fenton did the same over a period of years.

American riders were invited, names like Jimmy Ellis, Jim Holley, Marty Smith, Broc Glover, Rick Johnson, Rex Staten, Mike Bell, Marty Moates and many more. Throughout the last 50 years, just about every single leading AMA champion has been invited down under and that helped the Aussies grow and the series to flourish.

France of course, have a long list of success stories, a solid supercross series, and of course, the Bercy supercross, which made sure European riders got the chance to see the leading American rider, which no doubt made kids like J. M. Bayle, Mickeal Pichon, David Vuillemin, Marvin Musquin, and many more believe they could also race in USA.

France and Australia, the two countries that love American supercross more than any other have continued to follow the lead of the yanks and while both these series are a long way from their prime, both are still producing supercross riders and spectators.

Germany and the UK do great jobs of running Arenacross events, but the fields and stadiums are small and these are also run similar to AMA supercross, where every year, you buy your tickets for Dortmund, Stuttgart, Belfast or Birmingham, and its your yearly family night out.

Even the Arenacross Tour ventured to Abu Dhabi, with high hopes of taking their series worldwide, but that lasted a year, before it became obvious, the rest of the world isn’t ready for Arenacross. It is a sad fact, that even promoters with big dreams and well-run events, cannot make a go of it.

As for the rest of the world, well, running a series or even one-off races, seems impossible now, or near impossible. We see the WSX series struggling to find countries that can even afford to run events, with as many cancellations of rounds, as enthusiastic promoters.

Remember back in the day, when we had supercross races every year in Tokyo, Barcelona, Geneve, Madrid, Parc de Prince in Paris, Manchester, Nijmegen, Amsterdam, Seville, Gothenburg, Helsinki, Antwerpen, Genoa and so many others. All are gone and won’t be coming back any time soon.

The Paris supercross works because its more than 40 years of history and like the AMA SX rounds, it is for many, their yearly fix of supercross and entertainment. Believe me, there must have been times even this legendary event nearly disappeared forever.

Events like last weekends opener in Argentina (for now) isn’t a financial investment many would even try. Millions of dollars go into these events and as good as the Argentina GP was, it wasn’t a financial winner, not by a long shot. Hopefully, companies like Monster Energy see a good investment and help the WSX, because they need it desperately. The promoters of WSX deserve that the series doesn't fail.

The past is a rocky one, with London and Abu Dhabi rounds of the series disappearing quickly, the Malaysian round didn’t even get off the ground and many more have failed. We do remember the first calendar had Europe written all over it, but places like France, Germany, UK, well, they just don’t fill stadiums for supercross. Fans in Europe, just are not into supercross enough to make running rounds here a safe bet.

Even the worlds leading motocross promoter, Infront struggled to interest people to their Supermotocross event in Germany a handful of years ago, and if anyone knows how to run events worldwide, its Infront. Names like Dungey, Herlings, Gajser, Musquin and many more and still, the stadium was empty.

The AMA/FIM ran world supercross rounds in places like Arnhem, The Netherlands, Seville, Spain, Geneve, Switzerland back a decade ago, well, the less said the better. I attended all those events, and it is no surprise they only last a couple of years, before Feld returned to America with their tail between their legs. Any talk of them returning for more of that, is laughable in my opinion.

One thing we have to remember, AMA supercross is a series that is run similar to Monster Energy Trucks, or maybe Nitro Circus. They attend the same stadiums every year and the same family might turn up as their annual yearly sporting event. It is common knowledge, maybe 50% or more are NOT regular motocross fans, but just people/families wanting a night out.

Go check Nielsen Sports, who provide data and insights into sports viewership, fan engagement, and market trends for clients, including sports leagues, brands, and media companies. You might be surprised what you find about MXGP, AMA motocross and AMA supercross.

Motocross is a worldwide sport, but again, a company like Infront have made it a success, and that comes through a lot of tedious dealings with governments, difficult promotional groups and a lot of politics. They don’t get the yearly family arriving for a one off look, they get full on, motocross fans.

The AMA nationals is a similar story, diehard motocross fans attending racing, because they love it. Motocross of Nations, the biggest event of the year in our sport, bigger than A1 or anything else is born on enthusiastic fans, both from USA and the rest of the world. The worldwide coverage for MXoN is staggering.

If Infront or Feld cannot run supercross events in Europe, or other parts of the world and make a success of it, then forget it for other smaller promoters.

We all love the AMA supercross series, we, the real fans watch it from the comfort of our living room, or some are lucky enough to attend, but lets not forget what it is. It is an American sport, similar to Baseball, NFL, Nascar, or Indycar, a sport that is loved in America, and not really watched worldwide.

Going worldwide for supercross, seemed like a great idea, something I would love to see succeed, but is there really a big enough audience to make it a success?