Just saw on DirtBike this info, wow. The cost of Ryan's new contract, 3yrs @ 2.5mil a yr, means no mo money..............geez
yep.. the top riders ( not sure where the top is at really here) make a base salary to go along with the endorsements and many other perks ... That why I though it was so odd js7 rode without this base salary ... He has to have been a MIL $ baby also .. RV2 should continue to dominate for the length of that contract at least ... He seems like a level headed guy in his interviews and no one in the states can touch his speed in in sx\MX racing ... Too bad he did not get to show his feet-off-the-pegs, hanging-on-by-the-bars-only style at the MXdN races this yr ... PS -- Don't worry about the money Kiwi has ... It just takes 1 vp to say spend the money and everyone else at the table just nods up and down ...
Again I point out the fiscal 2012 KHI report and refer to the 18% portion that the motorcycle/recreational vehicle division earns, as well as total KHI earnings. 2.5 mil relative to me and most of us is insane, but when your talking BILLIONs of Yen earnings, RV is a gem for advertising and solid good deal to have on contract. R
Thats not much money in pro sports. I have a customer who was a journeyman player in the NHL for 8 seasons and I think his lowest paid year was $1M. I know he got paid $3-4M for a couple of years the the NY Rangers.
Considering all the money Kawasaki spends on TV advertising, I doubt that the Off-Road team was a big percentage of their budget, or that the RV contact is squeezing them much. But, I am sure that they are trying to maximize the value of their marketing efforts.....
As long as Kawi continues to offer off road contingency, I think you will see pro riders racing them in off road series. The Kxf is a pretty darn good base platform to start with for these pro offroad guys. The motors are powerful and they handle well off road. So if your a privateer pro, you get yourself a KX450, get your suspension set up for you and basically go racing and if you place, start collecting contingency. If you follow off road racing out west,you will see privateer pro's on Kawi's. There's lots of tuners out there who know how to make them work really well in pro hands. The only thing Kawi is doing really, is cutting its in house off road team. So they save lots of money by not having salaried riders and dedicated mechanics etc for the off road factory team. So now Kawi off road fragments into privateer satellite teams. Kawi still gets exposure from guys riding and racing green, but at someone else's dime
Look at guys racing non factory Kawi. Purvines Racing, our friend Nick Burson. THR/Precision Concepts, Robby Bell, David Pearson. Those are the ones that come to mind. Precision Concepts did a press release about this issue and it sounds like they are pursuing sponsors for 2013, but are staying green for bike color
