Meet fans where they are – literally.

Last weekend, Chris and I found ourselves at the Super Motocross Finals at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Of course, we went for the racing, the experience of a world-class event with a cult-like fan following, but we also went to learn. We wanted to figure out what made this series so alluring and how we could bring that back to our team and to our sport.

From the moment we walked in, we were struck not by awe and newness, but by familiarity. Honestly, it looked a lot like the pit areas at our short course off-road races. The pits were open to the fans and we could walk around through trailers fit with awnings, a makeshift city of workspaces for riders and mechanics to prep bikes for the upcoming motos. There were grandstands, truckloads of dirt, and fans and racers mingling throughout the space.

There was one glaring difference between our sport and what we saw at the Super Motocross finals, though. When we’re walking around at Crandon or ERX or any of our other tracks, there are three distinctly different spaces: the racers’ pits, the fans’ spectating area, and the vendors’ activation spaces. At Las Vegas Motor Speedway, these were all the same space. The fan zone was a mashup of racer pits, food trucks, standing room to watch the race, and a variety of booths with interactive fan activation activities. I kid you not when I tell you that these sponsor activations varied from things you might expect, like racing simulators and high-flying freestyle motocross shows, to some of the most creative engagement I’ve ever seen, like a mobile tattoo parlor seated next to a pop-up barbershop. To get to the track, fans walked through all of it. They weren’t just given the chance to explore the pits and activation spaces, they were ushered through it.

They called it the “Fan Zone”

Everything about this event was fan-centric (except maybe the $6 bottles of water.) The vendor areas weren’t about directly selling product, they were about giving fans the experience of their lives in the name of their product. Monster Energy was supplying fans with as much caffeine as they could handle, of course, but they were also giving fans tattoos while Casey Currie drifted a V8 Jeep around 15’ tall Monster cans. They met fans where they were – in a place to experience.

It didn’t stop there. I’d never been to a Super Motocross race before and I’d never really spectated any kind of dirt bike racing at all. I was a total newbie. As the show was starting, the announcers spoke directly to me (well, it felt like it,) when they said “If you’re new to this, we’re here to help.” There was an entire segment on the big screens that explained how the competition worked, how points were calculated, what made the finals special, and all of the visual cues I could use to keep up with the race. The 250cc bikes had a different number plate than the 450cc bikes. The points leader had a red number plate, and the previous champion had a purple one. Whoever was in the lead during the race would have a set of green lights illuminate on the front forks. None of these things were for the racers – they were all for fans like me. They met the fans where they were – even the ones who didn’t know what was happening.

On top of meeting fans with information and experiences, we’ve glazed over the fact that this series met fans where they were spatially. Fans didn’t have to seek these things out. The activation spaces and pit areas weren’t tucked away in corners of the track, they were in the Fan Zone. These weren’t add-ons to the experience; they were the experience. And spectators walked through all of it to get to the track. They met fans where they were – literally.

Where are your fans, and how can you meet them there?