Sure Dougboy, you have a point there. If it evolves from amateur past to commercial profit making business, then one should think that volunteer positions should become paid for positions. One cannot expect volunteers to keep on volunteering, much as they love the event and the sport, where others make a profit ?!

I think where I may be off track is that my assumption had always been that this initiative was about promoting the TT 'brand' and raising brand awareness rather than specifically selling the rights to use the TT logo / cudos to promote other events (which seems a bit unrealistic to be honest).  

I'd also assumed that whole point was that a championship of sorts would be worthwhile because in general terms the overall event becomes greater than the sum of its parts and hence adds to the value of those parts.  So for instance if the championship was at stake then more people might be attracted to the final round (.....at the UGP perhaps?.....) to watch / tune in.

WRT how niche the TT is - my experience on my travels has been that whenever I speak to bike enthusiasts they always are aware of the TT and treat it with a great deal of reverence.  Almost all of them say that making a trip to the IOM is something they'd love to do one day but the impression I always get is that they feel like its beyond easy logistics.  Notwithstanding the observation that its already at visitor saturation point - I agree with the previous posts that the IOMG have to have a good look at what they can do to further the event.  Its going to be interesting to see what they come back with.

I may be ridiculously biased but the TT and the UGP are both fantastic events with global Motorsports significance and I'm sure they'll continue to do well without changes.  But it would be great to see them get some real recognition for what they offer and see them really prosper (to the extent that at least every entrant got their costs paid). 

If only we were back at iomtt.com - then Trevor Hussey would come on an give us an update 

Phil Wain usually has the inside running - has he made it across yet??

Cheers


Sam

The plan all along is that whoever hosts one of these events will pay the DED as commercial rights holder a fee for the priviledge of doing so.  The motivation is to use the TT name to try and forge economic links with other countries that perhaps don't deal with the IOM at present.

I don't believe that existing events such as the UGP would come under consideration because the IOM and Northern ireland alre already very well aware of eachother and as previously mentioned, what benefit would the UGP gain from paying a big wedge of cash to the DED to use the TT name?

I believe it's already been decided that the TT would be the final round of this theoretical championship.

Yes, it's a pity there aren't any (un)civil servants on here to tell us that regardless of our experience, depth of knowledge or contribution to the TT that we're all just conspiracy theorists whose opinion is irrelevant.  We'll just have to struggle on without I guess...

Maybe I'm just uninformed but I wasn't aware that the TT was saturated regarding lodging.  Very busy yes, but saturated no.  Especially if you're willing to camp.  When we've been there some of the campsites don't appear to be anywhere near full.  We use homestay and book ahead.  From a logistical standpoint it seems to me that the difficultly is in physically getting to and from the Island during the fortnight.  Especially if you're trying to get a bike shipped over.  It would seem to me that IF a TT related championship series were to become a reality it would have the potential inspire a lot more awareness and interest in a wider audience worldwide.  Those individuals would most likely be in our situation when we come over and would fly directly to the IOM and rent a car and not have the need/option of shipping a bike via ferry.  Therefore, the most obvious problem of access to the Island would be more or less solved for the increased number of people attending, as long as there were enough flights to handle the influx.  You would have to assume most of those people would be motorcyclists to varying degrees.  Maybe then it would also be more likely that due to demand businesses offering bike rentals would be more financially viable and hopefully reasonably priced.

I'm sure all will be revealed in due course, it will be interesting to see what the final proposal is and how it will work (I'm clueless to know myself).