MLMT: Entry Strategy

The Major League of Monster Trucks recently announced the entry list for the first event of the year in Memphis April 26th. Twenty-three trucks registered their intent to attempt to qualify for the sixteen truck field in Memphis. But does that mean that all of those trucks will in fact show up to make a qualifying attempt on race day? Not necessarily.

Open qualifying is a concept that has not seen much execution in the history of the monster truck industry. That is why monster trucks are considered more a part of the entertainment industry rather than a professional motor sport. The majority of team owners today have never run for anything other than a guaranteed paycheck, so the idea of having to qualify and race to earn their paycheck is a risky proposition.

Registration for MLMT events opened at the beginning of January, well before many teams had even began booking events for late spring / early summer when the series is scheduled to begin. There is no cost to register for an individual event up until 45 days prior to the event date. No penalty has been announced for registering but not actually competing in an event as of this writing. Because of that, many team owners have registered not knowing whether they will end up competing or not.

45 days in the monster truck world is a very long time, and it is not unusual for teams to be booked for shows less than a month in advance. If a team owner is even thinking about competing in an MLMT event, they must register by the 45 day-deadline—otherwise they must pay a $500 entry fee to register after the deadline has passed. As a result, many team owners have signed up for the MLMT events well in advance, but are only now starting to receive their usual booking offers from promoters. This reality is forcing team owners to make some tough decisions regarding their participation in MLMT’s open-qualifying style events.

How will teams arrive at these decisions? We’ve talked to a number of teams throughout the industry to get their opinions on MLMT and we’ve attempted to put ourselves in the shoes of an independent team trying to decide whether or not to run MLMT. Based on those observations and assumptions, we believe that teams will fall into the categories below in regard to their participation in the Major League of Monster Trucks:

“We’ll Wait and See . . .” – There are a lot of teams that fall into this first category. The fact is that many folks are still skeptical that the series will survive the first season. Some of these team owners may have always desired an open qualifying series, but they are not sure that MLMT is their dream come true.

Concerns about money lead the way, as many in the industry are uncertain if MLMT has the capital to sustain the series—the worry for team owners is that they will perform in an event and not receive their winnings. How legitimate is this concern? With the amount of money MLMT has committed to individual event purses, the season points fund, and the extreme cost of producing events of this magnitude—all with no major series sponsors or television deal yet announced—one cannot blame those who hold this concern.

So, these teams are content to sit and watch how things play out. Some are just waiting to hear back from teams who do compete in early events at Memphis and Atlanta—did the event run smoothly, was it officiated fairly, were they paid in a reasonable amount of time, etc—and if the response is positive, they might begin running events as soon as Texas in June. Others plan on sitting out the entire first season of MLMT and watching to see how the series fares. If it is a success, these teams may very well be among the first to register to run for the championship in season two.

“When They’re Close . . .” – Some team owners are just not interested in running an event where they risk not qualifying and not getting paid. However, the amount of money that can be won at an MLMT event is too good for even them to pass up—when the event is close. They are willing to take a calculated risk and enter an event that is either a) close to their shop or b) on the way to or from one of their regular bookings that falls the week before or after the MLMT date. This way they mitigate their costs should they fail to qualify for the event. Expect to see several teams appear only once or twice on the MLMT circuit because they fall into this category—especially west coast teams who will come out to the Las Vegas event in September.

“If There’s Nothing Else Going On . . .” – There will be several teams that will register for MLMT events and only show up to compete if they are unable to secure a paid booking for the same date. One prominent team owner put it very simply—“My trucks will always be where the money is guaranteed before they will be at one where it isn’t.” MLMT needs to hope that the majority of teams won’t treat their events in this manner, or else the series will not be able to survive. On the flip side, this practice will give fans the chance to see the regular trucks take on a variety of challengers from week to week, which will provide an interesting twist.

“Depends on Who Else Registers . . .” – Teams falling into this category are truly thinking about their potential participation from a strategy standpoint. Their idea is to register for any events they may like to participate in, and then see who they will be competing against once the entry list is released. At that point they can judge their chances of making the field based on the competition, and then make a decision as to whether or not to compete. It certainly is not a bad idea if you’re a team with concerns about making the field, and any open qualifying series will have this type of strategy involved.

“Let’s Give it a Shot . . .” – Several mid-level teams have made the decision to enter the first couple of MLMT events and see how well they can fare. Based on their performance and standing in the points, they may decide to run the rest of the events, or possibly just run selected events for the rest of the season.

“We’ll Try to Run Them All . . .” – Teams falling into this category are trying to run as many of the events as they possibly can. However, the majority of these teams are in heavy demand by other promoters with whom they have had long-term relationships. These teams have had to make some commitments that will likely interfere with some of the MLMT dates, but whenever they are able to, you will see these teams competing in MLMT.

“We’re All In . . .” – Finally, these are the teams that will be running for the championship. For these teams, having an open qualifying series for monster trucks is important enough that they are willing to take risks to commit to MLMT. They are willing to turn down guaranteed pay bookings in order to run and they are willing to give MLMT a chance to prove itself by supporting the series with their presence. These are the teams currently in the shop working on their trucks, investing in higher performance equipment in preparation for running MLMT. In a word, these teams are serious about MLMT.

Only time will tell how many teams decide to participate in MLMT and for what reasons. But the above is some insight into the decisions facing team owners as they consider their involvement in the 2008 Major League of Monster Trucks Championship. Be watching for the Atlanta entry list to be announced tomorrow right here on TheMonsterBlog.com and over at http://www.mlmt.com/.