Pros Weigh In on NBL Elite Pay Bump

The NBL released a statement yesterday announcing increased year-end payouts for their Elite classes. Top dawg in Elite Men gets a $2,000 bump from 2009, to $12,000. Second place gets a $2K bump as well to $7,000, and Third place doubles their fun, to $5,000.

The Masters winner gets no love, staying at $1,000, but second and third go from $500 and $250, respectively to $750 and $500, respectively.

The Super-Ex winner gets a $1,000 hop, to $2,500, and second and third get $1250 and $750, up from $750 and $375

The real news is in the Elite Women’s class, which gets a massive $5,000 boost over Dominique Daniels’ $2,000 payoff for 2009. Second and third will get $4,000 and $3,000 (from $1,000 and $500 in 2009).

The Masters and Super-Ex changes, while certainly not unwelcomed, are not enough to make people change their plans to race more NBL. But, BMXNEWS was curious if the Elite Men and Women’s upgrades were enough to cause some riders or teams to revisit their schedules.

So, we sent out a list of four questions to nine Elite Men and six Elite Women. The questions were:

1). Were you planning on competing in the 2010 NBL Elite series prior to this announcement?

2). If not, has the upgrade in year-end payout changed your mind so that you now WILL compete in the 2010 NBL Elite series?

3). If you had planned to compete in the 2010 NBL Elite Series prior to this announcement, have your plans changed at all (in terms of the number of races you may attend, or certain races you may skip as a result). Please be as specific as possible.

4). If you are not going to race the NBL Elite Series, please tell us why you have made this decision.

Because of our short deadline today, we did not receive replies from everyone as of post time, but we will update this article with additional responses as we get them (and will call them out as “UPDATE,” so check back if you are interested).

Here are the initial responses:

“We’re on the fence”
—Dale Holmes, Responding for Team Free Agent (Maris Strombergs, Kyle Bennett and Cristian Becerine)

1). Were you planning on competing in the 2010 NBL Elite series prior to this announcement?

RANDY STUMPFHAUSER: No I was not, as this season my focus is to hit the ABA circuit.

DOMINIQUE DANIELS: I did not attend the X-Mas Classic because the expense to get there would have cost my dad way more than I could have made from the race. I was leaning toward not defending my NBL title, because my sponsor doesn’t want to support *ANY* NBL Races, so the cost would fall on my family. But after yesterday’s news, we are going to change that, regardless of what my sponsor does.

AFTON SCHRIMPF: No, not at this time. I think the upgrade is fantastic and long overdue, but I have already committed myself to the ABA schedule for the year, and do not have the funds for both.

TAYLOR WOLCOTT: I never intended on competing for the NBL Title this year. I’ve never raced an NBL National in my 10 years of racing. Nothing against the NBL, but living on the West coast I’ve stuck with the ABA.

EDIT 12:16AM CST:
DONNY ROBINSON: I think if it worked out to where I could hit a couple western races or some back east that I could do in conjuction with something else I had going on then I might attend some NBL races, but I won’t be chasing the title.

2). If not, has the upgrade in year-end payout changed your mind so that you now WILL compete in the 2010 NBL Elite series?

RANDY STUMPFHAUSER: No it will not change my mind.

DOMINIQUE DANIELS: YES!!! I have been asking for the ABA and the NBL to step it up and give the Womens Elite Classes more respect and more money. I know our class may not have the history that the men have, but we have had some great battles over the past few years, and I know we have become more popular. People tell me all the time that they like watching us, but they always ask why don’t we get a roll out like the men or why are we racing before other pros instead of right before Men’s Elites. If the sanctions don’t give us respect, how do they expect the crowd to? The Womens Elite class is very popular with the younger riders. I would like to personally thank the NBL for this move and I will definitely be racing this year. Way to go NBL! From your #1 Elite Woman, 3D!!!

Editors Note: In a conversation with NBL CEO Gary Aragon today, he confirmed that Elite Women would get their own rollout at NBL Elite events.

AFTON SCHRIMPF: No, not at this time. I think the upgrade is fantastic and long overdue, but I have already committed myself to the ABA schedule for the year, and do not have the funds for both.

TAYLOR WOLCOTT: Not really. My focus isn’t on these titles right now. My focus is on SX racing and trying to make the 2012 Olympic Team. I think the new payout is cool and all but my goals are bigger than that. Sure I’d love to make more money but I’m only 16 so…

EDIT 12:16AM CST:
DONNY ROBINSON: Not at all. I mean, for the women it’s a different story because their increase is pretty substantial. As far as the men’s year-end awards, we could do a clinic one weekend and clear the money they added. Not to say this isn’t a start or appreciated by everyone, but personally the year end increase would not affect my desire to race NBL. However, when I first saw the release I thought that the per race winning was $12,000. Now, if that were the case, can I pre-sign now?

3). If you had planned to compete in the 2010 NBL Elite Series prior to this announcement, have your plans changed at all (in terms of the number of races you may attend, or certain races you may skip as a result). Please be as specific as possible.

*No applicable responses yet*

4). If you are not going to race the NBL Elite Series, please tell us why you have made this decision.

RANDY STUMPFHAUSER: It is more about the time in my career where I am focusing my energies on one thing. In 14 seasons I have always done both sanctions so I am looking forward to a reduced schedule. I grew up racing NBL and always enjoyed their schedule of tracks and races. The one thing that hurt their credibility was last year they did not post what the year-end awards were going to be, and they cut second and third (year end awards) in Elite Men without any notice (from what they were the previous few years). I am glad they have raised the year-end awards for this year and made it known, however it would have been much more productive to do before the season began.

AFTON SCHRIMPF: I work fulltime as a nurse, I can only get so many weekends off, and on those I have chosen to race ABA. It is too late in the schedule for me to be changing my mind. I want to race where the best competition is, and that’s in the ABA right now. I am not a title contender, and therefore the increase in year end payout would have little/no effect for me directly.

TAYLOR WOLCOTT: Again, I’m not racing for any titles at this point. If at the end of the season I’m up for a title that’s awesome but my focus is on SX racing.

EDIT 12:16AM CST:
DONNY ROBINSON: There are a few reasons. The ABA is the premier sanction and has done things best thus far. I’m about going where there is passion for the sport and greatest opportunity for growth. ABA has the UCI races, they have television and bigger payouts. There are plenty of ways I feel the ABA can also improve but so far they have given me every indication that this is where BMX’ers should be.

As we said earlier, we have a handful of replies outstanding, which we’re sure will be coming in soon. Check back for more on this developing story.