Quoted message said:From: "Charles Hodge" [email hidden] Date: 3/20/2003 6:13 PM Eastern Standard Time
Message-id: <[email hidden]>One of the main issues is finding a promoter who is willing to host
Elite
Quoted message said:Nationals. For those of you who do not know, the Nationals are hosted
by
Quoted message said:local clubs/promoters/organizations with support from USAC in the
form of
Quoted message said:timing, staging, officials, etc. The reason that Elites were
scheduled so
Quoted message said:late is that there has to be someone who WANTS to do the event, and
who has
Quoted message said:the organization and backing to pull it off.
That's true as far as it goes, but no further. Elite Nationals are a USAC "event property," and as
such, USAC decides how they wish to stage them. If they were to make hosting them more financially
attractive instead of keeping the income (which seems fair, since they may supply technical
assistance, but the host club supplies the manpower and organization), while publicising the bid
process better, they would likely get more interest, however, strengthening the weakened club
structure (another aspect of the problem) isn't one of their priorities. Alternatively, they might
consider taking bids further in advance, or rotating the event among several venues throughout the
country. That would solve the annual problem of venue selection (you don't see the US Pro road race
hunting for a venue every year).
Thus I repeat what I said in another forum: USAC does not value its national championships much, its
regional championships less, and its district championships still less.