The 17-Round Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship recently concluded on Saturday, May 11 in Salt Lake City with Team Honda HRC’s Jett Lawrence winning the title and earning Rookie of the Year honors in the 450SX Class.
At just 20 years old, Lawrence had eight wins on the season and became just the third racer in history to win the Premier Class title in his rookie season. Adding to the Australian’s growing list of accolades, Lawrence was the first-ever racer to win his debut Supercross race in the Premier Class back in January at the season opener from Angel Stadium of Anaheim in Anaheim, Calif. Lawrence also joined James Stewart in becoming only the second athlete in history to win every championship available to him in his young career (currently seven).
Jett Lawrence celebrating on the podium at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City after winning the Monster Energy AMA Supercross Championship. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
Like the 450SX Class Championship, both the Eastern and Western Regional 250SX Class Championships also came down to the final race of the season – the Dave Coombs Sr. East/West Showdown that featured both regions racing together. Red Bull KTM’s Tom Vialle won the Eastern Regional Championship over Monster Energy Yamaha Star Racing’s Haiden Deegan and Rockstar Energy Husqvarna’s RJ Hampshire won the Western Regional Championship over Monster Energy Pro Circuit Kawasaki’s Levi Kitchen after going into the final race tied in points.
The indoor Supercross stadium season started with two sellouts in the first three rounds – the Anaheim Opener at Angel Stadium of Anaheim, followed by Round 3 at Snapdragon Stadium in San Diego. The series then witnessed record attendance in four straight markets, starting with Round 5 at Ford Field in Detroit, Round 6 at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Ariz., Round 7 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, and Round 8 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Fla.
Round 7 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas was the highest attended round of the Supercross season with 67,319 impassioned fans coming to the race on Saturday, February 24.
67,319 fans attended Round 7 at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, setting a record for the market. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
Rounds 10 through 16 averaged more than 53K-plus spectators at each round while taking place in some of the largest NFL stadiums in the country – Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Lumen Field in Seattle, The Dome at America’s Center in St. Louis, Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., Nissan Stadium in Nashville, Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia, and Empower Field at Mile High in Denver. Each venue boasts a capacity of more than 65K for NFL games. Round 10 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis drew an impressive 62,254 that would rival a home game and featured a “who’s who” list of INDYCAR drivers in attendance.
62,254 plus fans attended Round 10 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Ind., the second largest crowd of the season. Photo Credit: Feld Motor Sports, Inc.
The season concluded with another sell out at Rice-Eccles Stadium in Salt Lake City. In total, more than 855,000 fans attended Supercross in 2024.
Several high-priority initiatives are seeing a return on investment through streaming and television analytics. The first of which was changing the start times for all Pacific Time Zone races so they would start within the primetime viewing window in the East and Central time zones. The total amount of live minutes watched on Peacock for the 2024 Supercross season was 720M, a nearly 30% increase versus 2023. Round 2 in San Francisco delivered the largest streaming audience of the season with a 69% increase in viewership for the same round the previous year. The most minutes watched for any one round happened three weeks later at Round 8 in Daytona Beach, with 40.7M minutes live and another 11.6M minutes via video on demand.
Supercross also delivered very solid linear viewership on NBC at Round 2 in San Francisco, averaging 696,000 total viewers, only to be surpassed by the largest linear audience of the season at Round 5 in Detroit with 704,000. When streaming numbers are added to the mix, each of these races delivered an audience well above the 1M mark.
7.2M viewers watched a Supercross telecast on NBC, USA Network, and CNBC in 2024, up 24% from the Supercross audience reach in 2023.
The final round of Supercross from Salt Lake City was watched live on both Peacock and USA Network, plus a one-hour encore presentation was broadcast on NBC the following day. Total reach of unduplicated viewers on USA Network and NBC was over 900,000 people over the course of Saturday and Sunday.
The international livestream made available through the SuperMotocross Video Pass continues to drive a global viewing audience and makes SuperMotocross one of the most accessible sports on the planet. Another primary initiative for the 2024 season was the creation of a Spanish-language broadcast anchored by veteran broadcaster Edgar Lopez and former racer Tommy Rios. The Spanish-language broadcast is being viewed in over 130 countries, with most viewership coming from Mexico, Spain, and Latin America. 10% of all subscribers of the SMX Video Pass are watching in Spanish. Interesting enough, the Spanish-language broadcast is also seeing strong viewership in both Australia and Canada. Overall global subscribers to the SMX Video Pass are up 27.4% from last year.
Additional broadcast enhancements that are creating a better viewing experience at home include the use of drones and leader light technology. Drones have proven to provide a unique viewing angle for SuperMotocross racing and the SMX League has been the driving force behind several NFL stadiums allowing the use of drones on their properties. Supercross was the “first to fly” at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, at Lumen Field in Seattle and at Lincoln Financial Field in Philadelphia. In all, Supercross was allowed to fly in 11 of the 16 venues on the 2024 schedule.
Leader lights also make it much easier for fans at home or in the stadium to identify who is leading the race, which can sometimes become confusing when the leaders start lapping slower racers. 3D-printed carbon fiber LED lights are fastened to each motorcycle and 10 timing loops throughout the track determine which racer is in the lead, which automatically turns their bike’s light green. If they are passed, their lights will shut off and the competitor’s will turn on.
As the SuperMotocross World Championship hits the midway point in the year, the Pro Motocross Championship, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, gets underway this Saturday, May 25, with the Honda Fox Raceway National in Pala, Calif. The 11-round outdoor season will travel to 10 different states, with visits to the hallowed grounds of Fox Raceway, Hangtown, Thunder Valley Motocross Park, High Point Raceway, RedBud MX, The Wick 338, Spring Creek MX Park, Washougal MX Park, Unadilla MX, Budds Creek Motocross Park, and Ironman Raceway.
2024 Pro Motocross Championship Schedule
Once the Pro Motocross season concludes, the combined points between Supercross and Pro Motocross will be tallied and the top 20 athletes in the world will be automatically seeded into the SuperMotocross World Championship Playoffs and Final.
SuperMotocross World Championship Playoff 1 will take place on Saturday, September 7, at zMAX Dragway in Concord, N.C., and Playoff 2 is set for Saturday, September 14, at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, followed by the SuperMotocross World Championship Final on Saturday, September 21, at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Las Vegas.
SuperMotocross World Championship Postseason Schedule
