Ahead of tomorrow night's SuperMotocross finale in Los Angeles, Feld and MX Sports dropped the 17-round Supercross schedule and 11-round Motocross schedule for 2024. No changes for Outdoors outside of some rounds getting flipped, but just about a third of the Supercross calendar features venues that are either returning or brand new to the sport. One of which was equally a shocker but also not too surprising. Let's dive in.
Back Like We Never Left
Wasn't exactly a secret that crowd turnouts for Supercross in the Bay Area, specifically in the few years they went to Levi's Stadium, weren't that impressive. With that in mind, NorCal's lone Supercross round of the year is still set right after Anaheim 1, but in Oracle Park in San Francisco, home of the Giants, for the first time since 2010. That year, Ryan Villopoto and Trey Canard took home the two Main Event wins, just in case you wanted to feel old.
Next up is one of the two venues on the every-other-year rotation, the Dome at America's Center in St. Louis. Riders have long called this one of their favorite stops on the schedule due to the dirt quality in the area, so you have to imagine people are happy about this. Also on the every other year cycle is Gillette Stadium, which is directly tied to MetLife Stadium to give the northeast a guaranteed round every year. Unless...
Welcome to the Show
This year, the northeast is actually getting two rounds of Supercross, with Philadelphia joining Foxborugh, and will serve as the final standalone round of the 250 East Series. This is only the second time ever that Philly has hosted Supercross, and believe it or not, the last time was not at the old Vet, but at JFK Stadium in 1980. Feld has run Monster Jam events there for the last couple of years, so this felt like it was happening sooner or later.
Now, here's the interesting addition to the schedule. Atlanta will not have a Supercross round for the first time since 1988, and just the fourth time since 1977, as that date effectively becomes Birmingham, Alabama's. If you're wondering what venue is in Birmingham, that would be Protective Stadium, which only opened a couple of years ago. It seats just north of 40,000 people for football, hosts University of Alabama-Birmingham games, and serves as a home for multiple USFL teams (Birmingham Stallions and the New Orleans Breakers). Feld also has Monster Jam booked in Birmingham in 2024, which is why this wasn't a complete shock, but I'm very interested to see what the turnout is like. Alabama has only ever hosted one round of Supercross before this, a round at Talladega in 1984.
SuperMotocross Venues?
It was stated in the release video that the SMX rounds would be revealed on January 5, which would likely mean during the Anaheim 1 press conference. We do know this, however: Los Angeles Coliseum will not be on that list of three venues, as reported by Michael Lindsay some time ago. Could be the case that USC starts the year with a multi-game homestand (three home games in four weeks, perhaps) because they have one home get set for September 7. And this goes without saying, they're priority one.
This part is a bit more backseat booking if you will. But as far as the structure this year of a dragway, speedway, and stadium, here's what I would want to see if I had control (within reason, of course). If Charlotte is out of the question, the Las Vegas Motor Speedway "Strip" makes all the sense in the world. It's been way too long since Vegas has gotten a race of any kind, and you have a lot of room to play with, with the facility being four lanes.
The speedway pick would be Bristol Motor Speedway for a ton of reasons. You have plenty of room to play around with, much like with the LVMS dragstrip. It's one of the most iconic venues in American Motorsports, and the track is owned by SMI, which also owns Atlanta Motor Speedway. Feld, in theory, has their in if they want to pull this off.
Finding a stadium venue as football season gets into full swing and baseball is wrapping up the regular season is tough, but there are some options, assuming Feld/MXSports can get a deal done quickly enough. Might not be the most interesting option, but what about Anaheim? On what would assumingly be the Championship weekend next year, the Angles will have just started an eight-day road trip. Not saying that would be my top option, but it certainly isn't the worst.
Main Image via Feld