The Hayden MTV Show Approaches Reality

According to the US magazine RoadRacerX, MTV's reality TV show based around Nicky Hayden got one step closer to reality this week. The pilot episode has been finished, and is due to be screened to focus groups, before MTV executives finally make the go-no go decision on whether to put the series into production. If the series does receive the go-ahead, then it is unlikely to be aired until the end of this year.

The idea of a show on MTV has not been well received by hardcore racing fans, as they fear it will trivialize MotoGP, and reduce the richness and complexity of motorcycle racing down to a matter of personalities. Their biggest fear is that their beloved sport will be buried under a wave of teenyboppers only interested in Hayden's cheeky smile, rather than his racing skills.

On the other hand, an influx of young fans would be excellent news for the series, and for motorcycle racing in general. Even though MotoGP audiences have been steadily rising over the past few years, the difficulties several teams have had in obtaining sponsorship point to a perceived weakness in its popularity. A show on MTV would open up a new and highly valuable audience to MotoGP, and help attract sponsors targeting the youth market.

The only downside of the show is the timing: if the show goes ahead, and is aired at the end of the year, the season will already be over, and MotoGP's new-found fans will not be able to hook right in to a season of great racing. Hopefully, the show will run until late March 2008, and finish around the time the new season starts.

posted on Saturday, January 27, 2007 12:37 PM

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# re: The Hayden MTV Show Approaches Reality
jean-marc
Posted @ 1/27/2007 1:35 PM
this is a REALLY dumb move: very rare are the "known " people who came out of reality shows without having seriously damaged their image, self-esteem, respect from the real hard core fans and dedain from the industry.
MTV will take Nicky and reduce him to, at best, a stereotype. It will all happen in the edit room where they'll cut him cos the part is 3 mins 20 and there's a need for a commercial break at 3'25. They will take the final cut and show it to diverses exec who will not care ONE SECOND to whom the guy is and just make a mess of his life for the sake of getting more advertisers and more money pouring in. And there's nothing Nicky or his entourage will be able to do once the $-MTV machine is activated.

As for new sponsors for MotoGP team, well some into youth culture are already there. Look at Red Bull or other 'extreme" business: they didn't need an MTV campaign to get into sponsoring some teams.

I'm puzzled and quite sad.
# re: The Hayden MTV Show Approaches Reality
101N
Posted @ 1/27/2007 3:08 PM
I would agree with the previous assessment. Not all publicity is, in fact, good publicity and MTV isn't good publicity. Hayden will have little control over how his image is framed in that venue.

I hope Dorna limits MTV's access to events and other racers.
# re: The Hayden MTV Show Approaches Reality
Eye-p
Posted @ 1/27/2007 3:26 PM
Im conflicted about this. While I loathe MTV, I also recognize the potential upside to effectively leveraging their audience.

At the end of the day, MotoGP is a business; a business which in fact is currently under tremendous strain as costs skyrocket due to various factors. There is a real need for additional market share and revenue, in order to sustain the current format.

For MotoGP, in the US, any publicity is good publicity with the possible exception of perhaps a sordid sexual scandal involving riders...

Of course this will not be nearly as interesting as the live feed from MotoGP.com.
Of course this will focus on the personalities rather than the intricacies of our beloved sport.

So what?
# re: The Hayden MTV Show Approaches Reality
Rod
Posted @ 1/27/2007 11:29 PM
It doesn't matter what the media says about you, as long as they spell your name correctly.

Sure there are risks, but there are risks with anything, even risks with doing nothing.

Ozzy Osbourne's involvement in "reality" TV boosted his career, again.

Previous posters have expressed concern about having Nicky reduced to a stereotype, having no control over his image, etc.

But were this to happen, it will affect Nicky, and only Nicky, the upside is a new generation exposed to MotoGP.

That can only be a good thing, surely.
# re: The Hayden MTV Show Approaches Reality
Maxx Tach
Posted @ 1/28/2007 8:12 PM
There's good publicity and bad publicity, and this one will fall into the later in no amount of time at the hands of the MTV crew. You can almost see this spun as a Biker Boyz/Torque remake, USA vs the world. Once the contract is signed, the Hayden's will discover that they have to put out X amount of wheelies, Y amount of stoppies, and Z amount of burnouts. We alreaady have an example with SpeedTV and their Superbikes! show. Of all their episodes, only one was spent on the road racing scene, the rest was on hooligan riding. Remember, this is coming from a network dedicated to the promotion of motorsports racing, you can imagine what a teeny bopper network will do with it. Yeah, real good publicity for the sport of motorcycle road racing. :/ Fundamentally, if you want attract sponsors and crowds, give out as much TV time on the major sports networks as you can. That's what NASCAR did, and we all know the outcome of that plan.... $$$$, and lots of it! Compare the pidley coverage with SpeedTV to that of the 2-3 hour BBC sports or Eurosport coverage. Hmmmm, attendance of 100,000+ at any race in Europe, coincidence or not?

One can surmise the motivation behind this, and understandably so, and that's money what else. The Hayden's sacrificed alot to get to where they are today, fame is short lived so why not cash in some extras, or promote one's image in an effort to get the extras (commercial's, etc). I don't blame them, that's the way world works, and all due respect to them.

So, good for the sport, it'll probably won't make a difference outside the US, and its effect will be short lived in the US to have any affect.
# re: The Hayden MTV Show Approaches Reality
Syke - Deranged Few M/C
Posted @ 1/28/2007 11:01 PM
Re: Hooking Nicky Hayden up with MTV. Will somebody please find out who on Nicky's management team brokered this deal, take him out back and shoot him?

I have no doubt that Nicky Hayden will handle himself very well in front of the cameras. The guy's a class act, he's been brought up right, and he's got a head on his shoulders.

My worry is the editing, and of course MTV is going to go for the fast and cheap. Figure Nicky does six minutes of serious riding, and two minutes around some hottie. By the time MTV's done with it, we'll see twenty seconds of riding and one minutes fifty five of normal male hormones on alert.

To hell with MotoGP, I'm worried about what this could do to Nicky's reputation.
# re: The Hayden MTV Show Approaches Reality
kby
Posted @ 1/29/2007 5:19 AM
Pimp my MotoGP :(

But yeah I'm with Eye-p on this..
# re: The Hayden MTV Show Approaches Reality
wot
Posted @ 1/30/2007 9:15 AM
Frankly I'm surprised that everyone thinks this is a bad idea. I really hope that this thing goes through. I look forward to more coverage on the American winner of the pinnacle of motorcycle racing. Oh guess what, no one knows who the hell that is. Can we at least get motogp just one page on espn.com?

For those of you who like to be fans of something just about as obscure as table tennis, yeah I can see why you won't like it. Why not see a closer look at racing, an american racer, and the personalities involved? Gee, who knows maybe people may even understand what the hell it means when I say "I like motorcycle racing."

I love seeing coverage, analysis, and gossip on the tv about other sports I like. How would MTV not be great? Yeah, the show would be for entertainment, so nothing wrong with that. But you never know, other people might see that racers do have skill and personality and aren't just drones driving around a loop. I would argue some of nascar's success is based on personalities - actually I hope that it is. Honestly men in tight leathers riding bikes with graphics is not appealing to most people. A show that showed some of the racers and teammates would put a human touch on it, good or bad. You never know, there may someday be motorcycle racing fans in the US that don't actually ride motorcycles.
# re: The Hayden MTV Show Approaches Reality
Mindy
Posted @ 1/30/2007 7:39 PM
I read a quote from Nicky in the last couple of months saying that he decided to pass on the MTV reality show series. Now I can't remember where I read it - sorry. I assumed after I read that, MTV would still air the 2 GP races they filmed with Nicky winning the championship. Should be fun to see what was going on behind the scenes in the Repsol paddock at Estoril and Valencia!

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