Heartland Media & Events LLC has been retained by Youthstream, the promotions company that holds global marketing and broadcast
rights to several motorcycling world championships, to consult on the development and future direction of those championships
and provide media relations services in the United States.
Under a multi-year agreement with the Geneva-based Federation Internationale de Motocyclisme (FIM) ‰ÛÒ the world governing body for
motorcycle sport -- Youthstream promotes global championships including the Motocross of Nations and the World Individual
Motocross and Supermoto Championships.
Heartland Media and Events will help to build broader awareness of those FIM championships in the US market, which is the world's
largest in terms of motocross bike sales and rider participation.
The American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), FIM's exclusive US affiliate, conducts the highly successful AMA Motocross
Championship Presented by FMF and the THQ AMA Supercross Series through its AMA Pro Racing subsidiary; and more than 10,000 riders
participate each year in AMA Sports' Air Nautiques National Amateur Motocross Championship program.
"We hope that the agreement we have made with Heartland Media and Events will be an important step in the relationship between
the FIM Championships and motocross in the United States," said Youthstream President Giuseppe Luongo. "Our goal is to work with
the AMA and the US industry to build relationships and programs that will benefit all involved."
Heartland Media and Events President Bill Amick was on staff at the AMA for 30 years before launching his company in 2004. He has
been a member of the FIM Motocross Commission since 1986 and is the author of Motocross America, a book tracing the history of
motocross in the United States which will be published this summer.
"I'm extremely happy to work together with Bill Amick in this effort," Luongo added. He has enormous experience and will surely be
the right person to better link the FIM World Motocross Championships with motocross in the United States."
FIM Motocross Commission President Wolfgang Srb endorsed the initiative to raise the profile of the FIM's championships in the
United States and establish closer relations with the AMA racing community.
"I'm excited about this cooperative effort of Youthstream and Heartland Media and Events to bring FIM Motocross and Supermoto
closer to the United States," Srb commented. "Giuseppe Luongo and Bill Amick know the sport very well and will use their experience
and assets for programs that I think fans in America and throughout the world will enjoy."
Since the first-ever US Grand Prix of Motocross in 1973, the FIM and AMA have cooperatively presented 45 grand prix motocross
events and the 1987 Motocross of Nations in the United States, but for a variety of reasons there have been no FIM World
Championship events in the US since 1999.
"There's a long and rich tradition of international motocross racing in America, but FIM and AMA motocross programs have grown
apart in recent years," Heartland President Bill Amick commented. "I'll seek to work with Youthstream, the FIM Motocross
Commission and the AMA in an effort to identify ways that the FIM's prestigious world championships and America's strong domestic
program can better complement each other."
One of the top priorities of Youthstream and the FIM Motocross Commission is to expand the global reach of the FIM's championships,
which historically have a heavy European focus. In the past two seasons Youthstream has successfully expanded the World Motocross
Championships to the Japanese and South African markets, and further expansion is anticipated over the next several years.
Under the agreement between Youthstream Action Events and Heartland Media & Events, Heartland will represent the FIM championships
in the US market through the 2007 competition season.
