Russian Hero Gets $200,000 Rockstar Deal. Yep, He Only Has to Pay $200,000. Wait, what?

I spotted a thread over on Vital MX not too long ago about some random hero in Europe who payed "200,000 euro" to be a part of the Rockstar team over there. I had heard before about people paying to ride, but that sum seemed horrendously high. Seriously, how much better can that program be than what you have available to you? I was really wondering how often it happens over in Europe, and apparently more riders pay to be on teams than not, according to my source who could be totally full of shit. But I have to wonder: does paying $200,000 (switching to US currency because America rules, fuck yeah) get you everything, done deal? Like travel expenses, race entries, and such? If it does, that might soften the blow to my psyche a little. I guess since the GP series travels internationally, those expenses have to be enough to tighten even the most liberal money man's sphincter.

It still all just seems pretty pathetic to me. Let's not forget that the GP series doesn't pay shit, the only money riders can make over there is pretty much in their salary. You thought it was bad when US riders were getting rides for free? At least they can make a little bit of cash if they do well. These GP riders have no chance at making that money back. It's such a long-shot investment. Like, almost 0% probability of coming out in the black. You have to figure that the logic behind paying that much for a ride is that the rider believes that he will get the results to earn a paid ride the following year. But let's be realistic, the riders that are good enough already get paid to ride. Name one rider who paid for a spot on a team and then did well enough to convince the big guys that he should be getting paid. Obviously, I'm a red-white-and-blue blooded American, so I don't know too much about the goings-on over at the FIM, but still, I'm pretty sure that the good riders are fairly easily recognizable. That's not to say that it doesn't happen here. MTF and GPF have built successful businesses on delusional parents who believe that their kid has what it takes to make it as a professional athlete, he just needs the right environment. Honestly, how many riders have come out of MTF and made it as a pro? It's probably less than 10. I'm not trying to put down Colleen, she spotted the opportunity and it's paying dividends like a motherfucker. You go girl.

Do the teams even care if the rider is good? They have to, there is no chance in hell that a sponsor would come on to a team that hires riders by the checks that they can write. Actually, that's probably why the teams need riders paying in the first place, because they can't close the deal with the big wigs. It's sad. There should be a relief mission to Europe to help teams in need. Get Susan Sarandon or whoever does those PSAs for the starving kids in Guadalajara. That's not the right place, I just felt like saying it. Guadalajara.

Here's some relief for you, Europe: If your team needs riders paying to be under the awning, it's just going to end up sucking anyways. Just forget the dream, and open up a 7-Eleven (they're big over there, apparently). And to the riders who are actually spending that kind of money: Dude, just race on the weekends at local races. Not many local races for you? Move to England, they have a whole professional series and that country is the size of a medium-to-large boulder. You have $200,000, use it sensibly. Play the stock market. If you already have the money, it's really not that hard to turn it into more money, Sven.