The MotoGP World Championship is a fantastic show. Not only are the speeds and sounds awe inspiring in person, it make a perfect television product. It is made up of three races per weekend (125cc, 250cc and the “MotoGP” premiere class). Each run in a 45 minutes race allowing them to be nicely fitted into a one-hour show with a quick lead-in and some of the post race interviews.

In addition to its tidy timing, the racing is just plain great. Every class produces close racing with drafting, out-braking and multiple lead changes. Even the MotoGP class has become closer, many say as a result of electronic aids making the bikes easier to ride than their volatile 500cc two-stroke ancestors. If multi-rider battles for the lead and down-to-the-last-round championships are the result of dumbing down the riding of the bikes, dumb ‘em down more. The racing’s great.

This shows and MotoGP is firmly the number three televised sport in the world behind World Cup Soccer and Formula One auto racing. Approximately 320 million people watch each MotoGP race. Compare that to a good NASCAR event’s 10 million.

And F-1 is watching their mirrors. MotoGP ratings have surpassed the motorsports television king in some countries, even in Italy—the home of Ferrari. No doubt the close racing and multiple lead changes are influencing this. With this good racing, an easily digestible timeslot and engaging personalities like Valentino Rossi, MotoGP could become the biggest regularly-run (not every four years like the World Cup) sport in the world.

…But never the biggest in the U.S. Yes it can grow. We’ve got Americans winning races and championships. Motorcycle sales are booming in this country. We’ve got a round of the series here. The audience can only get bigger.

Put a non-motorcycle-racing viewer in front of a MotoGP race. Give them a little background: Americans, high-stakes, worldwide popularity of the sport, 200mph+, etc. Invite them over for a second round. Watch what happens. They begin seek it out on their own. By the end of the season they are biting their nails hoping Nicky Hayden gets the win.

If we can get MotoGP on network (ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX) new fans like this will come. They really need a mentor—someone to give them an introduction and explanation. But put it on a channel that many homes just have on all day, and MotoGP will win over some more fans.

Get Nicky back out making the rounds. Jordan Miller from Red Bull and Nicky Hayden’s manager, Phil Baker do an incredible job putting him in front of mainstream media and talk shows in and around the Red Bull U.S. Grand Prix. We need a Nicky clone so that can be done year round. He’s charming and charismatic. He’s a better speaker and personality than 90% of the sports figures in the U.S. I know a number of women who fell in love with him after his Today Show piece, and subsequently fell in love with MotoGP.

If people won’t pay $75 to come see what this MotoGP thing is all about, take it to them. Get a year-old MotoGP bike. Start it up in a promotion’s controlled downtown setting. Run it up and down the street a couple of times doing wheelies. People take notice of anything that puts out 125db. Hook them, and get them to come out to the track or tune in on the TV next weekend.

All these things will boost MotoGP’s audience in America. But no matter how much good TV, American’s or money you throw at this, it will never surpass our sports stick-and-ball staples. Why? It is too foreign.

American’s don’t like to follow things seriously that happen on a regular basis outside of this country. There are no sports that make regular visits outside of the U.S. that gain the following of our beloved Football, Baseball and Basketball.

Tennis is about the only sport hanging in there with the general American fans, even though there are only a couple of major U.S. appearances. But that has seen better days of our nation’s eyes on Wimbledon or the French Open.

MotoGP can make huge audience gains here. The quarter-million viewers per round can triple or even quadruple with a little work. But don’t be offended if it doesn’t become a household sport. Even if the UFC traveled to Turkey or Qatar, American’s would probably lose interest in that too. OK, we’ll maybe not if Liddell is fighting.

So take a friend and put he or she in front of a race this season. Let’s try to bring MotoGP up at least as big as we can here in the U.S.

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