When I was at Fitchburg I noticed something which I thought was significant. I could be wrong about this (since I am often wrong about stuff) but it seemed to me that if you hold a criterium in a downtown location that is lined with restaurants, bars and other businesses, those places would expect to have a good day no?

No.

We had to walk the entire length of the crit course just to find one food establishment that was even open. A lot of them were either closed or out of business. Once entering said establishment we expected to find the place packed. Nope. Plenty of room in there. Very few spectators were watching the crits.

Now, granted, this was in the morning, before the "Pro" races, but it was a major national holiday and few people had work that day. Were they going to come out in droves one hour later just to see the professionals race an event which, to the casual observer, would look almost identical to the many races that just happened? Where would they eat, with all of the establishments sporting locked doors to the public?

There was a communication from the race promoter several weeks before the event indicating that the "Longsjo was in trouble". Financial woes, lack of volunteers, etc.

I fully understand why.

And now, I just heard that the inaugural Tour De New York has been cancelled on the same year that it managed to make it onto the USAC Pro Tour calendar. The Tour of Missouri has also gone belly-up.

So I propose a thread to discuss this phenomenon. What other races are in trouble? Are any of them doing really well? Is it lack of sponsorship interest? Too much negative publicity about cycling? The economy at large? American brains being unable to process anything but stick-ball and car racing? Lycra?

This affects amateurs as well, with Fitchburg being a major example, and the Tour de New York also had amateur events planned.