STURGIS — The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally board Monday submitted a proposal to the town of Sturgis that could determine the fate of the summertime rally.
The Sturgis Board of Aldermen will review the proposal at its regularly scheduled meeting tonight.
Rally Board President Donny Hanson wouldn’t disclose the terms of the proposal but said it’s fair for both sides.
“All we did was come up with how we could do the rally and benefit both the rally and the town and not lose money,” Hanson said. “We put together a proposal in that respect.”
Red Hills Motorcycle Rally, formerly the Sturgis South Motorcycle Rally, was canceled in early August after a $40,000 budget shortfall and loss of $28,000 from the 2010 rally. Dwindling attendance, high gas prices and a poor economy have hurt, too.
The rally board’s contract with the city was $17,500 in 2010. After deep losses that year, the board offered to pay $7,500 this year, which the Sturgis Board of Aldermen rejected 3-1.
In past events, the rally has made its money from the sale of all-access arm bands at $35 per band. Hanson said the rally board will likely drop the price of arm bands if a rally is held this summer.
“If the town accepts, there’s a 99-percent chance we will hold the rally based off arm band sales,” Hanson said. “And the reason I say that is because the budget we have looked at, we feel like we can sell 2,500-3,000 arm bands with lowering the price and lowering the budget. The entertainment will not be the caliber (it usually is), but we’ve set up the budget where we can do it and still break even.”
Hanson said the six-member rally board met during the last week in January and reached a majority vote to pursue a rally in 2012.
“There was some pessimism (about pursuing a 2012 rally),” Hanson said. “We had heard some rumors that the town was not going to accept any kind of offer like we had last year. We don’t know how true that is. What we did, we discussed the financial facts from our past expenses and info from the town. We’re optimistic.”
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