I just saw a local commercial for a motocross event that will be held in an indoor arena. This is your typical concert/basketball/hockey venue. It also apparently can handle the deposition and removal of vast amounts of dirt to race motorcycles on.
So how do they get all that dirt in there, and how do they get it out? I imagine it’s not quite as much dirt as it looks like, because I presume the hills and ramps are more of a dirt-covered shell than a solid pile of soil.
But even with such material saving tricks, there’s still an enormous amount of earth to move around. Do they really haul it in and out? Or do they hide it under the floor for special occasions? It just seems like an overwhelming amount of work to prepare the arena and clean up afterwards.
Cleanup is the real mystery…I can’t even imagine getting all the dirt out of the corners.
Many many many dump truck loads of dirt. For an event at the Tacoma Dome about 10 years ago, the announcer stated that over 250 dump truck loads of dirt were brought in for the event. A few years ago Bristol Motor Speedway brought in over 2000 dump truck loads of dirt to convert the track from paved to dirt.
I once saw a little TV feature about the process of transforming a basketball/hockey arena into a dirt racetrack. There’s a firm that travels with the race events. After the locals take up and store the ball court, the dirt mongers quickly go to work. They showed a time-lapse view of the load-in, including the big dirt hill up and down the stands at one end. After the race, the earth movers go to work again, often on a deadline of a game or concert the next night.
Dirt is a common commodity. It’s common as dirt, as the saying goes, so they don’t save it. It’s sold, dirt cheap, locally. Then they pack up the machinery and head to the next town on the tour.
“What do you do for a living, Daddy?”
" I make tracks, dear. "
For the record: a game in Philly was once delayed because the crew got behind from a Circus which was behind because of a motocross event.
The arena’s customer is the motocross organizor, or rodeo league. When they sit down, they negotiate: Yes, Mr. Wachovia center rep, we’ll hold our rodeo here, can you provide x tons of earth? The arena folks do the math and figure that even hauling in all the dirt and paying labor they make money so they do it. Then they and the organizer work to get it done, using their connections and experience. They want the arena booked, so they find a way.
In many cases, hauling in dirt is far easier than setting up for some techno heavy concert.
