The original MGP always drew in a good few people, with the added attraction of the Manx 2 day trial which if I recall correctly was over the middle weekend but seems to have either moved or disappeared of late.

When the DED as they were known at the time came along and got involved in the MGP they did so with the supposed aim of promoting and growing the event, sadly they then tried to effectively close it down and use the prime part of the MGP slot for the classic TT, you may remember the huge rumpus at the time!!

I think the classic TT is ok, and it appears to bring a few more people over, but at what cost? there is no prize money, so a lot of money must be getting paid in appearance fees and team costs, we cannot however find out how much money is being put in, so even of we could count the extra visitors we can't work out how much actual profit is gained, I would guess there is actually a fairly hefty net loss.

It is also very noticeable that once the 'Classic' portion of the event is completed, those in charge walk away from the rest of the event, it's very evident in the paddock, 'the show is over, nothing to see here now, move along' seems to be the message, on the Tuesday of race week for example I looked at the Classic TT Twitter feed which had been updated minute by minute up until then, to check if the car had left to open the roads, the last post was from the day before saying something like 'Well that's it until next year, safe journey home' now forgive me but how is that helping to run and promote the so called festival as a whole?

There is a lot that can be done to promote the whole event, but my observations and that of a lot of others are that the MGP is being allowed to wither and die, so that the prime portion of the slot which it currently occupies can then be used for a shortened Classic TT/Jurby Festival over 7 days, and as a long time supporter of the MGP that saddens me.