Maybe all the time folks are spending talking to AI contributed to the 15-year-low in attendance at the Sturgis Rally and the decline in sales tax revenues:
The South Dakota Department of Revenue estimates tax collections from the 2026 Sturgis Motorcycle Rally at $1,404,408, an 11% decrease from last year’s total of $1,581,736. The lower collections reflect a slowdown in overall rally traffic, which contributed to reduced vendor activity and lower taxable sales. The total includes state sales tax, state tourism tax, municipal sales tax, and municipal gross receipts tax.
State sales tax remained the largest share of collections at $796,998, down from $901,513 in 2025. The 2026 rally also generated $275,598 in state tourism tax and $331,812 in municipal taxes. The decline in traffic was mirrored by a drop in vendor participation, with 822 temporary vendors operating during the rally, 30% fewer than in 2025 [South Dakota Department of Revenue, press release, 2026.09.01].
Sturgis city tax was also way down during this year’s Rally:
City Administrator Rhea Crane says August 2026 sales tax collections of $342,662 for the General Fund (1%) represented a decrease of 9.9% as compared to August 2025. Through the first eight months of 2026, General Fund sales tax collections total $1,588,931, for an increase of 0.7% over the same period in 2025 and 5.7% more than that in 2024.
Meanwhile, Municipal Gross Receipts Tax (MGRT/BBB) collection in August was 23.8% lower than August of 2025, with ‘year-to-date’ collections of $256,340 which are 2.8% below 2025 levels and 6.1% less than those in 2024 [Gary Matthews, “Sturgis August Sales Taxes Down from 2025,” Rapid City Post, 2026.09.22].
Maybe younger people turning to their phonebots for companionship contribute to lack of younger riders replacing the old Harley hands:
Think about the motorcycles you saw everywhere when I was younger.
Motorcycles represented freedom, rebellion and independence.
For generations of American riders, owning a Harley-Davidson, Indian or another big motorcycle was almost a rite of passage.
I’m not convinced motorcycles occupy the same place in the lives of younger Americans today.
There are certainly young riders. There are sport-bike riders, adventure riders and younger people discovering motorcycles every day.
But are enough of them replacing the aging Baby Boomers and Gen X riders who built events like Sturgis into what they became?
I don’t think they are.
And Sturgis isn’t the only place where I have seen it.
Over the years, I have watched motorcycle events shrink and some disappear altogether [Norman Gregory Fernandez, “Is the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally Slowly Dying? What I Saw from 2021 Through 2023,” Biker Law Blog, 2026.08.16].
At least young people aren’t chatting with their phonebots while riding motorcycles….