The state of the sport
Long-time Spotter reader Nate Ryan (whose claim to fame is his day job at USA Today) wrote a smart piece yesterday on NASCAR's sputtering growth.
A lot of the reasons for declining attendance and slumping TV ratings make sense: new markets, lack of NBC on-air promotions, Dale Earnhardt's death, retirements of long-time drivers, the cost of attending races, the length of the season.
The picture might look gloomy, but it's not. Consider where NASCAR has come in the past, say, 20 years: from regional curiosity to national powerhouse. It's not the NFL -- nothing is -- but stock car racing has grown from something with the buzz of bowling and rodeo to the nation's fifth (or sixth, depending on where you think golf fits) professional sports league.
Here's the money quote, from David Carter, the executive director of the University of Southern California's Sports Business Institute:
"Anybody that would imagine NASCAR could continue its double-digit growth in perpetuity is really out to lunch. They've captivated, captured and sold to the hard-core fan and done a very good job of embracing the casual fan. They need to extend the brand and envelop more casual fans without alienating the hard-core base."
So go read the story and think about these questions: If you're Brian France, what do you do? Do you sit tight and hope that everything you have planned for 2007 (Car of Tomorrow, new ESPN/ABC deal) works out? What do you put after that? Do you change the Chase? The schedule? Is more growth even realistic, or is this it? Where do you go from here?
Comments (1)
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Jr. in your newspaper interview of him, indicated that the racing season as well as the length of some of the races is too long.
I agree. This season, more so than in the past, has found me watching the first and last 25% of each race (I snooze through the middle). I'm put off by the lousy coverage and the endless traipsing from one commercial to another (please give us simulcasting). It appears to have gotten worse this year.
The sport desperately needs a personality along the lines of #3. His shoes will never be filled, too much of an icon, but somebody needs to step forward and get some arrogance going.
JeffG needs to bump out of the way more drivers like hothead TonyS for the win, and vice versa. The sport just needs more drama like the Mayfield incident with Ray and his babe.
Posted on November 16, 2006 1:59 PM