NASCAR TV Ratings Declining

[Ron61]

Wayne,

If they would only get some of those girls. At least that might force the talking heads in the booth that want to hog all the air time to stay out of the way for a little bit. And throw that darn yellow flag away. They say there are major changes coming next year. I hope the drivers can remember the script and who is supposed to win and who is supposed to wreck who.

Ron

[Silverback51]

Originally Posted by Ron61

Wayne,

If they would only get some of those girls. At least that might force the talking heads in the booth that want to hog all the air time to stay out of the way for a little bit. And throw that darn yellow flag away. They say there are major changes coming next year. I hope the drivers can remember the script and who is supposed to win and who is supposed to wreck who.

Ron

That way they can announce who is going to win the championship at the first race in Daytona.

[October-1881]

I used to be a huge race fan. First went to Daytona in '64. My uncle took me to my first race back in 1956. Now that was racing!!!! This stuff is crap. I have a 50" HDTV and every once in a while I'll turn NASCAR on expecting to see some racing. It's WWF at best.

[Ron61]

Yes, I hate to say it but I am afraid that unless they do something to put racing back into NASCAR, they are going to start a steady decline. I like to go back and watch the old races from the 60s and 70s. I hope they can get someone in there that has enough sense to turn things around, but right now I just can't see this changing the rules and cars every other race doing much. I used to never miss a race unless a road race was on and then I would tape the NASCAR race. But now I hardly ever watch more than a few minutes of a race. I do enjoy the short tracks when they will show the racing instead of all the other crap.

Ron

[Ron61]

Yes, I hate to say it but I am afraid that unless they do something to put racing back into NASCAR, they are going to start a steady decline. I like to go back and watch the old races from the 60s and 70s. I hope they can get someone in there that has enough sense to turn things around, but right now I just can't see this changing the rules and cars every other race doing much. I used to never miss a race unless a road race was on and then I would tape the NASCAR race. But now I hardly ever watch more than a few minutes of a race. I do enjoy the short tracks when they will show the racing instead of all the other crap.

Ron

[Don]

Remember that Gibbs started with Pontiacs and then they all vanished.

Pontiac leaving NASCAR was a GM Finance/Marketing decision based upon GM's declining resources/profits to fund sponsorships. Had it been back to GM's peaks as in the 50s, 60s. etc, Pontiac might still be active

Now that none of the cars are even close to any name brand, I don't think they should be called Chevy, Ford, & etc. Just call them the NASCAR Car and forget it.

If the cars were nameless, factory support to the Teams would be of no value to the auto manufacturers

More sponsors are leaving all the time. Bush has sponsored that series since it begin and he is pulling out.

Busch was a sponsor for 25 years + or -, not bad when other types of sponsorships in other sports last only a few years

Next year Nationwide Insurance will sponsor the Bush series and they will most likely drop it in a year or so.

I thought the contract was for either 5 or 8 years ?

The Nextel Cup will be the Sprint Cup.

The Cup series name change was a result of the merger of the two companies, with the Nextel name as a brand to disappear

There is no doubt that NASCAR has it's challenges to regain TV viewers and fill the stadium for every race. As compared to other racing series, it still over the years has been the most successful. Just think of the economic impact along with the jobs and careers created outside of the NASCAR organization for all the support businesses.

The term " stock car " can also be viewed as a carryover from days past and has become a generic reference. In the same way as at Indy, the garage area is still referred to as " Gasoline Alley " and the final adjustments are done on " Carburetor Day "

Even DW has mentioned the need to stabilize the Cup series. But, having only two drivers from the same Team at the end in contention for the Cup title and also winning the majority of the races did not help. Will be interesting as to what Toyota does in 2008 with the Joe Gibbs drivers and hopefully the other Teams will be stronger, i.e. better racing

[Wayne Maybury]

You want better racing? Get rid of 90% of the unnecessary %^$#@&* caution laps. If there is a major crash, bring out the red flag, when it is cleaned up, go right back to green. Make 'um race, not parade around. Of course it is a show now and NASCAR loves it's yellow flag caution laps when everyone can come in for new tires and a tank of gas with no chance of going a lap down.

Wayne

[shlbygt]

Originally Posted by Rick Parker

The rest of the show is to me a bunch of Hype, much like Sensationalized Jounalism or newscasting, for increased ratings and viewership. I'd rather watch the old Can Am Clips on You Tube!

I think TV networks have oversaturated the race viewer with hours of endless babble, useless drivel and contrived hype.
Practice, Qualifying, Pre-Race, Post Race, Post Race Analysis, Nightly Talk Shows, Weekly Talk Shows, etc, just show the darn race and shut up.

I miss the "old" days when ESPN broadcast most of the races. The typical telecast would start at 1:00 with a quick rundown of the starting grid and where the top driver's qualified. Usually the cars were already on the track for the warm up laps. A quick commercial break and we were back for the green flag at ~1:10. Once the race was over there was sometimes a Winner’s Circle interview but more often than not they cut to the next program. Wow, a race telecast that focused on racing, what a concept.
There was no fluff, no touching family background story, and no stories on how the driver took his wife’s favorite dog to the vet yesterday because it was sick.
I really don’t want to see or hear another has-been driver, crew chief, or big chested bimbo explain understeer or oversteer for the newbie to the sport while standing in front of a cut-away car.

People also may not be watching because the races don’t offer much variety. Three of the last six races were on very similar tracks, Charlotte, Atlanta and Texas. Yeah, let’s watch the same race over and over. At the same time there are tracks like North Wilkesboro (which has an elevation change between the turns), Darlington (with its egg shape) and Rockingham sitting vacant. Aren’t Chicagoland, Kansas, Las Vegas and Homestead the same track in different locations?
Just think if the road racing folks put copies of Laguna Seca, Road America or Watkins Glen everywhere, do you think people would still enjoy watching a race at a signature track when the next track looks the same but in a different city?

I can’t wait to watch the Australian V8 SuperCar broadcasts on Speed in a couple of weeks. Stock chassis cars with V8s on road courses. Did we used to have a popular series like that???

[tcrist]

I agree with a lot of what everybody has said about the phantom cautions and about that it is getting more sensationalized than TV wrestling. I have been a racing fan for many years and even this year if I missed a race I felt like "oh well". I wouldn't have done that in the past.

shlbygt, I agree that there should be a different types of tracks for the "Race for The Chase" (What a joke that is). Charlotte, Atlanta & Texas look alot alike but they are different as far as setup. They all have different banking and corner radius from each other. Yes the same guys are always up front at those tracks and it could be because the tracks are similar or it could be because the guys that are up front have the better cars. The better cars is because of the money that the owners have and the sponsers. I have to agree with you and the others. It is getting real boring watching "follow the leader" and it is only going to get worse next year. I think that I will just go to my local little 1/2 mile track and watch better racing with drivers that no one knows about except us local people.

Terry

[Don]

From USA Today:

France says NASCAR is 'not for sale'


By Nate Ryan, USA TODAY
HOMESTEAD, Fla. — In a 25-minute state-of-the-sport address before Sunday's Ford 400 at Homestead-Miami Speedway, NASCAR Chairman Brian France denied he or his family would be ceding control of the sanctioning body.
"I'm committed to my job for the foreseeable future, and that's years, not months," said France, who attributed recent Internet reports to "people (who) have a lot of time on their hands."

"The family has absolutely no interest in selling NASCAR or International Speedway (Corp.). We'll put that rumor right to bed. I'm committed, and we're committed for the long run."

A SPEEDTV.com story posted last month speculated that Vice Chairman Jim France might be taking over for his nephew as NASCAR czar. Jim France was named chairman of ISC earlier this season after the June 4 death of his older brother, Bill France Jr., the longtime chairman of NASCAR and ISC.

Multiple reports surfaced last week that a European private equity firm was interested in buying NASCAR. France said the sanctioning body receives such inquiries all the time.

"We do not take meetings" with private equity companies, France said. "We're just not for sale. That comes a little bit from, you know, we lost my father. Natural questions come out. But you just got to hear it from me as directly as you can: NASCAR is not for sale."

France deemed 2007 as a "very, very good year" and hailed new initiatives such as the Car of Tomorrow and rewarding more points for wins. "I think drivers are starting to understand the emphasis on winning," France said.

Among other topics addressed by the 45-year-old who has been at NASCAR's helm since September 2003:

•France said declining TV ratings (down 9% this year) weren't a sign that longtime fans were deserting the sport.

"They are getting their NASCAR fix and information differently than they did before," he said. "There's (a) lot of different ways to watch, read or pick up video clips of what is happening. That obviously has some impact on your ratings. Everyone is seeing a ratings erosion, and I'm not just talking about sports, but across the board, in prime time and 'American Idol' and lots of big franchises."

France said NASCAR remains a "very, very strong sport with a strong fan base," pointing out that attendance was up the past two weeks at Texas Motor Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway.

"We've had more commercial interest in the sport than ever," he said. "We're oversold, if you listen to the teams in some respects, how many quality sponsors are here. A lot of them don't get on the racetrack, and that's regrettable. It shows you how much interest is here."

•No changes are planned for the Chase for the Sprint Cup in 2008, but qualifying procedures would get a "good review" in the offseason.

"We're going to see if we can make it (a) little more exciting, a little more relevant to the weekend," he said.

•Responding to a question about whether the Chase lacked drama this year, France said "if someone comes up and dominates, that's what you're going to have.

"Our preferred outcome is if all 12 guys are within 20 points," he said. "If you're (NFL Commissioner) Roger Goodell you want a 34-31, high-scoring Super Bowl between your two best teams with lots of drama. That's what everybody wants. But we're a sport, and when somebody puts a dominating performance forward like Jimmie Johnson is … he is having a run that in the modern era is maybe unmatched. That's the kind of thing that deserves the focus, not the format.

"That's sports. … Jimmie Johnson and his whole team are having a fabulous year. He's better than everybody else. If somebody's better, we're not going to put a system out to give someone an advantage who's not better."

[Ron61]

I don't know what changes the Idiot Board is going to make, but if they follow the normal pattern you will see less racing and more B.S. about how great NASCAR is next year. I wish they would get rid of the top 35 in points rule and let the fastest 43 cars race and if one of their stars has a problem and doesn't make a race, then so be it. And I do not like the Lucky Dog Rule at all. If a car goes a lap down then let them stay there unless they can make it up racing. But that is hard to do as half of most races are ran behind the pace car. I used to look forward to each race and now I am not even interested in the Daytona 500 next year. I will watch the Sebring race as I like that type racing more and always have. I do watch the old races from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, as they were real races. Not to take away from what Jeff Gordon and Jimmy Johnson has accomplished, but it helps to have NASCAR on your side. I remember one race where the leader was about to lap Gordon 4 different times and every time just as he would start to pass NASCAR would suddenly have a debree caution. Same if one them got caught in the pits and went a lap down. As soon as they got in place for the Lucky Dog Pass, here came the debree caution for debree that was never seen, nor did they send anyone out onto the track at all.

Edited to correct a mispelled word.

Ron

[stengun]

Howdy,

Ron61, I have to agree with 100% except I do see the point of the Lucky Dog, except when Nascar uses it to help a certain driver like you posted. For satey reason, Nascar stopped the racing back to the line, so they put in the Lucky Dog rule. Use it, don't abuse it.

Paul

[tcrist]

I think the lucky dog rule should be that the 1st car that is behind the leader that is not on the lead lap should get it. Not the first car 1 lap down. The old way was anyone that was close could get a lap back "IF" the leader wanted to slow down and let them.

Terry

[Ron61]

Paul,

I'm agree with you completely. It just seems the Lucky Dog rule has been used to much to benefit some people. And then they will run a bunch of laps under caution, which is now becoming more and more the major part of the race. I really believe the running half the race under caution and showing so little of the actual racing is hurting NASCAR more than they realize. I did like the stopping of the racing back to try and get a lap back as that was creating a lot of danger. Now if they would just do away with some of their other ridiculous rules and show the racing when they are not at commercial and such stuff as Jeff Hammon water skiing at Daytona and all the other crap, they may regain some of their popularity. And I wish they would just call the car they designed the NASCAR car and forget about trying to pass them off as Fords, Chevy, & etc. I saw a report on the NASCAR site that France is going to look into their big drop in ratings and see what can be done to bring them back up.

Ron

[fsstnotch]

NASCAR has ruined NASCAR! They've taken all the fun out of it period! Yes there has to be rules and yes they have to be enforced. But putting airplane spoilers on the car because Fast and the furious was popular 6 years ago isn't going to cut it! Sending someone to the back for being a little "rough" doesn't cut it for me either! If you are in front of me, I'm clearly faster, and I give you a little nudge to get out of my way.. that should be fine! the point of racing is being aggressive! How can you win without it? Then we get on to the "lucky dog" I kinda liked the concept when it first started but since I've just lost total faith in it. I've seen restrictor plate races where a guy was maybe 2 or 3 laps down and ended up with a top 5 because the lucky dog put him there. There's no such thing as the first guy losing! And back to the fun being taken away, I only watch the restrictor plate races anymore. At least in those races the cars actually appear to be racing the whole time and not 3 or 4 cars lapping the entire field. Who wants to watch that?

[Mumblerone]

Too much advertising...