Are Falling TV Ratings A Sign Of Bigger Problems In NASCAR?
Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR
It’s no secret: we all know the economy sucks right now – and probably will continue to do so for a long while still to come.
That’s why it’s not hard to understand why at-track attendance at NASCAR races is down appreciably. From Fontana to Atlanta, we’ve seen tens of thousands of grandstand seats go unsold and unoccupied.
But when an average ticket for a Sprint Cup race is oftentimes north of $50 per, it’s understandable if cash-strapped folks have tightened their spending habits – and not going to NASCAR races is part of that.
No surprise there.
But you would think that if fans can’t afford to go to races in person, they’d do the next best thing and watch those same races on television.
FREE television, for the most part, if you’re watching on either Fox during the first part of the season, or ABC during the final 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup.
And with that free TV viewing comes one hell of a price tag: fans don’t have to worry about being stuck in traffic for hours coming and going to/from the track, don’t have to wait 50-deep in lines to go to the bathroom, don’t have to worry about drunk and obnoxious fans and especially don’t have to pay exorbitant concession stand prices.
Logic would tell you die-hard NASCAR fans would be flocking to their family rooms in droves to watch Saturday night or Sunday afternoon racing.
But they’re not. Ratings and viewership are both down more than 11 percent from last year and down roughly 25 percent over the last few years.
Now, in a VERY uncharacteristic move, NASCAR is “looking into” why its TV ratings have fallen so much so far, and threaten to continue falling.
Could NASCAR actually be starting to panic, that much of its cash cow gravy train is beginning to dry up?
I mean, other than injecting the chance for a viewer to win a million bucks if they tune in to this week’s race du jour, I really don’t see how NASCAR can change its ratings problem.
If anything, fan viewership habits and interest have to change – and they already have if they’re not watching race telecasts any more.
There’s no magic bullet or solution that is going to convince fans to start watching races again.
Frankly, there’s really nothing for NASCAR officials to “look into.”
Instead, for guys like Brian France and Mike Helton, crying might be a bit more appropriate right now.
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