Should Chase Races be on Saturdays?
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Even with the likelihood of potentially having have the best edition of the Chase for the Sprint Cup since it’s inaugural year in 2004, that didn’t seem to do much good when it came to wooing TV viewers this past weekend, it would seem.
According to the overnight ratings that came out following Sunday’s Chase opener at New Hampshire, nearly 22 percent fewer viewers watched the first of the 10-race playoff on television this year as compared to last year’s Chase opener.
Nearly 22 percent. Let that sink in for a second.
Is it any coincidence that Week One of the Chase went head-to-head against Week Two of the NFL regular season?
As comedian Bill Engvall says in his one of his trademark lines that oftentimes shows just how dumb some people can be, “There’s your sign.”
Indeed, for as much as it would like to compete head-to-head with the NFL, the simple fact is that NASCAR just can’t.
Why even bother, I say?
Even with its marquee event taking center stage, the harsh reality is the Chase is taking a back seat to a piece of pigskin – and will continue to take a back seat.
I want to see the Chase succeed and prosper, particularly with the field for this year’s edition. If you can’t tell by now, I’m really pumped about this year’s Chase and want to see it be the best in its brief six-year history.
But it’s pretty clear that if this trend of significant viewership dropoff continues for the next nine weeks – and there’s no reason to think it won’t – NASCAR may want to give serious consideration to moving the starting times of most Chase races next season.
Instead of going head-to-head with the NFL on Sunday afternoons, or straight-up vs. college football (just as bad as the NFL) on Saturday afternoons, why doesn’t NASCAR simply run Chase events on Saturday nights?
Think about the promotional value that would come with it: getting back to the sport’s roots with Saturday night racing, just like the old days and when most of today’s Cup crowd first made its mark on asphalt, pavement and dirt.
Yes, doing so would require the installation of lights at Loudon, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville – or at least the importing of temporary lighting – but wouldn’t the capital investment necessary go a long way towards bringing people back in front of their TVs on Saturday nights, rather than picking up a video from Blockbuster or Hollywood Video?
NASCAR could own the Saturday night timeslot if promoted right. Okay, you say, what about the accompanying Nationwide Series races that typically run on Saturdays?
Well, is there ANY reason in the world why Sprint Cup couldn’t run on Saturday night and the Nationwide Series run on Sunday morning or early afternoon? Show me where it’s written that a Cup race can’t precede the undercard Nationwide Series race.
Sure, we could also have Sunday night racing, but that becomes a bit too unwieldy for fans that travel long distances to races and might have to be at work bright and early Monday morning, not to mention going up against late Sunday afternoon/evening NFL games, as well.
Since the NFL appears to have no intention of playing on Saturday nights – shhh, don’t give Roger Goodell any ideas – NASCAR would have an exclusive franchise for the taking.
Or, at the very least, start the races late Saturday afternoon, when most college games have long ended. Maybe a 5 pm ET starting time would work. Otherwise, I’m game to start a Saturday night race at 7 pm ET.
It’s just a thought. What do you think?
Posted by Jerry Bonkowski on 09/23 at 10:54 PM
