NASCAR sees a decline in popularity - TV ratings & attendance are off

This is pretty funny - anyone who thinks Ricky Rudd's or even Terry
Labonte's retirement has affected Nascar's popularity has a jackbolt
loose.

Obveeus...

No kidding. These guys aren't 'stars' anymore and neither one of them was
particularly competitive near the end. When Terry officially retired two
weeks ago, there really wasn't much notice. A bigger reason for the decline
in ratings was likely the disappointment fans felt last year when the 2 most
popular drivers (DE Jr. and Gordon) weren't even good enough to make 'The
Chase'. This year, Tony Stewart has had an even bigger impact by showing
that the 'best driver' can be left out of 'The Chase'.

Next year is really the one that is crucial.
Toyota enters the Cup division.
The car of the future replaces the 'familiar look' the cars have had for

telenovels...

.

??? Why would a Toyota car look any different from the other stock
cars? Toyota trucks don't look any different than the other
manufacturers in the Truck series.

Obveeus...

All the cars will have a 'new look' for next year (at least in some of the
races next year) as NASCAR makes the old 'stock car' look obsolete in favor
of a 'more competitive', safer, and 'more appealing' design.

decades.
Mark Martin (more popular than Rudd or Labonte) leaves his longtime ride for
a backmarker part time ride.
'The Chase' will get another tweak to try and make it 'work' without making
it an even greater dilution of performance than it already is.
The NASCAR TV coverage again switches networks.

I expect a real stumble in the ratings next year.

Nancy2...

I think, though, that the network switch can't help but be better - if
NBC were totally dumped, that would be the best.

telenovels...

What's wrong with the NBC/TNT broadcast team? They seem okay to me?

telenovels...

What's wrong with NBC?

Next year, with limited CoT (Car of Tomorrow) races, will show some
interesting trends, I think - who has figured out the aero and who has
not? (Although the CoT is supposed not to affect the aero.) Will the
big names make it in the Chase, or will the youngsters take over?

stonej...

36 races from Feb to Nov. I think is overdoing it and maybe the fans
are saying "enough already".

telenovels...

Nascar used to have ~45 races a year. They actually race fewer tracks
in the modern era.

stonej...

Probably 90% of todays NASCAR fans were not even around in the old days
either alive
or interested in the sport so while that is an interesting stat it is
not really relevant to the
experiences of the average NASCAR fan today.

Obveeus...

You are correct. His point is irrelevant. When there were 45+ races a
year, they were not on TV so the vast majority of fans were still getting

telenovels...

.

True. Now that *every* race is broadcast, 45 would be overkill.
NASCAR probably should limit itself to 25-30 a year to avoid
overexposure & boredom amongst tv watchers.

Obveeus...

I don't think the problem is 'over exposure' as much as the new point
system. The new point system was designed to stop people from getting bored
and tuning away from NASCAR once football season started. That part of it
worked. The problem is that the first 26 races now have much less meaning
than before, so viewers are starting to catch on that those 26 can be tuned
out more frequently.

telenovels...

I don't know if I'd say the first 26 have less meaning. The drivers
still have to show consistency from race-to-race, just as they did
under the old point system.

Of course, this is just one of many 'problems' and the success of the sport
speaks for itself in terms of the fact that the 'owners' of NASCAR do
clearly know what they are doing for the most part.

nothing to watch beyond a few clips of Wide World of Sports or a blurb in
the local paper Monday morning.

Actually, ratings from Phoenix last weekend were up. However, overall
ratings have been lower this year than last. I think attendance is
pretty close to the same, at least according to the broadcasts.

John Poutre...

I think the biggest driver retirement to affect this is Rusty. BUT, even
that is not really a reason that the sport as a whole is evening out (which
I agree with). Now, I am a Rusty fan and don't have the same pull to the
sport as when he raced (I can't seem to find a driver I care about that much
now, maybe I will soon).

Nancy2...

How about JPMontoya? I think he'll be my 'second best' driver ;-)

But I think the fact that they are going more and more to the same car and
more and more away from any individuality, is more of a reason. And it
seems half the races are a D shaped track, which is a snorefest.

Nancy2...

This is what has affected the whole series - Brian France and his
doofus changes which he hopes will draw in millions of new fans, but
instead, have brought in some new fans, but have alienated many of the
old fans. He needed to find the proper mix in the changes he wrought,
and failed miserably.

Going forward, not only will the cookie-cutter tracks continue their
dominance on the schedule, now there will be cookie-cutter cars to run
on the cc tracks...an even bigger snoozefest.

Still, I'm a fan until my driver(s) quit.

N. ;-)

stonej...

Would you really expect the TV broadcasters to say otherwise? :)