TV ratings are down for Nextel Cup races, International Speedway Corp., pulled the plug on its proposed track in Washington state and empty seats have been visible at some race this season.
Has NASCAR fallen off?
“All sports have growth spurts and reach plateaus at various times,” said John Saunders, ISC’s executive vice president and chief operating officer. “NASCAR is not unique. What is unique is that this is NASCAR’s first time.”
Saunders spoke on a conference call Tuesday with investor analysts as company officials discussed first-quarter earnings. ISC, run by the France family that also runs NASCAR, operates 12 tracks that host 19 Cup races, including at Daytona, Martinsville, Richmond, California and Phoenix.
Monday night, ISC announced it dropped plans to build a $368 million race track near Bremerton, Wash., after legislators planned changes to a financing package.
Saunders called the changes, which he did not reveal, “unacceptable to ISC” and that those changes would have “a significant negative impact on the project’s financial model.”
Said ISC President Lesa France Kennedy in a statement: “Any decision to execute on growth opportunities is guided by the fundamental principal of building long-term value for our shareholders.”
ISC officials say they remain interested in building a track in the Northwest and would still consider Washington.
ISC officials also are studying the feasibility of a race track in Denver but that track, if ever developed, wouldn’t be ready until 2012. ISC ended its attempts to build a track on Staten Island in December, although it remains interested in that area.
With no new track ready to be built soon, ISC officials said on the conference call they had no plans to move a Cup race from one track to another.
Saunders also said TV ratings for Cup races are down about 14 percent from this time last year. He said Busch TV ratings are down about 9 percent and truck ratings are up about 3 percent.
Saunders said most of the drop in Cup ratings came with the Daytona 500. Last year’s Daytona ratings were artificially boosted, Saunders said, by the Winter Olympics, which preceded the race. Ratings also were down for the California and Bristol races.
Three Cup races have been held at ISC tracks so far this season. The Daytona 500, which holds 168,000 seats, sold out. California Speedway did not sell out its 92,000 seats, but Saunders reported that the grandstand attendance was up an unspecified amount from last year’s race. Last weekend’s Martinsville race, Saunders said, was a near sellout.
Despite these examples, Saunders said, “we think the industry outlook is bright,” noting this is the first year of the eight-year TV package that pays NASCAR about $4.5 billion, the return of ESPN to broadcasting races and diversity initiatives to attract new fans, particularly the Hispanic audience.
Bookmark to:
- Lowe’s Motor Speedway announces grandstand renovation
- ESPN unveils first phase of marketing campaign for NASCAR
- 80% of Owners favor COT in 2008
- Former CTS driver Fike admits shooting heroin on race days
- Montagny to Race Super Aguri in France
Every race this year has been a borefest…Excluding the last 50-laps of the Daytona 500 (if you consider 50-laps a race?) Even Bristol was a huge disappoint! Now that’s pathetic…NASCAR is NOT what it used to be! I’m tuning more and more into road racing and open wheel stuff b/c NASCAR is just not where it’s at anymore. It also has nothing to do w/ Earnhardt’s death, the drivers need to just stop complaining and drive the cars .
u got a point there but it aint all the drivers complaining. nascar is destroying itself because it got too much corporate bullshit goin on to even care about what the drivers and owners want.they constantly said that the foam in the doors on the cot were fireproof. and they kept on sayin it until they showed the foam on fire in harvicks car. they had good racing last year because the competition was at its best in a long time. the cot and the whole deal with nextel and at&t and the sunoco and shell shit did nothing good for nascar. how do you expect somthing to grow if you dont let new people enter the sport. nascar screwed themnselves. when the winner of a race says the changes that were made were not good then somthin else needs to be done. DW said these new cars drove like the older cars like he drove. well guess what?? the races back then were as boring as they are now. they never had side by side racing for most of the race like there was last year. now its you see a car passing another maybe twice in a hour. splitters are not for nascar. the trucks can get away with it because theyre trucks. theyre sposed to be all blocky and not aerodynamic. the cars are. give us last years cars back and youll see lots better racing. stop all the sponsor bullshit and youll see more intrest in nascar. nascar just needs a complete overhaul because this is gettin rediculous.
so where has the racing gone? i just watched a few clips from “Dale the movie” and it made me think of the old days.. of when racing was racing you know.. i think NASCAR has forgot about that. now i know times have changed but its should still be about the racing not the money.
Have you heard the old saying. Forgot where you came from? Several years ago NASCAR was on a rapid ascent to the top. Then new management decides that the sport needs to be branched out into all areas. So the exodus from the south began. No more North Wilksboro, Rockingham, Darlington loses a date; Labor day weekend without the Southern 500?, Busch series has turned into “Shoot the fish in the barrell series…..WOW it’s like the Yankees or the Red Sox stopping off at a minor league venue to play a game before playing the major league team the next day……..How exciting. In the mean time Nascar’s feeder system now has to turn to open wheel drivers because the feeder system is being ruined by the Busch Wackers.
What was so wrong with NASCAR before it was modernized? It was growing in popularity? Now we have races in new venues that don’t sell out, to add, these new venues really have not been exciting have they? Tracks spending money for resurfacing in hopes of making the racing more competive? Why don’t you try and going back to a improved North Wilksboro or Rockingham? I’m sick and tired of NASCAR of looking to the west for expansion when there are venues (Kentucky) that sells out for it’s Busch races but cannot get a cup race.
I’m not saying to grow with the sport…But why do you do it and jepordize what has made it succesful.
I think the COT will turn the racing around… Martinsville was an awesome race. Its nice to see the drivers with ability up front doing their thing because they are the best, not just because they have the best setup and have the rules bent more in their favor. Although martinsville is a driver’s track, I think the car had a lot to do with it.
Why is NASCAR looking to tracks in areas that no one wants them?
Kentucky is a hot bed of racing , now and always has been.
The owner is anxious to comply in all ways. Why look for places that aren’t even willing to consider NASCAR?
Wait until dega and the weight in on the COT. so far on short tracks the COT and the old car would have had the same results. dega is the real test for the COT.
Perry, just want to say i completely agree with what you said