Wednesday, April 1, 2009 | 8:39 p.m.
There is no single reason for the decline in interest in Sprint Cup racing. A few of the issues pushing a segment of fans away from the sport include the new car, changes to the racing schedule, the Chase, a general feeling that the sport is more concerned with profit than the fans, and Kyle Busch.
The race at Bristol had an 18 percent decline in viewership. Sunday’s race at Martinsville had an 11 percent decrease in viewership. And the race at Atlanta had a 14 percent decline. This is a trend I find interesting when you consider that fans who can’t afford race tickets in these recessionary times should be turning to television as the alternative. But the underlying frustration that fans feel toward the sport is causing many of them to abandon their racing habit, or at the very least it’s making them only tune in for the last 20 laps of each race. I wonder if the television ratings go up the closer a race gets to its conclusion.
All of this seems to point in one direction. We could see even fewer people watching the sport in 2010. I think this will certainly be true in the grandstands. The recession that started midway through 2008 has affected the ticket sales for this season. Now that the recession is at full steam, people will find it harder to renew their seats for 2010 when it is expected that these tough times will last through 2009.
Some of the tracks have done a great job filling as many seats as they can, but it is the declining TV viewership that may be harder to reverse. I suspect those numbers aren’t as much a result of fans’ economic considerations as they are an indication of fans’ changing attitude toward the sport.
There are a lot of fans out there who could benefit from the services of Tony Stewart’s former anger management team. And I share some of the frustrations that many fans feel. But nothing will stop me from watching Sprint Cup racing. The drivers could be racing around Talladega on lawn tractors and I would still watch.
…
Rick Wagoner, former CEO of General Motors, left the company with a generous pension and a benefits package worth $23 million. Wow! Maybe he should take those funds and start his own car company.
…
The Charlotte Observer is reporting that SMI Chairman Bruton Smith’s chain of auto dealerships could be headed for bankruptcy.
Purchase your copy of "Nuts for Racing"
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy