WHO IS TO BLAME FOR NASCAR'S DECLINE?
CONCORD, N.C. _ These days it seems everyone in NASCAR is trying to figure out the reasoning for a decline in attendance and major drop television ratings. Empty seats and poor ratings have dominated the conversation as of late, instead of one of the most competitive Chases.
Most agree the economy has played a major role, some blame the Chase for the Sprint Cup, many argue it is ESPN and others point to the dominance of Jimmie Johnson.
In the last week alone, television ratings dropped 30% from last year, earning a 2.5 rating on ESPN, which equates to 4,072,000 viewers. While over four million viewers may seem like a lot, when looking at the programs that beat out ESPN’s broadcast from California, it is astonishing.
The Sprint Cup Series race, the fourth of the NASCAR’s ‘playoff’ system, ranked 17th of 25 shows tracked by TVbytheNumbers.com for the week of October 10th. That same week, Teen Mom 2 on MTV earned more viewers than the NASCAR race. So did Saturday morning’s Spongebob Squarepants, Monday night’s WWE broadcast, every Major League Baseball playoff game and Thursday night’s Jersey Shore on MTV.
On the positive side, Sunday’s broadcast did beat out American Pickers on the History Channel.
“The broadcasts have gotten much more sophisticated – some people like that, some people don’t,” ESPN’s Dr. Jerry Punch explained. “We have a lot more bells and whistles, a lot more things we can do in the telecast with real-time data, you would think that would make more people interested because we can give real-time data on what is happening with intervals between cars, positioning on the race track, things we didn’t have back in the late 90’s and 2000.
“The racing, if you look at the overall racing, there were a lot of cars more and more laps down back in the 90s, there’s a lot of cars on the lead lap and finishing towards the front than ever before,” he said. “So, I don’t know. I hope and pray that it is a temporary thing and we can get these fans back, because the NASCAR fans are the college football fans and the college basketball fans and that means they are ESPN fans. Sometimes, our network, we our own worst enemy because we have great ball games that we can promote on the other channel while we’re covering a Nationwide race or a Cup race.”
So, what’s the problem here? There are a number of thoughts on the topic, I have offered my criticism of the actual broadcast of the race on other web sites, but ultimately, the conversation comes back to either the Chase or Jimmie Johnson’s dominance.
Johnson, however, does not believe he is to blame.
“I know I’m not the reason for those things, and I sure as hell know I’m not vanilla,” Johnson said. “From the success that I’ve had – it’s just unfair to put it on a driver’s success. When you look at the economy and the challenges that it has imposed on a lot of people – there’s a lot of conversations about the prices being too high for hotel rooms, the tracks work very hard to get their price point down and that hasn’t really moved the needle all that much. We have an amazing television package and people aren’t tuning in to watch, and we don’t know why.
“It’s not just our sport, it’s all sports, and it’s all television,” he said. “It’s not me and I know that. I kind of chuckle about it and if people want to spend time talking about it, they can.”
People are definitely spending their time discussing it as of late, not only asking Johnson, but other drivers throughout the garage.
Fellow Chaser Jeff Burton is just as confused as anyone in trying to come up with answers. Yet, he is not as quick as others to blame Johnson’s dominance for the dip in ratings.
“The racing has been good,” Burton said. “It is not a run-away Chase. I mean, my God, anybody that thinks this is a run-away Chase isn’t paying attention. I don’t know. When other teams go on runs and start reeling off; when Tiger Woods is winning a lot of tournaments, more people watch. If you argued that Jimmie having success is bad for the sport then why was golf so good when Tiger was so good? Doesn’t make sense to me and I don’t proclaim to understand it.”
There may not be one simple answer as to why fans are not showing up and tuning out. Carl Edwards, like Burton, is baffled by the decline in ratings, saying the racing has been impressive all year.
“I think you’ve seen really great racing, a ton of emotion, you’ve seen guys just laying it all on the line and, for whatever reason, our television ratings have not been as good as they could be,” Edwards said. “I don’t know the answer to that. I don’t know the reason, but I’d say all we can do is try to embrace all the new technology that we can and try to explain the sport the best we can through the television broadcasts. Aside from that, I don’t really have any suggestions for them. I think I’d be speaking out of place.”
For Johnson’s teammate Jeff Gordon, the problem is not the dominance of the No. 48 team. One of the most dominant drivers during NASCAR’s seemingly exponential growth, Gordon’s on-track success never hurt the ratings or attendance as people claim is happening with Johnson today.
What helped during those years of growth in the late 1990s were the battles taking place on the track. Be it Dale Earnhardt and Gordon, Earnhardt and Wallace, Wallace and Gordon, Wallace and Rudd, Ford and Chevy, there was usually a heated rivalry developing on track and not in the media center. In Gordon’s opinion, that is what is missing these days.
“My only argument is rivalries,” Gordon said. “I think there needs to be some more rivalries out there. When I won my first championship, obviously the rivalry with Earnhardt and even in the other championships I never really had the rivals like that, but there was always Ford versus or Chevy, or with Mark Martin and Dale Jarrett, or Bobby Labonte—some things like that. I just think it’s important to have rivalries. I don’t think it’s anything about Jimmie Johnson, it’s just nobody has really rivaled him. The only one that has besides Carl [Edwards] I guess, I would have thought that that would have been pretty decent ratings that year, but Carl is probably just too nice.
“It’s two nice guys going against each other, even though its Ford vs. Chevy; I think there is a certain entertainment aspect to it that plays out and that just depends on the guys’ personality and their fan base. Right now if it was Kyle Busch versus Jimmie Johnson, I think it’d spark a lot more interest. I think that Harvick kind of plays that role a little bit and he’s there. If that battle heats up, I think it could be interesting. I think right now anything that sparks a good battle with Jimmie, even if it’s me I think will spark some things. Those guys have dominated so much that when we get to this position I think a lot of people just go, ‘oh man, he’s going to do it again.’ But, I also think they’re waiting to see if somebody else can beat him.”
If Johnson goes out there and wins the next few races and makes history winning his fifth championship in a row – something he is fully capable of – do not be surprised by a further dip in the ratings that lasts into next season.
There seems to be a lot of opinions on why ratings have dropped dramatically and attendance is lacking all around, yet few seem to offer solutions to the problems. NASCAR has done a great job listening to the fans over the last two years – implementing double-file restarts and green-white-checkered finishes – and if this trend continues over the next few months, this will be something NASCAR needs to work on and the fans need to be involved. Otherwise, the decline will most likely continue.
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22 Comments
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I quit watching because the sports presents itself as a one man show..a #48 show. He wins all the time, and even when he's not winning, the camera and commentators keep their focus on him, ignoring my fav drivers. What's the use, I am looking for an alternative sport to watch.
You ever think that no one likes to watch on t.v. because of all the damn commercials?? There's a commercial every other minute and you always end up missing the good stuff while watching some stupid toilet paper commercial!! Can't they have picture in picture? People change channels during commercials and when they change back to the race? OHH look! Another effen commercial!!
I'm a life long race fan but I get bored with NASCAR these days. Why?
1. The cars. Cookie cutter tanks with Ford/Chevy decals aren't real "stock" cars or real race cars.
2. Race length. 500 miles is too long for most of the races. I fall asleep in the middle of the race. I'd love a double header. A 200 mile truck race followed an hour later with a 300 mile Sprint cup race.
3. The tracks. But then I'm a road race fan so my thoughts on tracks doesn't count.
4. The chase. I thought it was a dumb idea when it was purposed and seeing it in action I still think it's a dumb format.
With the death of Dale Sr. and all the changes in the car, I could care less in investing 4 hours of my life to a sport that reminds me of the WWE. NASCAR has abandoned its roots so let California and Kansas carry them because I am out of there for good. I have a computer and Jayski.
You're forgetting the simplest reason why it's fading away... There is no 'immediate gratification' for viewers!
Watchers of Football, Baseball, Hockey, etc... get a 'reward' with a real measurable outcome every 3 downs, every 8 pitches or every shift change! In other sports that dominate ESPN, the actionable changes are not just REAL AND MEASURABLE (like positions in a race are), but they are FULLY VISIBLE because the cameras catch and show ALL THE ACTION on every play. It's not spread out over a 1 or 2 mile track... it's all within a 300 to 500 square foot area!
THAT is what people are missing with racing... whoever the network, it's just impossible to show EVERY PASS as it happens...
It's not that racing is a bad sport, it's simply that it can not compete -for the evolving immediate=action-starved american sports fan attention any more.
The product (racing) is as good as it's ever been... at least that's what the statistics tell us about passing, lead changes, etc.. The chase is the most competitive ever... but sometimes you need to look at the AUDIENCE to see if it's desires and attitudes are changing.
Who's to blame?? Well the decline started after Earnhardt was killed in 2001. In my opinion, the sport was at it's zeneth and lost it's biggest star. Sure there was interest after (but for all the wrong reasons) and then Sept 11 came. Soon after all the tracks started limiting what you could bring into the stands (after many of us purchased items you could bring in). Then they brought in Toyota, which for many was a big slap in the face. Soon after came the COT, the Chase, the loss of the varieties of tracks, and all these rules for the cars to where it is like IROC now. Many of the fans that were there in the 80's and 90's basically lost interest and those that jumped on the band wagon probably went to a couple of races and decided it was too boring and left. So unless they can bring back people from the dead (which I don't see happening) and change the cars to be more brand identic, it will only get worse. I understand all the safety stuff, but they could have done it to the old cars and made them all brand identic like they were. Now i think people could care less about ford vs chevy vs dodge vs toyota. Keep up the good work Brian.
I dont know this ratings system is strange... Earlier this year Nascar on Fox beat out the NHL Playoff, the NBA playoffs (not the finals) the MTV Music Awards..... But we seem to forget that.. Nascar is a long sport........ 36 races a year Feb to Nov. Ratings will go up and down they will but this sport isnt in as bad of shape as you all claim! I have direct tv and if you have it you know on your remote theres a ACTIVE button and it allows you to see weather lottery and the top most watched programs on direct tv!!! Every race I look at this and I dont know evertime I put it on during a Nascar race Nascar is always number one in Central (my time zone) National and Sports! Last week at Cali Nascar was number one football baseball were 2 and 3!!! Kansas, Dover, Cali I checked and Nascar was number one in each section! If direct tv can pinpoint what everyone is watching its ashame the ratings system isnt like this... The TV ratings system we have now is a 1980's style and needs to be changed!!! Nascar is just fine
The wine and cheese crowd has left. Cookie cutter tracks are boring. The chase is boring and artificial. Harvick leading the points under the old system would be much more interesting. What more do they need to know? The interest spiked when Dale got killed and now those temporary fans have moved on, NASCAR homogenized the sport to accommodate the soccer moms, took the manufacturer recognition out of the cars, started racing at boring tracks like Chicago and Kansas, took away short track races, abandoned their traditions like the Labor Day race in Darlington, moved a bunch of races to Saturday night for no reason, and ultimately turned there back on the original fans and now they are paying the price. In essence NASCAR pulled up its roots and now they ask what happened.Thanks Brian. Enjoy.
If you think they have ratings probs now, when the DTM starts racing in the U.S. in 2013, It will be great! We will get to see real ( brake lights, wiper blades, AWD ) cars race. It would be great to see Mattias Ekstrom and Ralf Schumacher (and hopefully they could sign up
Matt Neal, Jason Plato and Rickard Rydell ) going full tilt. For anyone who hasn't seen the DTM or the BTCC before, you will be in for quite a surprise. If you have, you will know that their camera placement and television coverage back in 1992 was leaps and bounds better than the overdone / hyped / rodent infested garbage that NASCAR fans have grown to tolerate. They (hopefully) will not include any Waltrips or brodcast it on a channel where Every Sport Pre-empts Nascar...
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Where do we start?
The Chase. Jimmy Johnson seems to thrive on the chase because he hangs around in the top 12, then for the last 10 races, he seems to bring it on. Perhaps he is that good, but it's getting BORING.
Race length. The races are too long. BORING
Car of Tomorrow. Mistake of today. BORING
Alienating the fanbase that got it all started. The good old tracks such as Darlington and such have been abandoned for empty grandstands in California, Chicago, etc.
Sure the economy has an effect, but a great start would be dumping the Chase and having different cars instead of a vanilla car with stickers.