NASCAR is struggling to adapt to a changing sports climate

Skoalbandit33 said:
IMO the quick answer is that Nascar lost its way in the 90's by replacing traditional tracks and traditional dates with cookie cutters. The problem was further exacerbated by the introduction of the chase which was quickly followed but the CoT and those things did in and finished off many longtime supporters. Nascar didn't care that what attracted a lot of the new fans was exactly what the old fans liked and instead of continuing to give old and new what they liked they went completely off the rez.
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I can really only speak about my circle of friends that are or have been NASCAR fans over the years. People that I've talked to about why they don't attend or watch. There are no shortage of reasons for the decline.

The biggest reason that I hear friends talking about why they don't attend anymore..... Money. The economy had/has a huge impact on attending these events. That sure doesn't explain declining viewers though.

We used to have some friends that we'd hook up the RV's and head to a race for the weekend or other friends that we'd meet at the track's campgrounds. Those days are pretty much a thing of the past. Of those, one in particular swore off the sport as being out of touch with the fans over the image of the COT. That thing was hideous. Others, that were long time fans, absolutely hated the implementation of the Chase. Some, hated the change to Bristol. Enough so, that they gave up their season tickets. The one common theme to this is 'change'. Sure, the sport can't stand still, but changes that alienate the majority of its fans were simply not the answer. Fans gave up the sport when they felt the sport was going in a wrong direction.

I'm not going to profess to know what the answer is to all of this but it's painfully obvious that the powers that be @ the helm of NASCAR and it's television and radio partners don't either. They continue to change the sport, turning its back on the longtime fan in pursuit of their almighty demographic. I can't help but wonder how much the empty seats hurt the perception of the sport by their desired audience. Me, I like the racing but there's little doubt that many seem to focus on the empty seats rather than the on track product. I'm a longtime fan so it's difficult for me to look at this from a potential fans eyes. I can only imagine that someone tuning in for the first time or two notices that the sport is unfolding in front of a relatively small audience. That can't be a very good first impression and you only get one chance at that.

We're down from 10 or so races a season to only two. That's not likely to increase. I'm also thinking that I'm not likely to be replaced at the track either. I hope the figure something out but they are not likely to please all of us.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
I can really only speak about my circle of friends that are or have been NASCAR fans over the years. People that I've talked to about why they don't attend or watch. There are no shortage of reasons for the decline.

The biggest reason that I hear friends talking about why they don't attend anymore..... Money. The economy had/has a huge impact on attending these events. That sure doesn't explain declining viewers though.

We used to have some friends that we'd hook up the RV's and head to a race for the weekend or other friends that we'd meet at the track's campgrounds. Those days are pretty much a thing of the past. Of those, one in particular swore off the sport as being out of touch with the fans over the image of the COT. That thing was hideous. Others, that were long time fans, absolutely hated the implementation of the Chase. Some, hated the change to Bristol. Enough so, that they gave up their season tickets. The one common theme to this is 'change'. Sure, the sport can't stand still, but changes that alienate the majority of its fans were simply not the answer. Fans gave up the sport when they felt the sport was going in a wrong direction.

I'm not going to profess to know what the answer is to all of this but it's painfully obvious that the powers that be @ the helm of NASCAR and it's television and radio partners don't either. They continue to change the sport, turning its back on the longtime fan in pursuit of their almighty demographic. I can't help but wonder how much the empty seats hurt the perception of the sport by their desired audience. Me, I like the racing but there's little doubt that many seem to focus on the empty seats rather than the on track product. I'm a longtime fan so it's difficult for me to look at this from a potential fans eyes. I can only imagine that someone tuning in for the first time or two notices that the sport is unfolding in front of a relatively small audience. That can't be a very good first impression and you only get one chance at that.

We're down from 10 or so races a season to only two. That's not likely to increase. I'm also thinking that I'm not likely to be replaced at the track either. I hope the figure something out but they are not likely to please all of us.
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Similar story here as I was a season ticket holder for the Bristol Night race, the original Southern 500, the Spring Talladega Race and camped in the infield for both MIS races. We used to go with and meet up with others and initially used a truck camper then a motorhome before switching to motorcycles. I can't describe the feeling other than to say it was electric and there was great anticipation about the upcoming event that we were going to see.

That lasted into the 21st Century until MIS became dull as dishwater so we stopped going. Talladega was OK but I mainly went for my buddies that were Dale and Dale Jr fans. Bristol was fantastic until the track was changed so we stopped going there and of course the real Southern 500 date moved to Cali and that was a major insult to me.

By the time I stopped going to races the CoT had been implemented and we hated that boxy thing and the chase had been started and none of us could abide by that so we all do other trips that don't include anything Nascar and we have a good time. Out of the many people I used to go to the track and watch races with I am the only one left and I only have about 5 toes in the water.
 
In my opinion, there are three things that would help bring things back to what fans expect from NASCAR. First, get rid of the chase. Having the championship decided before the last race, isn't going to chase fans away. Fans continue to view, and go to races, in spite of the chase. Second, bring in some dirt tracks, about a mile, or half mile. I don't know any fan that wouldn't like to see that. There may be some, but I don't think there would be many. Third, bring back stock bodies. That would cure all the aero problems. It also wouldn't be long before the engineers, would manage to bring the speeds back up where fans would be happy with them. I would rather watch great racing at 160 MPH, than crappy racing at 180, or 190, MPH. I don't think the racing can get much worse than it is now. (emphasis on much worse) These things won't cure everything that's wrong with NASCAR, but it would't chase any more fans away. It's too bad that they wouldn't consider any of these suggestions. The absolute worst problem that NASCAR has is, the person in charge of NASCAR has to be a race fan. Without that, the sport will die.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
I still think the tennis boom of the mid-70s through early '80s is the best comparison to NASCAR's faddish rise and decline. Tennis is doing fine, just not at the popular levels it reached then. Tennis has the advantages of being overall less expensive to play and host than auto racing.
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My (now ex-) mother in law has never been on a tennis court, but in the late 1970s, she wore tennis dresses everywhere. There are many parallels between the tennis fad and the Nascar fad.

There are many other examples. Bowling. Golf. Country & western music. Harley Davidson. And others. All these fads triggered huge capital investments with the belief that the boom would live on. Hindsight is 20/20.
 
dpkimmel2001 said:
They continue to change the sport, turning its back on the longtime fan in pursuit of their almighty demographic.
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Yep. A perfect storm of bad luck and bad decisions have morphed NASCAR into what we have today.

So the question is this, and it's pretty simple: how did NASCAR attract all those fans in the first place? The sport quickly started growing in popularity in the 80s and even more rapidly throughout the 90s. Why? Because they had a good product that sold itself with little effort. Not because they were constantly making drastic changes and adding gimmicks.
 
They'll never do anything about the actual problem. The schedule and some of the junk tracks that are getting 2 dates.
 
AuzGrams said:
They'll never do anything about the actual problem. The schedule and some of the junk tracks that are getting 2 dates.
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It is likely that Nascar cannot do anything about some of the snoozers they race on and that is a great shame. With so much competition for the entertainment dollar today's fan (and many of yesterday's) are not going to tolerate participating in races held at some tracks.
 
Let's face it, there aren't many tracks out there capable of hosting one of the top three touring series AND don't have a race date already. Track safety requirements, fan capacity and amenities, TV / communications overall infrastructure, etc.

Most of what's eligible are road courses. I'd love to see more of them on the schedule, but much of the existing audience prefers ovals. I can understand that, especially when I'm in the grandstand and can see everything.

How many of these pipe dream schedules we post include tracks that are capable of hosting a race and actually WANT one? I remember when Myrtle Beach stopped applying for a Busch race as it had become too much trouble and they couldn't afford to keep up.
 
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