kelloggs5TLfan
Team Owner
http://www.usatoday.com/sports/motor/nascar/2006-11-14-nascar-cover_x.htm for all of the story
By Nate Ryan, USA TODAY
NASCAR's popularity might have reached a plateau. As the Nextel Cup series nears the end of its first network TV contract, there are signs fan interest is lagging and a 15-year period of growth is sputtering.
Tracks don't release figures, but estimates from NASCAR reports show crowds have decreased in a third of the races this season. Fewer than half the Cup races were sellouts, and that includes two at the 92,000-seat grandstand of California Speedway east of Los Angeles, NASCAR's largest market.
The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on Aug. 6 drew a crowd estimated by The Indianapolis Star at 240,000 — about 20,000 shy of capacity at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the smallest turnout in 13 seasons at the track that ranks in prestige on the Cup circuit behind only Daytona International Speedway.
Some observers, such as third-generation driver Kyle Petty, say the season's length — from February to the Sunday before Thanksgiving — can be interminable. "I'm an idiot, and this is all I've ever done, but my God, 36 freaking races a year? Even I'm not going to tune in every week," Petty says.
SPORTS SCOPE: Bump in the road or serious problem?
A record 12.5 million households tuned in to the Daytona 500 on NBC on Feb. 19, but TV audiences sagged for 30 of the first 34 races this year. For 16 of those races the decline was at least 10%. Ratings on Fox, which broadcast the first half of the season, dropped 7%. TNT and NBC were down 5% and 12%, respectively, for the second half.
NBC, deciding NASCAR's rights fee exceeded value, dropped out of negotiations last year. ABC and ESPN take over in 2007.
"I've told everybody I know to tune in," Dale Earnhardt Jr., voted fan favorite the past three years, says with a laugh. "But I'm only one guy. The racing is really the same. The drivers are the same. Obviously, it has to do with the newness wearing off of the (Chase for the Nextel Cup, the 10-race title run). That big splash is gone. Maybe it's not quite as dramatic as we believe."
One race from completing the third Chase for the Nextel Cup, NASCAR Chairman Brian France concedes his sport has lost some momentum. He views 2006 as a speed bump rather than a slowdown.
"We're in a little bit of a lull," France says. "We have a lot of different things that are very significant going on, but they're all coming next year."
The 2007 season will herald the return to ESPN, which promises to tout NASCAR across multiple marketing platforms; the arrival of Toyota, the latest of several financially healthy sponsors to approach NASCAR; and the debut of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, a former Formula One driver with a large Hispanic following.
By Nate Ryan, USA TODAY
NASCAR's popularity might have reached a plateau. As the Nextel Cup series nears the end of its first network TV contract, there are signs fan interest is lagging and a 15-year period of growth is sputtering.
Tracks don't release figures, but estimates from NASCAR reports show crowds have decreased in a third of the races this season. Fewer than half the Cup races were sellouts, and that includes two at the 92,000-seat grandstand of California Speedway east of Los Angeles, NASCAR's largest market.
The Allstate 400 at the Brickyard on Aug. 6 drew a crowd estimated by The Indianapolis Star at 240,000 — about 20,000 shy of capacity at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. It was the smallest turnout in 13 seasons at the track that ranks in prestige on the Cup circuit behind only Daytona International Speedway.
Some observers, such as third-generation driver Kyle Petty, say the season's length — from February to the Sunday before Thanksgiving — can be interminable. "I'm an idiot, and this is all I've ever done, but my God, 36 freaking races a year? Even I'm not going to tune in every week," Petty says.
SPORTS SCOPE: Bump in the road or serious problem?
A record 12.5 million households tuned in to the Daytona 500 on NBC on Feb. 19, but TV audiences sagged for 30 of the first 34 races this year. For 16 of those races the decline was at least 10%. Ratings on Fox, which broadcast the first half of the season, dropped 7%. TNT and NBC were down 5% and 12%, respectively, for the second half.
NBC, deciding NASCAR's rights fee exceeded value, dropped out of negotiations last year. ABC and ESPN take over in 2007.
"I've told everybody I know to tune in," Dale Earnhardt Jr., voted fan favorite the past three years, says with a laugh. "But I'm only one guy. The racing is really the same. The drivers are the same. Obviously, it has to do with the newness wearing off of the (Chase for the Nextel Cup, the 10-race title run). That big splash is gone. Maybe it's not quite as dramatic as we believe."
One race from completing the third Chase for the Nextel Cup, NASCAR Chairman Brian France concedes his sport has lost some momentum. He views 2006 as a speed bump rather than a slowdown.
"We're in a little bit of a lull," France says. "We have a lot of different things that are very significant going on, but they're all coming next year."
The 2007 season will herald the return to ESPN, which promises to tout NASCAR across multiple marketing platforms; the arrival of Toyota, the latest of several financially healthy sponsors to approach NASCAR; and the debut of Colombian Juan Pablo Montoya, a former Formula One driver with a large Hispanic following.
