Rising fuel prices, hotel costs hurting NASCAR attendance?

"We'll try to find other ways to make it affordable and add value to tickets through concerts and other entertainment."


I don't go to a concert to see a race therefore I don't go to race to see a concert.

Keep it simple, stupid! People go to a race to see a race. All of the other frills add nothing. I don't want to pay to see some band drone away or another cowboy hat act.

People want to see a race but they are being gouged by higher ticket prices, rip-off motel rates and camping spots.
Everyone needs to find a way to make less or the fans are going to break you completely when they get tired of this crap and stop showing up.
 
The economy's not hurting NASCAR. The good tracks are still selling out.

NASCAR, and racing at these megaplex's instead of racetracks, is hurting NASCAR.

JMO.
 
AndyMarquisLIVE said:
The economy's not hurting NASCAR. The good tracks are still selling out.

NASCAR, and racing at these megaplex's instead of racetracks, is hurting NASCAR.

JMO.
Click to expand...

I know Bristol was a sell-out. I don't know if any other track was. Anyone know?
 
Guido said:
People want to see a race but they are being gouged by higher ticket prices, rip-off motel rates and camping spots.
Click to expand...

Exactly!!! The price of tickets, camping and motels are ridiculous. They can't do much to control the motels, but they could lower their prices at the tracks for admission and camping. I wouldn't mind the extra expense of gas so much if the rest didn't cost so much. I thought NASCAR was the "every-day person" sport? It's getting so you need to be really well-off to even go to a race.

That being said, I'm still going to The Glen, but we probably won't go to any others for those reasons. I'm staying 30 mi. from the track (closest I could find that wasn't already booked and this was back in Jan/Feb). There was a place 3 mi. from the track, but they had a 4-night min at $175/night. Uh yeah... sure. :|
 
WNY24Fan said:
Exactly!!! The price of tickets, camping and motels are ridiculous. They can't do much to control the motels, but they could lower their prices at the tracks for admission and camping. I wouldn't mind the extra expense of gas so much if the rest didn't cost so much. I thought NASCAR was the "every-day person" sport? It's getting so you need to be really well-off to even go to a race.

That being said, I'm still going to The Glen, but we probably won't go to any others for those reasons. I'm staying 30 mi. from the track (closest I could find that wasn't already booked and this was back in Jan/Feb). There was a place 3 mi. from the track, but they had a 4-night min at $175/night. Uh yeah... sure. :|
Click to expand...

You know it isn't so much the Hotel and camping rates that bug me, it is the cost of food, drinks, souveniors at the tracks. Not only is this happening in Nascar, but all across sports. I mean come on....i went to the Red Sox opening day game, spent a lot on tickets , which i expected, but the real kicker was the cost of refreshements. $7.75 for a beer, a foot long dog with garlic fries ran me $10.25, it is outrageous what prices are at the parks. We usually pack most of our food in a small soft sided cooler for the games and for races. If you are a family of 4 or 5 trying to take your kids to a race or game, forget it, for tickets parking, and a few hot dogs you are going to pay about $600 for a family of four. Now i'm talking decent , but not great seats, something on the front stretch or something to the equivalent of $75 seats at Fenway. It is at the point where like you said only the upper middle class making $100k a year are going to be able to afford a race. I stopped going to Vegas for the race, sold my tickets the last 2 years, i'll never give them up, but to go now it is just too much, I was thinking about the Glen this year, went back in 1990, had a great time camping out, watching the race, and didn't pay an arm and a leg. That was 18 years ago, but now if i were to do the same thing it cost me double, did my salary double since then......uh NO. My point is that the average joe just won't be able to afford a Cup race, and hell we alll know that watching it on TV at least you get the replays if you miss something. Pretty sad how all major sporting events have become greed events, i'll still go see my Red Sox once or twice per year, but as far as going to a Cup race probably not going to happen.
 
Mopardh9 said:
You know it isn't so much the Hotel and camping rates that bug me, it is the cost of food, drinks, souveniors at the tracks. Not only is this happening in Nascar, but all across sports. I mean come on....i went to the Red Sox opening day game, spent a lot on tickets , which i expected, but the real kicker was the cost of refreshements. $7.75 for a beer, a foot long dog with garlic fries ran me $10.25, it is outrageous what prices are at the parks. We usually pack most of our food in a small soft sided cooler for the games and for races. If you are a family of 4 or 5 trying to take your kids to a race or game, forget it, for tickets parking, and a few hot dogs you are going to pay about $600 for a family of four. Now i'm talking decent , but not great seats, something on the front stretch or something to the equivalent of $75 seats at Fenway. It is at the point where like you said only the upper middle class making $100k a year are going to be able to afford a race. I stopped going to Vegas for the race, sold my tickets the last 2 years, i'll never give them up, but to go now it is just too much, I was thinking about the Glen this year, went back in 1990, had a great time camping out, watching the race, and didn't pay an arm and a leg. That was 18 years ago, but now if i were to do the same thing it cost me double, did my salary double since then......uh NO. My point is that the average joe just won't be able to afford a Cup race, and hell we alll know that watching it on TV at least you get the replays if you miss something. Pretty sad how all major sporting events have become greed events, i'll still go see my Red Sox once or twice per year, but as far as going to a Cup race probably not going to happen.
Click to expand...

The good thing about nascar is you can take whatever food or drinks you want into the track.....I try not to buy any food or drinks at that the track.

however we started camping at Lowes about 10 years ago...it was 50 bucks a week, now its 100.
 
We go to Infineon but even the camping has gotten out of hand.

For the weekend...
50 Acres Campground - $250.70* (Reserved)
Cougar Mountain Campground - $250.70* (General Admission)
Trackside RV Terraces - $930.60 - $1,584.60* (Reserved, includes 4 weekend passes)
Carousel Campground - $1,039.60 - $1,584.60* (Reserved, includes 4 weekend passes)

We do try to go every year.. usually get grandstand seats($200 for two of us). We bring our own food and sit out in the parking lot and tailgate with other people. I usually talk my honey in to a couple of beers.. twist his arm..lol and maybe buy a t-shirt. We really dont go out much besides going camping so this is our one real weekend out to go have fun so we save for it and go no matter what the price.. just no camping since we can drive home after the race(two hours away). But hey Its all good :)
 
A family of 4 can go to Texas for $99.00. That includes 4 hot dogs and 4 cokes. Brookshires stores sells them.
 
Its all good said:
We go to Infineon but even the camping has gotten out of hand.

For the weekend...
50 Acres Campground - $250.70* (Reserved)
Cougar Mountain Campground - $250.70* (General Admission)
Trackside RV Terraces - $930.60 - $1,584.60* (Reserved, includes 4 weekend passes)
Carousel Campground - $1,039.60 - $1,584.60* (Reserved, includes 4 weekend passes)

We do try to go every year.. usually get grandstand seats($200 for two of us). We bring our own food and sit out in the parking lot and tailgate with other people. I usually talk my honey in to a couple of beers.. twist his arm..lol and maybe buy a t-shirt. We really dont go out much besides going camping so this is our one real weekend out to go have fun so we save for it and go no matter what the price.. just no camping since we can drive home after the race(two hours away). But hey Its all good :)
Click to expand...

Ha i used to live less than 2 miles from the track and still camped....we did it for the fun of it.
 
It is too early to tell how much the economy and fuel prices will affect race attendance. Most race tickets are bought well in advance of the actual race date and fuel prices took the big leap only recently.

My guess is, race attendance will be affected, motel prices will come down but we will not see these changes until later this year and possibly not until next year.
Ticket sales might not reflect the actual situation until race day when a track might have sold 120,000 tickets but there will be only be 110,000 seats used.
 
Mopardh9 said:
You know it isn't so much the Hotel and camping rates that bug me, it is the cost of food, drinks, souveniors at the tracks. Not only is this happening in Nascar, but all across sports.
Click to expand...

It's not just sports, it's most entertainment events. It will cost you close to $5 each for a small bag of popcorn and a drink at the movies. When people stop paying for these, they'll lower prices. But we know that won't happen.
 
Go Panthers said:
The good thing about nascar is you can take whatever food or drinks you want into the track.....I try not to buy any food or drinks at that the track.

however we started camping at Lowes about 10 years ago...it was 50 bucks a week, now its 100.
Click to expand...

I can vouch for the fact that you're NOT talking about Homestead-Miami Speedway here. :rolleyes:
 
I pay alot of money for gas/hotel/tickets/food/souveniors twice a year but those 2 weekends are my only vacations I take all year. If I went on a cruise or resort vacation then I wouldn't be going to too many races.
 
I don't know where the seats are, but they are somewhere in the gate:wink:
If a family is on a budget, that is a very good deal.
 
If you are a little bit ingenious you can really do the races on the cheap . 3 years ago we ran an ad in this paper looking for a place to rent during SpeedWeeks . http://www.floridapennysavers.com/

We found a 2 bedroom mobile home in Daytona for $ 500 a week everything included . It is on the local bus route and a 5 minute walk to the local supermarket . We go with another couple and split everything , except what we spend on going out to resturants it costs us under $ 400 for lodging and food for SpeedWeeks .

You can really get some deals if you shop around and plan a head.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom