The Announcers Thread

StandOnIt said:
They aren't doing that great with all of the channel switching either. CW O'reilly and the Fox Trucks are doing much better in their respective areas.
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Channel switching isn’t an issue for other sports.

The issue is the cup races are mostly boring with this new car, this playoff format is not generating interest and is polarizing traditional fans, and USA.
 
HoneyBadger said:
Channel switching isn’t an issue for other sports.

The issue is the cup races are mostly boring with this new car, this playoff format is not generating interest and is polarizing traditional fans, and USA.
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it boggles me my mind that you think Verstant is dictating they keep some form of a playoff when it hasnt worked and then you stick the product on USA Network which no offense many people dont have over the age of like 25. (I'm 40, I love me some USA Network).
 
Jorge De Guzman said:
it boggles me my mind that you think Verstant is dictating they keep some form of a playoff when it hasnt worked and then you stick the product on USA Network which no offense many people dont have over the age of like 25. (I'm 40, I love me some USA Network).
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There’s no point in keeping the postseason. There’s nothing to lose at this point.
 
Part of me wonders if NASCAR going from NBC Sports to USA Sports is a result of NASCAR dropping the current playoff format.

I mean, with the winner-take-all finale gone, NBC doesn't actually have anything except maybe the Southern 500 which has been watered down significantly by being the first race in the playoffs.

FOX has the Daytona 500, the Clash, the All Star Race, and the Throwback Race. Amazon has the Coca-Cola 600. TNT has the In-Season Tournament and the Brickyard 400.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
Chaos? That's a bit dramatic. The article says there are external boxes for $90, a one-time charge. I guess that may seem steep to over-the-air users but it's barely one month's cable or Intranet bill.
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People are bitching about having to buy $15 streaming sticks. This is gonna go over about as well as a glass of unsweet tea in the south.
 
HoneyBadger said:
People are bitching about having to buy $15 streaming sticks. This is gonna go over about as well as a glass of unsweet tea in the south.
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It's entertainment, not a necessity. They'll get by.

But I suspect each broadcast station's advertisers will have something to say about it. They won't pay the same rates if their ads are reaching far fewer people. Might be worth it to a station to subsidize the cost somehow.
 
Amazon and Xfinity (CW) did well. Cable and broadcast didn't do as well.

I wonder when NASCAR will figure out that the part of the year that they probably want to have the strongest TV viewership (i.e the last part of season when they have NFL competition) is the time when they have the NBC/USA package with Jeff Burton (who likely drives viewers away) in the booth. Yes, Leigh Diffey is an improvement over Rick Allen but still...

"https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/mo...S&cvid=690ea0ea71d64c69896828864f93758b&ei=10"

>>NASCAR discovers results of new $7.7 billion TV deal as viewership figures released

...NASCAR secured a colossal $7.7 billion television rights agreement before the 2025 Cup Series season with FOX, NBC, Amazon Prime Video and TNT covering races through 2031.

While the deal brought NASCAR an enormous financial windfall, audience numbers have continued to decline, potentially due to viewer confusion about streaming access and growing dissatisfaction with the sport itself...<<
 
Tumbleweed said:
I wonder when NASCAR will figure out that the part of the year that they probably want to have the strongest TV viewership (i.e the last part of season when they have NFL competition) is the time when they have the NBC/USA package with Jeff Burton (who likely drives viewers away) in the booth. Yes, Leigh Diffey is an improvement over Rick Allen but still...
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Who's in the booth after August is irrelevant. It could be Allen Bestwick, Larry Mac, and the Ghost of Benny Parsons and it wouldn't matter. Football is king, and there's nothing NASCAR can do to pull similar ratings.
 
Tumbleweed said:
Amazon and Xfinity (CW) did well. Cable and broadcast didn't do as well.



>>NASCAR discovers results of new $7.7 billion TV deal as viewership figures released

...NASCAR secured a colossal $7.7 billion television rights agreement before the 2025 Cup Series season with FOX, NBC, Amazon Prime Video and TNT covering races through 2031.

While the deal brought NASCAR an enormous financial windfall, audience numbers have continued to decline, potentially due to viewer confusion about streaming access and growing dissatisfaction with the sport itself...<<
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Nascar's Cup TV deal wasn't colossal. Compared to the previous TV deal the rate of increase was much smaller than the previous 7 year contract and includes a more expensive and complicated way for fans to watch the Cup series. Amazon lost viewership every race they broadcast.
CW who broadcast the Xfinity full season warts and all did well. They were the only network to show an increase in viewership.

Fox/FS-1 who broadcast the Truck series reportedly lost only 5% overall attributed to more races moved to FS-1. FS-1 stayed pretty steady on viewership with the loss coming from Big Fox because of the loss of exposure.

Something like on the Cup side in the last 10 years, the ratings during the revised playoff part of the years that NBC has had have shown an overall decline every year.
So what has NBC done? Moved a chunk of the playoffs to the newly re-organized USA network. A light at the end of the tunnel? USA network has said Nascar, you can do what you will about the "playoffs".
So now we await the next possible cluster Nascar will come up with to alienate or keep more of their declining fan base. The popular path that is overwhelmingly wanted by the fans is a 36 race playoff less full season. Will Nascar have the courage to do so?
 
StandOnIt said:
Fox/FS-1 who broadcast the Truck series reportedly lost only 5% overall attributed to more races moved to FS-1. FS-1 stayed pretty steady on viewership with the loss coming from Big Fox because of the loss of exposure.
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Your ability to spin a negative about FOX into a positive is impressive. Like, you should seriously be working for their PR department.

In 2024, there was only one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on FOX. The rest were on FS1 or FS2.

In 2025, there were four races on FOX and the rest on FS1.

The Truck Series got increased exposure this year.
 
HoneyBadger said:
Your ability to spin a negative about FOX into a positive is impressive. Like, you should seriously be working for their PR department.

In 2024, there was only one NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race on FOX. The rest were on FS1 or FS2.

In 2025, there were four races on FOX and the rest on FS1.

The Truck Series got increased exposure this year.
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Yeah that's a mistake. Good catch. Also good to see the increase big Fox did compared to NBC that shuffled off the Cup races to USA...and kept the gerbils. ;)
 
What I'm wondering about 2026 ... what changes will we see in broadcast booths.

IMO, the changes I'd like to see for announcing booths:

FOX NASCAR: Mike Joy/Kevin Harvick/Jamie McMurray in the booth. Clint Bowyer on pre-race with Shannon Spake and Larry McReynolds.

USA Sports: Leigh Diffey/Parker Kligerman/Steve Letarte. Jeff Burton on pre-race with Marty Snider and Dale Jarrett.

Though I wonder if NBC will allow USA Sports to use Leigh DIffey. Comcast has a thing about not wanting to allow Versant access to NBC talent or resources at all, and having USA Sports be completely independent from NBC Sports, just like MSNBC (MS NOW) is completely independent from NBC News.

CW: Hire Eric Brennan or Rick Allen to call races during the 10 weeks where Adam Alexander is working for Prime and TNT and maybe a little more. AA seemed to be burned out a bit during the TNT broadcasts and late-summer CW broadcasts.

FS1: Hire Eric Brennan or Rick Allen to call the Truck Series races, keep Jamie Little in the pits for Cup Series races on FOX and for IndyCar on FOX.

Prime: Change absolutely nothing. Touch absolutely nothing. This broadcast is perfection.

TNT: Booth is fine. Shake up pre-race and pit road talent. Keep Shannon Spake and Mr. Reliable (Marty Snider) but go from there.
 
StandOnIt said:
Yeah that's a mistake. Good catch. Also good to see the increase big Fox did compared to NBC that shuffled off the Cup races to USA...and kept the gerbils. ;)
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FOX shifted most of their races to FS1 as well.

NBC moving all those races to USA hurt, but the playoffs hurt more IMO.

I think having those races on USA next year will cause even bigger declines, since it's basically a women's sports and entertainment network.
 
HoneyBadger said:
FS1: Hire Eric Brennan or Rick Allen to call the Truck Series races, keep Jamie Little in the pits for Cup Series races on FOX and for IndyCar on FOX.
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For crying out loud, kick Waltrip and Parsons to the curb. Mikey is an unholy intolerable shill, and Phil hasn't said anything relevant in years. The Onion does a better job in the booth, but get someone who has competed in or worked on a race vehicle within the last decade.
 
StandOnIt said:
None of the new channel flipping caused an increase. I doubt this next year will be any better.
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We're going into 2026; if people didn't learn this year where to watch each week, they're not going to bother learning now. Same thing regarding Prime; if people didn't sign up this year, they won't next year. The 'in season tournament' generated less excitement than white-washing Aunt Polly's fence. There's an entire thread regarding how the playoffs don't translate into viewers.

NASCAR probably has its reasons to expect improved numbers, but I don't see any.
 
Charlie Spencer said:
We're going into 2026; if people didn't learn this year where to watch each week, they're not going to bother learning now. Same thing regarding Prime; if people didn't sign up this year, they won't next year. The 'in season tournament' generated less excitement than white-washing Aunt Polly's fence. There's an entire thread regarding how the playoffs don't translate into viewers.

NASCAR probably has its reasons to expect improved numbers, but I don't see any.
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Economy plays a role.
 
StandOnIt said:
Economy plays a role.
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Yeah, but how much more expensive is it to watch Cup under the new contract vs. the old? Is there any new cost beyond $15 each for two months of Prime? Cutting entertainment costs for reasons of personal economic hardship would be the same under the old contract.
 
Start times and networks:


"USA Sports will close out the season with the final 14 races across USA Network, NBC and Peacock, starting at 3:30 p.m. ET on Aug. 9 from Iowa Speedway on USA Network. The season will culminate with the NASCAR Championship airing on NBC at 3 p.m. ET on Nov. 8 from Homestead-Miami Speedway."

I also noticed, watching the basketball games on Peacock, NBC Sports has dropped NASCAR from the opening montage. And no longer has a dedicated NASCAR hub on Peacock. It's now lumped in with Supercross.

This confirms what I read into it a couple weeks ago ... NASCAR is no longer being promoted across NBC Sports properties.
 
HoneyBadger said:


This TV deal keeps getting worse and worse.

Hopefully Versant can strike a deal to get all the races on Peacock or Prime Video.
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To which I asked the question: is this going to be yet another channel we get added to our existing plans or something else?
 
MRM said:
To which I asked the question: is this going to be yet another channel we get added to our existing plans or something else?
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This is the same USA that carried most of the last 14 races this year. If you had access to it then , you should next year.
 
MRM said:
To which I asked the question: is this going to be yet another channel we get added to our existing plans or something else?
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It’s the same thing we have now: USA Network.

Until Versant Media networks are fully spun off and they have carriage disputes.

The biggest change comes in where NASCAR races are promoted and marketed. For all intents and purposes, NBC is out.
 
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