The Attendance Thread

Team Penske said:
Who cares about empty seats? The cars race on the track and in my opinion the tracks are to big. Dega and Daytona sell out but that is because of the predictability of the big one and I believe that is the draw for those tracks, not the actual racing itself. 1.25 should be the largest and then should also have a chicane to bust up the straights. JMO
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Jumps next week?
 
Ventisca said:
Ian has a POV, perhaps it was a bad experience with a fan at a NASCAR track. :D

His provocative and passive aggressive tone is a counterpoint to many opinions on here. IMHO
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I do wish I could be as direct as I am in the real world but unfortunately that isn’t possible so I have to fly a circuitous route often times.

I attended BIR when it was like a bigger version of a local short track and BMS with a mob of 150k and enjoyed myself but in different ways. The main thing that put a halt on me going to the track was the CoT. I am not a fan of the car currently in use either.

For the most part I enjoyed the racing in 2017-18 so seeing the slowed down non responsive cars this year has not been great for me. I just hope the rules don’t ruin Bristol like they did at Martinsville for me as IMO it wasn’t a good race.

I still like to keep an eye on NASCAR on track and with ratings, attendance and overall interest and trends.
 
StandOnIt said:
yep it is what most of us have been saying for awhile about the crowds, they are fairly typical of today's attendance..but some who are trying their best to create drama, constantly refer to days and times of old to make their tired same ol same ol we already know that drama. Motorsports in general has suffered declines, MLB BTW had their lowest attendance average in 15 years..but according to a poster here they had good revenues..same for Nascar.
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I believe you said it best...

StandOnIt said:
It seems to be the fall back for some when everything else fails or an epic fail..compare stick n ball to racing. ;)
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It'll be pretty embarrassing to see a race with 40k spectators in the world's largest stadium, but almost any other short track would have a sellout with 40k spectators.
Several tracks have removed seats, but it's not really possible to do that at Bristol.
 
Team Penske said:
The tracks just can't draw the fans like the old days mainly because the young people ( 30 and under) are living in their parents basement just can't afford it. But cell phones rule.
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People my age (under 30) don’t have a problem spending money on a experience. Stadiums, arena’s and tracks are changing. There’s more suites, club areas and more open space to socialize. Young people want to watch, go back to the suite or the social area grab a beer and chat with their friends for a while and then go back
 
I just read an article from 3 years ago where concern was expressed about attendance being only 70k at the 2016 Bristol spring race.

I don’t think data from 3 years could be considered days of old. If the race today drops by half from 2016 something is really wrong.
 
rowdy3 said:
People my age (under 30) don’t have a problem spending money on a experience. Stadiums, arena’s and tracks are changing. There’s more suites, club areas and more open space to socialize. Young people want to watch, go back to the suite or the social area grab a beer and chat with their friends for a while and then go back
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Nascar tracks can’t even get reliable internet to the fans in attendance. This has been a known issue for years and something young people demand.
 
IanMcVittie said:
Nascar tracks can’t even get reliable internet to the fans in attendance. This has been a known issue for years and something young people demand.
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Most people my age just don’t care about going to games. They’ll go just to drink and chill

You’ve gotta remember we’re the most educated age group in history. So when you’re used to going to your colleges games with friends it’s more to socialize than to actually watch
 
Mispeedway15 said:
Most people my age just don’t care about going to games. They’ll go just to drink and chill

You’ve gotta remember we’re the most educated age group in history. So when you’re used to going to your colleges games with friends it’s more to socialize than to actually watch
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This kind of thing is interesting for me to learn. It could really change the landscape of professional sports in the next decade.
 
I wonder how long it will take the NASCAR homers, like Dave Moody, to blame the fans for not showing up at the track on Monday if anyone wants to chat about how the stands look today. It would be a hard sell to get someone who wasn't a fan about a decade ago to believe that 150,000 people used to attend races there.
 
Towmater said:
I wonder how long it will take the NASCAR homers, like Dave Moody, to blame the fans for not showing up at the track on Monday if anyone wants to chat about how the stands look today. It would be a hard sell to get someone who wasn't a fan about a decade ago to believe that 150,000 people used to attend races there.
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I thought you never watched races anymore, You worked on a truck or something.
 
Just tuned in. As someone who began watching in the early 90s and got to experience the boom in popularity reach its peak its amazing to see THAT many empty seats as Bristol.
 
Don't really pay attention to the stands but that was pretty bad. Bristol should only have the night race if no one is going to show up to this race .
 
Simple Fan said:
Don't really pay attention to the stands but that was pretty bad. Bristol should only have the night race if no one is going to show up to this race .
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I agree that it looked awful but in reality attendance was probably similar to Martinsville but Martinsville only holds 44k. It is shocking to see to see Bristol so empty though.
 
mack said:
I thought you never watched races anymore, You worked on a truck or something.
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I put in the covered boat dock at our lake house last year. Been watching the races this year. I don't need to work on my 1977 Ford Bronco, nor my 2018 F150. Both have been running fine. The Bronco only has 7000 miles on the rebuilt engine I put in.

This sums up the crowd of yesteryear and the crowd of today...
 
People always talk about how NASCAR has done so much wrong which has in turn caused this attendance/popularity drop.

But.....

In the past 5 years or so Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart retired.

These were 3 of the most popular drivers of all time.

When they left so did alot of their fans. Myself included for the most part.
 
Johnny G said:
People always talk about how NASCAR has done so much wrong which has in turn caused this attendance/popularity drop.

But.....

In the past 5 years or so Dale Earnhardt Jr, Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart retired.

These were 3 of the most popular drivers of all time.

When they left so did alot of their fans. Myself included for the most part.
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The downturn started long before these 3 retired
 
carolinabuff said:
The downturn started long before these 3 retired
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It did but i think those 3 retiring was huge to the sport.
For 20+ years i hardly missed a lap. Since Jr retired i hardly watch anything besides the last few laps most weeks if im.home for it.
Two guys i met through work: one a jeff gordon fan the other a tony stewart fan can tell the same story as me.
 
IanMcVittie said:
What is the positive spin on attendance today?
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Unlike trolls, I actually watch the races. So my attendance in my recliner was 100%. The lack of people attending races doesn't affect my enjoyment if the race. I don't tune in to be shocked and come in here and act like it's the end if the world. So there's your answer skoalianpunk.
 
IanMcVittie said:
Apparently a lot of fans that used to go to the track and watch on TV.
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i-see-what-you-did-there-meme.jpg
 
mack said:
Unlike trolls, I actually watch the races. So my attendance in my recliner was 100%. The lack of people attending races doesn't affect my enjoyment if the race. I don't tune in to be shocked and come in here and act like it's the end if the world. So there's your answer skoalianpunk.
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We have something in common - I watched the race too. I did not watch it in a recliner though.
 
Simple Fan said:
Dale died and Bill Elliott retried and you probably won't find any bigger fan bases than what they had but the sport had fans pouring in at that time. I think its more to do with stage racing and playoffs than drivers retiring.
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I still think the 3 biggest factors in order were:
1. Pulling 3 races out of Rockingham/Darlington
2. The implementation of the Chase
3. The COT

The timing of the first 2 coincided with the start of the downfall and the COT happened a few years after that.
 
Johnny G said:
It did but i think those 3 retiring was huge to the sport.
For 20+ years i hardly missed a lap. Since Jr retired i hardly watch anything besides the last few laps most weeks if im.home for it.
Two guys i met through work: one a jeff gordon fan the other a tony stewart fan can tell the same story as me.
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Well, we could just say that Bristol isn't NASCAR country but that would be a lie. The change of the track from the Bristol of old to today's Bristol have run a ton of people off.
 
mack said:
Unlike trolls, I actually watch the races. So my attendance in my recliner was 100%. The lack of people attending races doesn't affect my enjoyment if the race. I don't tune in to be shocked and come in here and act like it's the end if the world. So there's your answer skoalianpunk.
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I really enjoyed the race today and rated it a 9 so obviously I don’t let crappy attendance impact the enjoyment of a race either.

You are an upbeat guy and normally have a positive spin for everything which is why I asked my question.
 
carolinabuff said:
I still think the 3 biggest factors in order were:
1. Pulling 3 races out of Rockingham/Darlington
2. The implementation of the Chase
3. The COT

The timing of the first 2 coincided with the start of the downfall and the COT happened a few years after that.
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The arrogance NASCAR brass had during those times was astounding. They really thought they they knew better than anyone else and we are still paying the price for it
 
I was shocked to see all the empty seats today. I flew out from Cali to see Bristol in 97/99 and they had bigger crowds on Friday for practice and qualifying than they had today.:eek:
 
Simple Fan said:
Dale died and Bill Elliott retried and you probably won't find any bigger fan bases than what they had but the sport had fans pouring in at that time. I think its more to do with stage racing and playoffs than drivers retiring.
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I agree stage racing and playoffs is a big deal. But not having Dale Jr, Gordon, Tony, Carl, Matt, etc not there hurts things.
 
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