Why is NASCAR healthiest in the west?

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29-4

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Consistent good crowds at Vegas led to a second race, Phoenix generally has good attendance for it's two races, and heard here that California is likely to sell out. It seems like a different picture than Nascar faces in the rest of the country, even if it's anecdotal evidence. Is the market not as saturated? Is the 'car culture' hanging on better there? It seems this region should offer insights on how to restore the sport to it's former glory.
 
29-4 said:
Consistent good crowds at Vegas led to a second race, Phoenix generally has good attendance for it's two races, and heard here that California is likely to sell out. It seems like a different picture than Nascar faces in the rest of the country, even if it's anecdotal evidence. Is the market not as saturated? Is the 'car culture' hanging on better there? It seems this region should offer insights on how to restore the sport to it's former glory.
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JMO but Fontana used to have 2 races and 90,000 seats and now has 1 race with 68,000 seats and is in a metro area with a population of 20 million. If they can't sell out a race IDK who can. Phoenix used to have close to 80,000 seats but has been enhanced down to 51K and doesn't sell out but Vegas still has 123,000 seats and even though it doesn't sell out there still are a lot of fans on hand. I suspect many of them are freebies through the casinos but I may be 100% wrong.
 
Good weather + removing of stands.

I also wouldnt doubt with a strengthening economy more folks can or are willing to spend money.
 
Okay, maybe my theory is wrong ;). I actually forgot about Fontana's loss of a race. Still, the remaining races seem to do well relative to tracks in the rest of the country.
 
Which is why it makes little to no sense why ISC doesn't build a track in Denver or the Northwest.
 
AuzGrams said:
Which is why it makes little to no sense why ISC doesn't build a track in Denver or the Northwest.
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They tried here in the NW, south and north of Seattle ,during the boom years, but the deal never came together. I agree that Denver should have been an even bigger priority. Now I question when and if we will ever see another new Cup-level facility built anywhere.
 
DUN24 said:
fml
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funny-gif-paycheck-burning-crying.gif
 
AuzGrams said:
Which is why it makes little to no sense why ISC doesn't build a track in Denver or the Northwest.
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gnomesayin said:
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They tried here in the NW, south and north of Seattle ,during the boom years, but the deal never came together. I agree that Denver should have been an even bigger priority. Now I question when and if we will ever see another new Cup-level facility built anywhere.
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I never understood why they didnt build something near Seattle. It would have been good for Canadian market development too.
 
I'm still ticked they never got the approvals to build that 3/4 mile track in Staten Island, NY. It would've been great and fans could've made a vacation in NYC out of it.

NASCAR needs more short tracks.
 
Greg said:
I never understood why they didnt build something near Seattle. It would have been good for Canadian market development too.
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For the same reason baseball isnt played much in england.
 
ChexOrWrex said:
For the same reason baseball isnt played much in england.
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Maybe, but I think they could have made it work there. Besides by the same type of thinking shouldn't attendance boom at Indianapolis for the Brickyard?"Lots of love for speed there and existing infrastructure.
So I stand by the thought, a good venue should sale anywere in the continental 48.
 
NJJammer said:
I'm still ticked they never got the approvals to build that 3/4 mile track in Staten Island, NY. It would've been great and fans could've made a vacation in NYC out of it.

NASCAR needs more short tracks.
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I think it was all the rules, bylaws, noise stipulations and a gigantic amount of hoops to jump thru..... can you imagine what you would have to go thru to build track in Staten Island?????? Just the price of the land would be enough to bankrupt everyone except ISC. and Bruton........ nah...... never figured on that happening.........
 
ChexOrWrex said:
For the same reason baseball isnt played much in england.
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Nah, the region is large enough that there exists a racing fanbase that would support it well. However, getting the project sited and approved over the concerns of the 80% of the population that isn't interested is the obstacle.

Greg said:
I never understood why they didnt build something near Seattle. It would have been good for Canadian market development too.
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ISC had a plan, politicians killed it because it required a large amount of public financing. They may have been correct to do so, as most objective studies show that public financing of sports facilities is not worth it in terms of economic benefit. ISC wanted to build another "cookie cutter" of course. I don't bemoan that it didn't happen. Other developers were interested in building something a bit smaller scale with a .75 to 1.25 mile configuration. That would have been cool.
 
NJJammer said:
I'm still ticked they never got the approvals to build that 3/4 mile track in Staten Island, NY. It would've been great and fans could've made a vacation in NYC out of it.

NASCAR needs more short tracks.
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Thank god it never happened. That track would be demolishing seats faster than the NYPD demolishes doughnuts by now. It would have been the ultimate black mark on the sport.
 
Acs said:
Thank god it never happened. That track would be demolishing seats faster than the NYPD demolishes doughnuts by now. It would have been the ultimate black mark on the sport.
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From what I've read about that long abandoned pipe dream of Brian's was that the track was to host two to three races a season. Pocono and Dover would have most likely lost a race but I do think a 3/4 mile track would have been relatively successful unless they charged ridiculous prices for seats and RV parking.

My biggest gripe is the track would have only been a 20 minute ride from my current location.
 
Acs said:
Thank god it never happened. That track would be demolishing seats faster than the NYPD demolishes doughnuts by now. It would have been the ultimate black mark on the sport.
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Attendance and ratings would have been fine. I doubt you know much about the area and how little of the region's population would be needed to make for successful events. Getting it financed (they wanted a huge amount of public money of course) and constructed due to land costs, traffic concerns, etc. was the obstacle.
 
gnomesayin said:
Attendance and ratings would have been fine. I doubt you know much about the area and how little of the region's population would be needed to make for successful events. Getting it financed (they wanted a huge amount of public money of course) and constructed due to land costs, traffic concerns, etc. was the obstacle.
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If middle of the road rock bands and rappers can routinely sell out Madison Square Garden in NYC and arenas in Newark, NJ and Brooklyn, NY which are just miles away, I have no reason to believe that a NASCAR race in the largest metro area of the USA would have trouble selling it's 70-80K seats twice a year.

MetLife Stadium in NJ (within spitting distance of Manhattan) sold over 80K tickets for WrestleMania! :confused:
 
The Nature Boy said:
There are 10 million people just in the New York Metropolitan area and millions more within a couple of hours drive. Selling out a 50,000 person track in New York would really not be that difficult.
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20.2 million people
The MSA definition is titled the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, and includes a population of 20.2 million people by 2015 Census estimates, roughly 1 in 16 Americans and nearly 7 million more than the second-place Los Angeles metropolitan area in the United States.
 
NJJammer said:
20.2 million people
The MSA definition is titled the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, and includes a population of 20.2 million people by 2015 Census estimates, roughly 1 in 16 Americans and nearly 7 million more than the second-place Los Angeles metropolitan area in the United States.
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Thanks for the correction. The city itself is 8.5 million.

People forget how massive New York is.
 
NJJammer said:
20.2 million people
The MSA definition is titled the New York-Newark-Jersey City, NY-NJ-PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, and includes a population of 20.2 million people by 2015 Census estimates, roughly 1 in 16 Americans and nearly 7 million more than the second-place Los Angeles metropolitan area in the United States.
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20 million folks and I bet you it would be hard to draw 50,000...... maybe even 40.....
 
ChexOrWrex said:
But can you do this

faucet-running-water-shutterstock_153406115.jpg
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I drink plenty of water. We might be slowly dying of thirst as a whole though. We need a couple more winters like this one to climb out of the hole imo.
 
kymartin6 said:
20 million folks and I bet you it would be hard to draw 50,000...... maybe even 40.....
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The argument is moot since the track was never built and ISC sold the land in Staten Island.

But just to give a few examples from last year:

New York Yankees: 37K average attendance for 81 home games
New York Mets: 34K average attendance for 81 home games
New York Giants: 78K average attendance for 8 home games
New York Jets: 78K average attendance for 8 home games

This doesn't include the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets, New York Rangers, New York Islanders, New Jersey Devils, New York Red Bulls, New York FC Soccer and other sporting events. There is plenty of demand for sports entertainment and money for it in the area.
 
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