Nascars latest inititive?.. Do a TV Blackout on race day

[Fred Basset]

for the local area so that people have to go if they wanna see the race just like the NFL. I'm sorry but that will still not get the fans back :laugh:

BRIEF: TV blackout would benefit tracks, Smith says

by David Poole, The Charlotte Observer, N.C. , The Charlotte Observer


Updated: January 21, 2009, 9:30 AM EST

Jan. 20--Speedway Motorsports Inc. chairman Bruton Smith said he thinks NASCAR should follow the NFL's lead when it comes to blacking out races in a track's local area when the event is not sold out.

"That's exactly what should happen," Smith said. "It worked for the NFL, so you have a forerunner there who has done it successfully."

Smith said he doesn't know how big of an area should be blacked out around a track that has not sold out its event. NASCAR's network television package does not have blackout provisions.

"I think it would be beneficial to speedways," Smith said. "If it's blacked out and people who live close by say they're going to sit home and watch it, they wouldn't get to see it."

[trumperZ06]

:rolleyes: That's a Great Idea !!!

:p : Next, NA$CAR will lose the Television contracts.

[colinspooky]

is joke, no? :confused:

[djhany]

a timeless idea we could say :D

[RaceFanStan]

1. Bruton Smith is not a true friend of NASCAR.
Bruton Smith uses NASCAR to fill his SMI bank acoount.
Anything good for Bruton Smith & SMI may not be good for NASCAR.
Ultimately NASCAR will make the final decision. http://www.motorsportforum.com/forums/images/icons/tongue-anim.gif
2. I doubt the sponsors would like their tv audience being blacked-out.
NASCAR will be wanting to please their sponsors.
Bruton Smith's vision of a black-out has no merit IMO. http://www.motorsportforum.com/forums/images/icons/tongue-anim.gif

[jslone]

Bruton SMith fails to realise that some nfl teams are just plain bad and the blackouts really did not help them(Detroit comes to mind).The Cards this year turned things around,but if your a bad team,the blackouts really dont matter.

[Sparky1329]

:rolleyes: That's a Great Idea !!!

:p : Next, NA$CAR will lose the Television contracts.

A blackout would probably be the straw that broke the camel's back for quite a few fans as well. Very stupid idea.

[RaceFanStan]

Paul Brooks, the NASCAR senior vice president who oversees its broadcasting efforts, said such blackout would create too many problems ...

"TV partners, advertisers, ratings, team and event sponsors would all be negatively impacted...

"We need to continue to find ways to bring our fans even more television, Internet, radio and new-media coverage and continue to remind fans that the ultimate NASCAR experience will always be sitting in the grandstands watching that race live."

==============================
George McNeilly, senior director for communications for ESPN, echoed Brooks' position.

"We all want to see growth in both attendance and television ratings," McNeilly said.
"We will continue to work with NASCAR and race tracks to find mutually beneficial solutions that do not involve blacking out our telecasts."
==============================
copied from that's racin'.com :
http://www.thatsracin.com/247/story/21830.html

[jslone]

they can start by lowering ticket prices.

[muggle not]

By mid-season Brian will be gone.

[RaceFanStan]

Even if Brian leaves now, his destruction will endure ... :s

[Sparky1329]

By mid-season Brian will be gone.

I wish. He's already done way too much damage.

[slorydn1]

The only reason the blackout works at all for the NFL is because, yes, your home game gets blacked out, but a fan still gets to see various other games that weekend.
If you black out the race, well that's the only game in town, so the sponsers do not get any "eyeball" time from the fans in that geographic area, so they lose money. So, the fans AND the sponsors will be pissed..No way would it work for NASCAR

[Lee Roy]

The only reason the blackout works at all for the NFL is because, yes, your home game gets blacked out, but a fan still gets to see various other games that weekend.
If you black out the race, well that's the only game in town, so the sponsers do not get any "eyeball" time from the fans in that geographic area, so they lose money. So, the fans AND the sponsors will be pissed..No way would it work for NASCAR

Very sharp thinking. Thanks.

[Mark in Oshawa]

NASCAR never considered the blackout. NEVER. Bruton was just tossing it out there because it would maybe help him with his flagging numbers in Atlanta and Charlotte in the fall. Bruton does things like this I think to see if anyone is paying attention.

As for Brian....as dumb as people think he is he was very quick to point out that it would be bad for the fans and that it wasn't being considered. See...even a blind squirrel finds a few nuts...

[call_me_andrew]

The only reason the blackout works at all for the NFL is because, yes, your home game gets blacked out, but a fan still gets to see various other games that weekend.

I'm not sure I would reach that same conclusion. When my team gets blacked out, I don't find another game to watch; I listen to the game on the radio.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Andrew...the point is in your case, you are NOT buying tickets to go. Just as the idiot running the CFL up here had to figure out after 20 years. They blacked out home games for so long that eventually a whole generation of kids got hooked on NFL football or other sports and forgot the Canadian game, which entertained their fathers and is now entertaining THEIR kids.....

It isn't a good strategy to black out anything in an area where you want to sell the sport as a whole. It is a short term solution at best.

[muggle not]

http://hamptonroads.com/blogs/dustin-long (http://hamptonroads.com/blogs/dustin-long)
Fox boss defends starting times, rips Bruton and questions NASCAR (http://hamptonroads.com/2009/01/fox-boss-defends-starting-times-rips-bruton-and-questions-nascar)

David Hill is responsible for what you see on Fox’s broadcast of NASCAR races in his role as Fox Sports Chairman and CEO and he doesn’t hold back on his opinions.
He rips Bruton Smith for suggesting NASCAR should blackout races in local markets. That's not all. Don’t like the race starting times? Hill wants to make them later. Don’t like the points system. Neither does Hill. Don’t like all those commercials. Sorry, but they pay the bills. And on and on Hill goes when he has the time.
Those are just some of the things we talked about in a phone interview Wednesday night for a future story. Here’s some of what he said in regards to racing and TV broadcasts.

Q: What did you think about Bruton Smith’s idea of blacking out races in local markets if the events are not sold out?

HILL: “I thought it was total bull … It just upset me. The fans have made Bruton a multi-billionaire. What he in effect was saying by blacking out, “Well, I don’t want the fans who can’t come and pay my money to watch the racing in Charlotte.’ I thought he had absolutely turned his back on the fans to do that. Let’s face it, there’s people who might not be able to afford to come. Just because he’s not making his numbers, why the (heck) should be disenfranchise people who live near the tracks and for one reason or another can’t make it there?

Q: There are a lot of people, particularly on the East Coast, who do not like the later starting times, do those later starting times still work for you and Fox?

HILL: I would like to see the races later in the day. That’s just simply because the later you go, the greater HUT (houses using televisions) levels you have. The greater HUT levels, the greater ratings you’re going to get. It stands to reason that at one o’clock on the afternoon that a lot of people are out and about and then as the day gets later and later, obviously more people go in. I would like to see late afternoon starts with the checkered around a quarter till eight (to lead into prime-time programming). I have communicated this on any given number of times to NASCAR, which was fallen on deaf ears.

“The one thing I’m pleased about is that they have changed the schedule. We had this absolutely ridiculous situation where the third week was a bye. The first time that happened I was told it had to do with phases of the moon. I thought, OK. I had never ever heard that before. Now, engineers have told me that sunspots are going to destroy the telecast but I’ve never heard phases of the moon. The second year around when I was told that … there was a free and frank exchange of views and I’m pleased to say that the problem with the moon obviously has been rectified because we now don’t have that third week bye. That really impacted us badly. We got off, we had Daytona and then would have the race in Fontana and there would be nothing. Changes like that in NASCAR happen with glacier speed, and I just hope with a little bit of financial uncertainity that the powers-to be at NASCAR realize that if they have to make changes, they make changes.

[call_me_andrew]

He has a point. That early bye-week was just a waste.

[Mark in Oshawa]

He is of course techinically right on the ratings being higher for late afternoon races on Sundays. However, I think at some point the fans in the stands should have a say and I know most of them would go for Sunday at 1 as always. I for one hate watching racing over Sunday dinner. I want to watch my racing and then eat. If I was at the track, getting out as the sun goes down and I am to get travelling home wouldn't make me happy.

Hill can say what he wants, but he will pay for the rights what he pays because someone else will want those rights for almost the same money if he walks away. That much we saw with NBC and ESPN/ABC going for the 2nd half of the season. The first half of the season is a little more lucrative.

Hill is playing tough guy and is dead on the money when it comes to Bruton but it doesn't alter the fact that his broadcasts are a little over the top lately and don't need to drag out til 8pm on Sundays.