TV TIMES
By Lou Modestino(For 2/26-2/28/2010)
Last Sunday saw JJ take his fifth win at Fontana which is the good news. The bad news is who will keep JJ from taking another championship and prevent him from making 2010 as another boring year for the NASCAR Cup Series? Maybe Kevin Harvick if he and his team can just eek out a lit more power and stay on track.
On the subject of Fontana, observers felt that there were too many empty seats there which is another problem. The Speed Report on Sunday night also dropped a hint that the Spring Atlanta race maybe moved to Sonoma! If Speedway Motorsports, Inc. decides to move that event why won’t it go Kentucky where the SMI Chairman wants to put a Cup race? If Fontana is having a problem selling out two Cup races in hard economic times in the Golden State, wouldn’t it make sense that Sonoma would also have challenges selling tickets?
While we’re at it, talk about possible bad moves of Cup races the ” smoke signals and drums” around NASCAR tell of ISC possibly moving one of the Martinsville races to KC when the KC Speedway Casino gets up and running. If another southeastern Cup race moves out of that locale, that will hiss off more of NASCAR’s core base which still hasn’t got over the closing of Rockingham and N. Wilkesboro and the move of one of the Southern 500 Labor Day weekend event at Darlington to Fontana to this day!
The economy is still in big trouble. Our sense is that all the Cup and NASCAR weekends at the various ISC, SMI, Dover and Pocono events should stay where they are. For now anyway until all of the dust settles. Because NASCAR contributed the dip in ticket sales and TV ratings by making a lot of changes to fast. All that was done by Brian France, who we feel is in the “hot seat”. Yes, the bad economy made things worse. The timing of all this created the “perfect storm”. The results of which has shocked NASCAR back to reality.
We also think that if things don’t turn around for NASCAR soon, Brian may be shown the door. Impossible? No, just take a look at what the Hulman family pulled off recently. They relieved family member Tony George of his heading up the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Indy Racing League due to overspending combined with the lack of attendance at IMS and IRL events. Tony was given a token seat on the IMS BOD but wasn’t happy with that and resigned.
On both the Speed and Fox broadcasts before, during and after SpeedWeeks in Daytona, we kept hearing from the anchors and color analysts that NASCAR is really paying attention to the fans and what they want in NASCAR racing. Well, these complaints were not recent. We can recollect that the same complaints, things that turned of the paying customers, were going on for many seasons. In fact we think it feel on deaf ears. So what made the suits in NASCAR’s front office finally make an effort to turn things around? Their business went into the tank and they finally saw the light. So the next time the fans speak let’s see if NASCAR listens?
Almost 30 million people saw at least some part of FOX Sports’ coverage of the dramatic 2010 DAYTONA 500 that Sunday, a race that lasted more than six hours and included 52 lead changes, a Daytona-record 21 different drivers taking the lead and a spectacular finish as Jamie McMurray held off Dale Earnhardt, JR’s charge in the final laps to claim his first Daytona 500 win. Some of the folks that we spoke to thought that the finish of this year’s Daytona 500 was the best in many years. Nielsen Media Research estimates that 29.8 million Americans watched at least some part of this year’s Daytona 500, a +14 percent gain over last year’s 26.2 million.
Two unprecedented delays to repair asphalt damage on the track totaled almost two and half hours and had a sizable impact on the rating. The race portion of the 2010 DAYTONA 500 broadcast earned a fast national rating of 7.7/16 (13.3 million viewers), compared to last year’s 9.2/19. The delays were excluded from the rating as Nielsen Media Research treats them as they would a rain delay during an MLB game. Not only did fans leave the track, from published reports, and head elsewhere. Many also changed the channel, surfed or just turned the boob tube off and did something else. Some tuned in later and caught the last few laps.
In the 31-year history of flag-to-flag television coverage of the Daytona 500, there have been two previous races that were delayed and re-started and both suffered sizable ratings decreases. The 1995 running was delayed over two hours by rain and the result was a -19 percent decline versus prior year (7.8 vs. 9.6). The 2003 race on FOX was also delayed by rain and not run to the full 500 miles. That race rated -10 percent lower than the 2002 running on NBC (9.8 vs. 10.9). This seems to be a somewhat sugar coated admission that the two delays impacted on the overall national TV ratings by the Fox Sports PR machine.
Despite the delays, there were substantial ratings gains in key NASCAR markets including Atlanta (+11 percent; 11.0 vs. 9.9), Charlotte (+8 percent, 16.8 vs. 15.6), Norfolk (+7 percent, 12.2 vs. 11.4) and Ft. Myers (+12 percent, 10.0 vs. 8.9). Greensboro (NC) led all local markets with a 16.9/28. Charlotte 16.8/30; Greenville (SC), 16.6/27; Indianapolis, 16.0/28; Orlando, 15.4/29; Louisville, 13.3/22; Nashville, 13.1/21; Knoxville, 13.0, 19; Jacksonville, 12.8/22 and Dayton, 12.7/23 round out the top 10 metered markets. We wonder how the TV ratings fared in the major markets like NYC, Philly, Boston, Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, St. Louis, LA, San Francisco, Seattle, Portland, OR,, Phoenix, Dallas and Houston, TX?
Frank Markus, Technical Director at Motor Trend Magazine, has joined the Robin Hood Rally as a Host! Frank has a deep understanding of cars and automotive technology, and the ability to translate sometimes arcane topics for the lay audience. Frank’s abilities have earned him numerous International Wheel Awards and International Automotive Media Awards for excellence in automotive journalism. Frank will serve as the Technical Director for the timing and scoring, and is developing the index formula for equalizing contestant vehicles of widely varying power and weight.
Upcoming Rally Events:
Chowder Club – March 9th, Robin Hood Rally is the featured speaker, 11:30 AM Sardi’s in NYC
Dyno Day – April 10th from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. – Hudson Historic’s in Ossining, NY
Track Day – April 23rd, Pocono Raceway, spectator and pit pass ticket details to follow
1st Race Event – May 21st and 22nd in NH, spectator and pit pass ticket details to follow soon
“It’s always a struggle for new teams, any new business,” said Ken Anderson, co-founder along with Peter Windsor. Anderson is an engineer who has worked in both the US IndyCar Series and Formula One. “Yeah, a couple sponsors have let us down a little bit, but we’re on track. Others, including F1 boss Bernie Ecclestone, are not so sure. “I don’t think we will see the Americans,” he said earlier this month in an interview with UK newspaper The Express. This all came from Sports Business International.
The one hour show will feature highlights from March 3 with coverage of the March 4 race. The Daytona Short Track Nationals have a tradition as two of the most difficult nationals of the year just to make the main events, as over 300 entries are expected over the two days. Speed will capture the excitement and thrills of handle bar to handle bar action on the ultra fast quarter-mile track.
Henry Wiles will make his first appearance of the year carrying the No. 1 plate on his Kawasaki 450 after winning the 2009 AMA Pro Grand National Expert Singles division. Defending Pro Singles National Champion Brad Baker will make his debut on a Honda 450 carrying the No. 1 in the Pro Singles National.
“We are thrilled that our season opener on the new DAYTONA Flat Track will be on SPEED,” AMA Pro Racing Director of Flat Track, Mike Kidd said. “This is a great opportunity for our fans, riders, teams and sponsors to showcase one of the most exciting forms of motorcycle racing in the country.”