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We don’t do a lot of posts about the TV coverage around here, because we don’t see much of it live and there are some great sites out there that do a better job (like TDP). But there was a news item this week from ESPN that I thought warranted a little TNI TV talk.
Starting with next weekend’s Brickyard 400, Allen Bestwick will take over as the regular play-by-play voice of ESPN’s Cup Series broadcasts. He replaces Marty Reid who will continue to do the Nationwide and IndyCar races. Bestwick will be joined in the booth by NASCAR veterans Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree, creating what I think will be the strongest broadcast booth in NASCAR.
It seems like in the past, NASCAR always had a surplus of really good play-by-play announcers for TV coverage. Names like Chris Economaki, Ken Squier, Eli Gold, Bob Jenkins and Mike Joy come to mind. It didn’t matter what channel you were watching, there was always somebody really knowledgeable leading the broadcast. Fast forward to more recent times, and things have been different. Outside of the FOX crew, we’ve seen quite a few different PxP guys for NASCAR coverage. Both ESPN and TNT have struggled to nail down that most important spot.
All three networks that carry Cup Series races have taken their lumps from fans in recent years, and to some extent they always will because races are tough to cover with so much happening at once. But for ESPN the move to Bestwick should improve broadcasts dramatically. Bestwick is a veteran and a pro when it comes to covering NASCAR events, having been around the sport since 1986. He’s done everything from play-by-play, to studio shows, and reporting from pit road. And putting him with smart, well spoken guys like Jarrett and Petree will really elevate ESPN’s coverage.
From the little bit of reaction I’ve seen around the internet following the move, it appears as though most are excited by it. And it’s good to see ESPN listening to those watching its broadcasts. I think they will definitely be glad they did.
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Ratings. Ratings. Ratings.
For the last several seasons following the highs and lows of TV viewership in NASCAR has been as much a sport as the action on track every weekend. From NASCAR’s height in 2005 to its lowpoint last season the sport’s media latched onto the storyline of NASCAR’s decline.
The weekly reports of the overnight ratings, the stories about attendance, the surely inexplicable double digit drop in ESPN’s viewership at the end of last season. The sky was falling in all around us and NASCAR faced a future certain to be as bleak as open wheel racing in the United States. Can you imagine having to PAY to get your sport on TV?
And then finally we saw something at Daytona that has continued for the last 13 weeks – a leveling out of the ratings. When FOX ended their run the week before last, they reported a 16% increase year over year. This past weekend TNT reported flat ratings year over year for Pocono.
Suddenly TV ratings have taken a backseat, and NASCAR is looking OK. I know I’m more concerned about exactly what pieces of jewelry Richard Childress took off before he went to pounding on Kyle Busch.
Sarcasm aside, the ratings increase over last year was bound to occur at least in some instances thanks to the pavement issue at Daytona and the rain outs we experienced through the first 1/3 of the 2010 season. Even with that bit of information though, consider that ratings returned to 2009 levels and saw increases of that key 18-34 male demographic by 20% year over year.
These are all things to feel pretty good about. Especially considering NASCAR’s eight-year $4.8 billion TV deal comes up in 2014.
The fact is, TV ratings like all things are cyclical and are very dependent upon who is playing, who is winning and what the storylines are. With 10 very different winners in 14 races and all the feuds and fighting you can handle, this season has provided plenty of intrigue and interest.
And thanks to that, the ratings have been a non-story, even in their improved state. It’s just not as much fun to talk about when you can’t tie them to the impending apocalypse.
As with every sport, NASCAR is far from perfect and has a long way to go to return to the glory days of the mid-2000s. But things could definitely be worse right now. 8.6 million people are still tuning in every week; we don’t have to worry about collective bargaining agreements or work stoppages; we don’t have Lebron James or any “decisions,” and, for the most part, the personal lives of our athletes don’t play out in tabloids or on front pages.
Best of all though, with ratings in a more stable place we can move on to more important things, like the racing. Here’s hoping this trend continues.
As NASCAR continues to look for ways to improve the sport, both on and off the track, one area I believe they are missing a huge opportunity is with their online content. While there are plenty of articles, blog posts, and video clips available at NASCAR.com and the many other racing related websites, NASCAR is trailing most of the other major sports with their live streaming options.
NASCAR’s current online presence is controlled by Turner Sports, a division of Turner Broadcasting Systems, and has been since 2001. In 2008, the two entities extended their online deal through the year 2014. This puts Turner in direct control of NASCAR’s official online footprint.
Currently, outside of the six races that TNT’s RaceBuddy is available online, NASCAR.com’s online offerings are pretty scant. TrackPass offers scanner audio, timing and scoring data, limited MRN/PRN broadcasts, and some weird virtual racing animation called RaceView. There are also some short feature shows and racing highlights available each week. There is however, no way to watch races streaming live online, view archived race footage, or even listen live to MRN and PRN broadcasts and shows.
And compared to the other major American sports, NASCAR is still in the digital ice age. For example, while they don’t offer live streaming video of games online, the NFL does have live online streaming audio for all 32 teams. Major League Baseball has their MLB.TV package that allows fans to watch every regular season game live online, and they’ve been doing so for years. The NBA offers League Pass Broadband that allows viewers to watch 40 games a week live online including full DVR features, plus every game from the season is archived and available at any time to watch in full replay. Even the NHL has Gamecenter that offers live online games, plus they just added a new archive of old and classic games that are available for download. Everyone else seems to get it, except NASCAR.
The biggest obstacle appears to be that NASCAR has several partners in terms of broadcasting, and getting them all to agree on a fair package might be difficult at best. But the one key factor that could change everything is NASCAR. It’s their product in the end, and if they wanted it done, it could get done.
Just to give you and idea about what the networks think, earlier in the season when asked about streaming races online, FOX’s David Hill said that they would not do it, so as to protect their local affiliates. After reading that, and knowing the difficult situation that network television is in, I can understand his position. What’s interesting to note however, is that while he’s not okay showing NASCAR races online for fear of harming his local affiliates, he’s certainly okay “harming” them by allowing Major League Baseball to stream every single game online with it’s MLB.TV package while FOX continues along as part of $3 billion TV contract with MLB that runs through 2013. Good one David.
What NASCAR needs is a comprehensive online package that would allow fans to pay a subscription fee for everything mentioned. Allow them access to live audio and video of press conferences, practice sessions, qualifying, and races online. Make RaceBuddy available for all 36 races. Give them access to listen to all of the MRN and PRN broadcasts and shows. Want scanner audio for every driver you? You got it! Offer several different packages at different price points, and let them choose what they want. There is so much activity going on during the week and at the races on the weekend, and it could all be available for consumption, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, right on NASCAR.com. Cha ching, cha ching!
NASCAR needs new ways to connect with their fans, and they are always looking to expand the sport’s reach. They have a golden opportunity lying right in front of their faces to accomplish both, and they have chosen to ignore it. Somebody please explain this to me.
After six weeks, TNT’s turn at the helm of the Cup Series broadcasts is over. And if you ask me, it couldn’t have come any sooner.
From missed stories, to commercial overkill, TNT’s races were lackluster at best.
Thanks to the wonders of technology (the DVR) and Speed’s Wednesday re-broadcast, TC and I usually catch every race broadcast. Though it’s not something we often write about here (if you’re looking to talk NASCAR TV check out The Daly Planet) I felt the need to express my disappointment with what I saw of TNT’s coverage.
After dumping Bill Weber in the middle of last season, TNT had a hole to fill at play-by-play. While Ralph Sheheen was given an audition at the end of last season, the network settled on MRN and Speed Channel vet Adam Alexander.
Now I think Adam is a great guy. He’s good on pit road, and really a genuinely nice person. Play-by-play however is not his forte. As ESPN learned with Jerry Punch, adeptness on pit road does not necessarily translate to skills at play-by-play.
Not helping Adam’s transition was the lack of communication between the booth and the control room (or trailer). How many times during their stretch did we hear the guys in the booth talking about a driver, wreck, or on-track action only to continue seeing something completely unrelated? This sort of thing is incredibly frustrating to watch (I found myself yelling at the TV) – yet it happened over and over and over.
Let’s not even get started on the commercial breaks either. SB Nation’s Jeff Gluck fully went through those in a post earlier this week.
So to recap, what TNT gave the fans was basically this: Commercials, commercials, commercials, a few laps of racing, commercials, commercials, commercials. Then the broadcast would come back on, play-by-play man Adam Alexander would say, “While we were away…” and TNT would show us the important moment we missed.
The man knows what he’s talking about – as does anyone who has watched these races.
Add all this on top of the missed stories (this shouldn’t surprise me though, TNT has a history of missed moments) – AJ Allmendinger v. Richard Petty comes to mind – and what we have are broadcasts that were nothing short of a disappointment.
Now I’m not saying the FOX and ESPN broadcasts are flawless. They most certainly are not (no live sports broadcast is). They are however better than TNT. If you can get past the cartoon characters, and the occasional over-the-top personalities Fox technically has a wonderful broadcast. This is thanks in large part to their Emmy award winning director Artie Kempner, and the best play-by-play guy in the business, Mike Joy. And if there is one thing the folks at ESPN know how to do, it’s how to broadcast a sporting event (though I’m not crazy about their golf coverage). I’d prefer Allen Bestwick at play-by-play too.
Is TNT unwatchable? I think that’s probably a little harsh, but they definitely have work to do to make their broadcasts better. As Jeff Gluck and John Daly have pointed out, hopefully NASCAR and their television partners begin to realize maybe it’s not the product, but the dissemination of the product that’s driving people away.
What do you think about the broadcasts? What are your likes and dislikes? Which section of the season is your favorite?
I know you’re saying right now, “Journo, what the heck are you talking about?” Give me a minute.
After Kyle and Juan Pablo Montoya got together on lap 103 (Montoya was about to get lapped by Busch who was in the lead), Kyle gave a very snarky interview to TNT. He said:
“Yeah, I guess it was my fault. I’m going to down the straight away as straight as I can be, and I went right across the nose of the 42 for nothing else to do…Yeah, I wanted to wreck myself.”
Kyle was not a happy camper, and rightfully so. As laughably sarcastic as the interview was, I think it was a bit of a breakthrough for Kyle.
How often in the past have we seen an angry Kyle Busch refuse interviews? The answer is a lot. Seldom is there a time I can recall him getting out of a wrecked racecar and giving an interview. In fact we’ve seen Kyle get out of his racecar when he hasn’t had such a bad day and refuse interviews.
This isn’t necessarily a slam on Kyle, he’s an intense guy who isn’t happy with anything less than a win (and he doesn’t want to talk about it when he’s had a bad day). It’s this intense focus and drive that has gotten him where he is today. Still there were/are definitely times it could be toned down (especially for the benefit of his sponsors). I think Kyle is starting to realize that.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence this growth in maturity has coincided with Kyle’s new position as a team owner, and his pending nuptials. Additionally, Kyle’s PR guy Bill Janitz deserves a big pat on the back. The 2009 recipient of NASCAR’s most valuable Cup series PR rep award, Janitz is one of the best in the business – I think we all can agree anyone who can effectively handle Kyle Busch is a master at his craft.
Needless to say, these things and others are starting to ground a still very young driver. This may be a little premature, but I think we’re seeing a guy who is growing tremendously both personally and professionally. Kyle has a bright future – and with a little media savvy he can do nothing but build his brand.
I don’t know about you, but I like this guy who’s willing to do interviews. He gives great soundbites, and let’s his personality show through. And after all don’t we watch for the characters, the drama, and the emotion?
When you watch a race on TV, or see one in person, certain people get the spotlight. The drivers of course, are at the top of this list. Everyone knows them. Team personnel are next, with crew chiefs and a few select crew members getting most of the notoriety. You will also probably notice the presence of the NASCAR officials, whether you know their names or not. There are a few groups however, that get little if any air time, and frankly, go on busting their butts anyway.
In order to have a race that goes longer then about 75 miles, two important supplies are necessary: fuel and tires.
At every race, Goodyear Racing brings an army of guys who’s sole job is to do nothing but handle every race tire used. Truck loads of tires are brought in, along with the teams’ wheels, and these guys work their tails off all weekend mounting and dismounting tires. Each tire must be unloaded, scanned into their system, paired with a wheel, mounted, balanced, and organized. Once it has served it’s purpose, a tire must be rescanned, drilled (to avoid any future use), dismounted, and loaded back up to be recycled.
Goodyear does all this through their small network of regional tire distributors and the aid of Champion Tire and Wheel. Champion’s trucks haul all of the used tires, plus they handle all of the teams’ wheels (with their own small army).
During the race weekend, while workers are handling all the tires, Goodyear also has a team of engineers that work very closely with the teams to ensure proper usage and to monitor any problems.
Besides tires, no race would get very far without race fuel. Sunoco, being the official fuel of NASCAR, is tasked with providing the teams with enough race gas to practice, qualify, and race. While their team of people is much smaller than that of Goodyear, their function is no less important. On the busiest of weekends, enough fuel must be brought in to supply upwards of 150 race teams.
Besides being on hand to fill up the tanks during practice sessions and qualifying, Sunoco has a team of guys that fill every gas can during the race. Once a pit stop ends, fuel runners for each team will take any emptied cans by cart to the Sunoco pumps. There, Sunoco’s guys refill the cans so they can be used during the next stop. Once the race is over, teams then must return any unneeded fuel to Sunoco to be reclaimed.
There are two other groups that I also wanted to point out that serve very important functions.
First, two companies handle the majority of at track radio communications for NASCAR and the teams. Racing Radios and Racing Electronics have people on hand at every race to help support the teams. Their teams can supply and repair any of the radios or components needed by race teams so they can be in constant communication during the practices and the race. While the races are going on, both companies have techs that do nothing but wander up and down pit road, ready to fix any problems.
The last group I wanted to recognize are the TV production folks. In order for NASCAR to appear on FOX, ESPN, TNT, and SPEED, a large corps of producers, audio techs, camera people, production assistants, editors, and more must be at every race. Besides the networks themselves, companies like Game Creek Video, NEP Broadcasting, Broadcast Sports, and others have people and equipment that aid in bringing racing into your home. During the races, we are shoulder to shoulder with camera people, the assistants, and the pit road reporters who bring you all the latest information.
The next time you get to attend a race in person, on any level, be sure to take a moment to look around. There are more then just race teams at work bringing you the show.
The last two seasons have been rough for this sport. Sponsors have left, fields have shrank and teams have folded. Mergers became the new name of the game for many fledgling organizations and layoffs plagued the industry. What NASCAR was faced with was a forced correction thanks to a bad economy. As a result the strong just got stronger and the weak generally got a lot weaker.
On top of a weakened economy NASCAR alienated a lot of fans with the introduction of the COT in 2007. The car, with it’s boxy appearance and rear wing, didn’t sit well with a lot of people. Some have argued that it’s hurt the competition. Whether that’s the case or not is open to argument – I know NASCAR would disagree.
To be sure, the last 10 years can be summed up in one word – change. Over the last two seasons though we have seen a sanctioning body more willing to listen and embrace changes everyone can get behind. We saw NASCAR institute double-file restarts, more attempts at G-W-C finishes and the return to the spoiler.
Their recognition that the sport isn’t perfect has benefited everyone. What I’ve seen over the first few weeks of this season is a sport that is more tough, more rough and more exciting.
While we’re far from where we once were, things are starting to look up. The ratings for this season’s races haven’t been all bad – they were up at Phoenix and Atlanta and they performed pretty well against the backdrop of a compelling USA v. Canada hockey game. The rain delay didn’t help at Martinsville, but overall Fox is down around 4%. While down is certainly not good, 4% is better than the 11.5% they were down this time last year. More than growth, NASCAR needs these numbers to stabilize. Hopefully they’re starting to do that.
On the competition side we’ve seen a competitive Earnhardt Ganassi team and an almost renewed Penske Racing team. In seven races we’ve had five different winners from five different teams. Sure Jimmie Johnson has won three races, but maybe he’s peaking early? All I know is, is I’ve seen some great finishes this season.
Like a recession in the economy, it’s going to take time for recovery to take hold and for the effects to be seen. I’m hopeful after a couple of tough seasons we’re starting to see the signs of recovery in NASCAR.
What do you think of the season so far? Have you been enjoying the season? Do you like the changes NASCAR has made? Has the competition been better?
A Happy Belated Birthday!
I’m disappointed TNI readers. It was our birthday on April 7th and no one remembered – me and TC included. Oops.
As we enter our third year on this project I just wanted to say thank you to everyone who comes to the site, reads the posts, and contributes to the conversation. TC and I have enjoyed our time working on this and look forward to the year ahead.
As always if you have any questions, comments and/or concerns please don’t hesitate to get into contact with us. We’re pretty good about emailing people back.
Thanks again to everybody who comes by. We know your time is valuable and we appreciate you make us a part of your day!
Following Talladega and comments by NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston on his blog, there has been a lot of discussion of the coverage of NASCAR races; more importantly how that coverage is shaping the audience’s perception of what they’re seeing.
All I can say is, it’s about time. Earlier this year I took up the topic of NASCAR and perception. No matter your feelings on the state of the sport, it’s undeniable that the color of coverage shapes what people feel.
Dustin Long interviewed Brian France on the issue of TV coverage. He touched on this issue. He said:
“We fully expect a lot of criticism for any number of reasons, judgment calls that are made, officiating calls that are made and some strategy or policy decisions that are made. We’ve always had that. That’s OK. What I’m saying is in opinions that are under the guise of criticism or being critical that just go on and on and on without much thought that’s different from some policy or rule violation that we didn’t handle correctly, somebody is more than fair to criticize us. It’s just there’s an unprecedented level that occurs when you espouse your opinion about how to do one thing or another.”
If you’re truly being honest with yourself, unless you’re out gathering news, where you get your news or in this case your racing coverage, is going to shape how you feel about it. For instance if you watch the local TV station that is big into covering local crime, chances are you’re going to believe crime is higher in your city. Likewise watching Fox News over MSNBC is likely going to shape how you see issues.
How many times in the last two seasons have you heard about ratings declines, or sagging attendance? The fact is attendance is down in the NFL and ratings are down 6% for MLB on ESPN (we’re no worse off than any other sporting event). If you hear something enough (like this race is boring) though you’ll start to believe it, it’s human nature. The sky is falling, the sky is falling!
I personally found the coverage a little much. I doubt the brass at ESPN was thrilled with it. They’re only driving away the audience for programming ESPN’s already paid for.
The NASCAR writer for the Oakland Press wrote a blog post giving kudos to ESPN for standing up to NASCAR. What are they standing up to NASCAR about? At the end of the day they’re only hurting themselves. ESPN is spending $270 million a year or $2.16 billion (from Sports Business Resource Guide) over the life of their contract for the rights to broadcast NASCAR races. Now you tell me, is it in ESPN’s best interest to say, “hey this product we’re broadcasting is really boring?” I don’t think so.
A couple of weeks ago Dustin Long did a wide-ranging interview about the state of the sport with Larry McReynolds, Kyle Petty and Jimmy Spencer. One of their big criticisms was the negativity that comes out of the sport’s media. While I think this was a pot calling the kettle black moment (they went on to criticize the sport pretty heavily) they made a good point.
Larry McReynolds said:
Darrell has put a great analogy. He goes, if you go to a restaurant and you’ve been going to that restaurant for years and you love that restaurant but you constantly read in the paper, it’s a bad restaurant, it’s a bad restaurant. Eventually, you’re going to say, I’m not going to that restaurant. Even if they rehire a complete new chef, staff, you’re still going to be hesitant about going back to that restaurant.
From time to time I like to watch old races and I’ll be honest with you, it really doesn’t look all that different. There aren’t constant battles for the lead, races do sometimes get spread out, and sometimes one car just dominates. The one big difference is you don’t hear Eli Gold or Ken Squier or Bob Jenkins criticizing the product. If you don’t believe me, track down a race from 10 or 15 years ago.
I don’t mean to suggest that NASCAR fans are more susceptible to this. But I do believe that this negativity runs rampant around here; more so than in other sports. When was the last time you were watching an NFL game and heard Joe Buck say how boring it was?
I think just like in every other sport, announcers need to walk a fine line. Criticize the league or sanctioning body for controversial decisions, fine; don’t drive fans off though by criticizing the product.