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Attendance Woes Continue, Need To Cater To Millennials

Whether you watch the races in person or from the comfort of your own home, one thing remains consistent from track to track, the lack of spectators in attendance. It’s no secret that NASCAR has been struggling with attendance in recent years. Most tracks have resorted to reducing their seating capacities. Daytona, Charlotte, Atlanta, Richmond, California, Talladega, Chicagoland, Michigan, Homestead and Darlington have all reduced their seating capacities significantly.

One of the biggest eye-openers this season was the recent race at Bristol. The track holds nearly 160,000 spectators and to say it was even half full is being generous. In Bristol’s prime, those in attendance would sacrifice their firstborn just to watch a race from the last great Colosseum. Fast forward to today, Bruton Smith might have to start sacrificing a goat in hopes of filling the stands back to its glory days.

Then, there’s Richmond, who took out their entire backstretch seating of approximately 9,000 seats leading up to the race last Sunday. Overall they’ve reduced capacity from over 100,000 seats to just over 60,000. Following the reductions at Richmond, sections of the stands still lacked spectators during Sunday’s race.

Should NASCAR press the panic button? Not yet and here’s why.

We’ve all heard the term “millennial,” which typically refers to those that are born from the mid-1980s to around 2000; I’m one of them. The average millennial, when at a sporting event, doesn’t want to be confined to one seat for the duration of that event. Think of it this way, for most of us it’s a social gathering that happens to take place at a sports venue. For old timers and passionate fans, this might be hard to accept. However, for someone like myself who can relate to my fellow millennials, it’s true.

If NASCAR wants to capture the millennial audience, it needs to take a look at its current racing venues. Most of these venues are no more than a set of metal bleachers thrown up on a slab of concrete, basically a glorified high school football stadium with a racetrack in the middle. This might have been acceptable 15 years ago, but not today.

Many professional sports stadiums are already catering to the needs of millennials. They’re providing millennials with beer gardens and bars that overlook the playing surfaces, locally fresh made food and brewed beers, standing room areas that provide for social gathering spots and networking, WiFi, cell phone charging stations and much more. Daytona Rising is a perfect example of how the sport needs to evolve into capturing the younger audience.

The days of having just metal bleachers at a racetrack need to come to an end. The days of seeing over 100,000 spectators at each race might have actually come to an end, but if NASCAR can bring the desires of the millennials to its race day experience, it might have a chance at capturing their fandom.

Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t the only issue resulting in the attendance woes, but it’s an important one if NASCAR wants to see growth.

April 27, 2016
The White-Zone: Atlanta race fans must drop the excuses and go to the race

“The white-zone is for immediate loading and unloading…” and it’s time Atlanta race fans drop the excuses and start loading into the track.

Let me just start off by acknowledging Atlanta Motor Speedway is not alone in attendance issues. In fact, it’s almost across the board. Percentage-wise, Atlanta probably fills more seats than Indianapolis. However, the issues surrounding attendance at most tracks are the on-track product. Atlanta is unique in its attendance issues.

Atlanta has a reputation for being a lousy sports town. Basically, the only sport people in the Atlanta area care about is college football. The Atlanta Falcons are consistently one of the top teams in the NFC South and could very well make a deep playoff run this season. However, the Georgia Dome is rarely sold out. The Atlanta Braves won 14 straight division titles from 1991 to 2005, five National League pennants and the World Series in 1995, but they couldn’t sell out playoff games during that run. The only series this season that packed Turner Field was when the Braves played the Yankees, and there were far more Yankee fans. The Atlanta Hawks finished with the best record in the Eastern Conference and made it to the Eastern Conference Finals, but Philips Arena was toward the bottom of NBA attendance. I should also mention that Atlanta has been host to two failed NHL franchises, the Flames (now the Calgary Flames) and the Thrashers (now the Winnipeg Jets) because of attendance issues.

Atlanta sports fans are also notorious for coming up with all sorts of excuses for not going to an event. I’ve heard because it’s “too cold,” it’s “too hot,” “I had a party to attend” and my personal favorite, “I’ve still not forgiven William The Conquerer for The Invasion of 1066.” Okay, the last one I made up, but I’ve heard the rest of these on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio channel 90 over the years.

Lambeau Field in Green Bay, Wis. has played host to four of the 10 coldest games in NFL history. The Packers fans not only don’t use the cold as an excuse to stay home, they’ll even get painted up and pack the stands when the temperature is penguin house. The “it’s too cold” excuse is laughable to those who grew up in places like New England where it only warms up two days out of 365 (a slight hyperbole).

I also don’t think you can use the “it’s too hot” excuse when you live in a temperate place like Atlanta. Now I live in Knoxville, Tenn., but the weather patterns between Knoxville and Atlanta are very similar.

I know it seems like I’m nitpicking and picking on Atlanta. Nitpicking perhaps, but I’m not saying all this to be mean. I’ve said everything I’ve said because I really believe Atlanta Motor Speedway is close to being axed off the schedule. If the Atlanta sports fans continue to drag their feet and use these excuses to not attend the races, you eventually won’t have a home track to see the Sprint Cup Series. Knowing Bruton Smith has wanted to put a second Sprint Cup race in Las Vegas, the lack of support from the Atlanta populace will tell him that you don’t mind not having a Sprint Cup race in your area.

Do your part and go to the track in February if you want Atlanta Motor Speedway to continue existing. If y’all start packing the track, NASCAR will begin to seriously consider moving your race to an ideal date. But if you’d rather stay home and complain about the race weekend being too cold or too hot, don’t be shocked to wake up one day and read online that Atlanta has lost its Sprint Cup race.

I don’t want to see Atlanta Motor Speedway disappear. I consider it my second home track and it’s been home to some of the best finishes in NASCAR history. But you must understand that the Southeastern United States is the most saturated race market in the world. From Knoxville, there are eight tracks within a few hours driving distance. As such, it’s important for each track in the South to have a solid local base to fill the seats. With Atlanta being the third largest metropolitan area in the Southeastern United States, that shouldn’t be hard to accomplish.

My plane is about to take off, so I must wrap this up. Until next time, I’ll leave you with this fact. May 29 is officially designated as “International Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day.”

October 14, 2015
Admiring Junior’s Decision While Pondering the State of the Sport

[media-credit name=”Brad Keppel” align=”alignright” width=”227″][/media-credit]One has to admire Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Even though medical test couldn’t show that he had a concussion, he knew something was wrong and the symptoms indicated that he shouldn’t drive a stock car. How many drivers would have come to the same conclusion? If the comments of Jeff Gordon are any indication, not very many would have. The old adage about a good athlete playing through pain does not equate to traveling at high speeds in a Sprint Cup car. I am reminded of a recent conversation with former All-American quarterback Pat White, who suffered a concussion while playing for the Miami Dolphins. When asked if he might suit up again, he commented, “Life’s too precious.” And it is.

The fear is now that Earnhardt will come back too early, and the pressure is on for him to return in two weeks. That shouldn’t even be a concern to Earnhardt. Despite reports that people were leaving the campgrounds upon learning of Earnhardt’s absence from Charlotte Motor Speedway (by the way, I saw no such exodus from the Hellmann’s campground on Thursday. The place was empty anyway), Junior’s health is more important and he is to be commended for visiting Dr. Petty and getting treatment.

The issue of attendance is in play because lately NASCAR’s top series has been playing to less than good crowds. This weekend, the “official” attendance figures were a joke. The Nationwide Series race on Friday night was poorly attended and the 100,000 estimate for Saturday night’s Sprint Cup race was laughable. The campground that I have parked in for several years was nearly empty before the Earnhardt announcement. Once upon a time, you had to squeeze into your camping space, but no more. There was a hundred yards between our camper and the next attendant. It was the same all over the speedway property campgrounds. Traffic was so sparse that for the first time, a quick trip to the grocery could be taken a couple of hours before the race without problems. The reasons are many and have little to do with the absence of Dale Earnhardt, Jr. So what is it?

The NASCAR line is it’s the economy, as we’ve mentioned before in these pages, but it’s a lot more than that. Take this weekend as an example. With temperatures in the low fifties by the time the Friday night race started, many people just decided to skip the event, which was a shame. It was action packed from start to finish. Saturday night was somewhat different. With tickets costing upwards of $100, more people attended. It’s obvious to everyone but those in charge that a night race in October is not the best idea. I doubt that will change anything, but it is a reason.

Secondly, unlike the Nationwide race on Friday, the Cup race was less than exciting. With Chase points so precious, as well as fuel mileage rearing its ugly head, drivers were cautious and not very racy. The race started with a wonderful side-by-side battle between Greg Biffle and Mark Martin and morphed into several runaway leads. The only excitement was who would run out of fuel and who wouldn’t coupled with a final push by Denny Hamlin that fell way short. The Chase has become so important that taking chances and actually winning races is secondary to how many points might be gained on any given night. Headlines from scribes much more talented than me were dominated on how many points Brad Keselowski lost to Jimmie Johnson and how far behind Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth were in the “big picture.” No matter that Kenseth had just won Talladega. He and Biffle are non-factors. Clint Bowyer’s win was only significant because he narrowed the gap in the almighty Chase. Madness.

Attendance at races, contrary to popular belief, has more to do with a championship or a single driver. Each event should stand on its own with every driver not seeking points, but victories. That’s the way it used to be. The winner each week was the champion and got the spoils of victory for the week. Maybe it’s the fact that so many don’t have a realistic chance at victory these days. It wasn’t whether you drove for a certain team or manufacturer. It was desire and ingenuity. And the race was the ultimate in any given week. Those days are gone with playoffs and wild cards, more suited to stick and ball sports than racing ruling the roost. I hope Junior uses his head and makes sure he is ready to race again and does not succumb to pressure. As Pat White would say, “life’s too precious,” and points are only points.

October 16, 2012
The Coke 600: Why Did So Many Stay Away?

[media-credit name=”Credit: Tyler Barrick/Getty Images for NASCAR” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]The weather was perfect, if not hot, and the pre-race show was amazing. No one does the patriotic opening act like Charlotte Motor Speedway, so why was the attendance so bad? That’s a good question that comes in the form of multiple choice. Take any of these and you may win, but picking just one will not answer the question.

The Economy – This has long been the excuse for people not attending the races this season, but gasoline was down to $3.29-3.49 all along the way, with the highest prices being in West Virginia. With the economy improving somewhat, it might be ticket prices which have tripped in 20 years.

The Saturation of Information – No longer do fans have to come to the track to see what is going on. Even though many newspapers don’t send writers to many of the races anymore, we have the internet, Twitter, Facebook, a bevy of television shows, and Sirius XM Radio that keeps everyone up to date. Long gone are the days waiting for SouthernMotorRacing or Grand National Scene to come in the mail. Most fans simply get more information than they can handle. With most of the tracks being built during the boom era of the sport, a lot of seating was the norm. Today, there are just too many seats. Although the official press release said that 140,000, the printed capacity of the track, large blocks of empty seats could be seen in the third and fourth turns, as well as the backstretch. There were lots of fans there, but nowhere near 140,000.

The Racing – Here’s where it gets sticky. Many close to the sport continue to insist that the racing is “better than it ever has been before.” They reference the 1960’s and 1970’s races where only ten cars were on the lead laps and so on, but the truth is, most races have not had the excitement factor we saw a few years ago. Why? Some of it has to do with the pressure drivers feel to make The Chase. It’s hard to be aggressive and rub fenders when one mistake puts you out of the race and not in The Chase. Sunday night, we saw a long train of competitors driving around in line. Most of the small number of cautions were mostly for debris. Many fans left early or spent time in the concourses during the race just to get a break.

The Lack of a Driver like the Late Dale Earnhardt – Earnhardt was unique, but not so far off from the other drivers of his era who were hell-bent on winning a race. In today’s environment, if you make The Chase, you still have a chance to win the title. Witness Tony Stewart last year. Yes, he won half the Chase races, but he overcame a bunch of very consistent teams who sat back and watched the magic Smoke brought to the final ten races. In other words, keep you nose clean for 26 races, make The Chase, and do your work there.

Of course, I didn’t mention Dale Earnhardt, Jr., which is in error. Junior is by far the most popular driver in NASCAR and yet he has a large losing streak that can be counted instead of races. More than a few of his father’s fans picked the son as their favorite driver. Let it be said that Junior is nothing like Senior on the track. Many believe that a win by the No. 88 would cure the sport, but I feel that any revival will come from one or more remedies from above.

There are many who think there is nothing wrong these days, but dwindling ticket sales and TV ratings say otherwise. The early ratings tell us that the Indianapolis 500 drew more viewers than the Coke 600. I find that hard to believe. Has America lost their love of stock car racing?

So take your pick and let’s see what the results are.

May 30, 2012
Excuses Aside, It’s Not the Economy

It started on I-64 shortly after leaving Beckley, West Virginia. The trip to Bristol Motor speedway is only 180 miles, the second closest track (to Martinsville) from my home in rural West Virginia. Stopping at a restaurant in Princeton was all talk about the race coming up in two days. It was Friday and many were traveling to the race. Cars with plates as far away at New York were there, and on a quick trip to the restroom, I got my first feedback.

“This is my last trip to Bristol. I’ve given up my season tickets,” said John from Pennsylvania. “They ruined the track. Used to be the survival of the fittest and now it’s more like the half-miles we see all the time. I may go back to the night race after this year, but they can have the spring race.”

From Scott from Ohio, I heard, “this whole coliseum thing and all the hype is just so sad. When they changed the track, it took away Bristol. Sure there were wrecks and cautions, but it was exciting and it’s not exciting today.” Scott is also giving up his tickets. He plans to go to Charlotte instead. “At least it’s easier to get in and out of that track.”

Finally, I talked to my campground neighbors. One of them, Barry from Georgia, was distraught about how boring both races were. “I love racing,” he said. “The problem with this race is that it’s only 250 miles and used to be lots of action. In the Busch race, it was follow the leader and in the big race, it was the same. The drivers love it, but I don’t. I’m going back to Atlanta. I heard so much about this place and started coming in 2006. I can only afford a couple of these a year and this is not a good value.”

And so it goes. The most discussed topic on NASCAR radio today was “Old Bristol” vs. “New Bristol.” The reason was the lack of fannies in the seats at both the Nationwide and Sprint Cup races. Last year, it was appalling, but this year was worse. No matter what the projections of attendance was, the place looked empty. I know there are 160,000 seats there, but it looked like only a few were there on Saturday and only a few more on Sunday. In fact, friends told me that they had their pick of seats both days. The concourses, once full of people, were sparse and traffic resembled a minor league baseball game. Why has Bristol fallen so far?

Apparently, the track knew what was going to happen. Articles in local papers proclaimed that the economy was the culprit, according to those stories. Yes, the local economy, though bad, is no worse than anyplace else. According to those that know, many suites that corporate sponsors had taken for years were cancelled. Add to that the total dissatisfaction with product among the core fans and you get this reaction. The night race will always be fascinating, but the other races? Not so much. Locals stayed away, but many others did too.

One of the basic principles of entertainment is you have to give the people what they want. You can’t run hundreds of commercials talking about how this is the toughest place to run and then watch two and three wide racing. You cannot let the NASCAR media people, many who depend on the sport for a living, to keep telling fans that this is racing as it was meant to me, and not a demolition derby like we had. Folks, the people paying the bills, liked it the way it was and no matter how much the people at Speedway Motorsports and the talking heads want to spin how wonderful Bristol was since 2009, the fans disagree and they are the ones who pay the bills. If they aren’t happy, nobody’s happy. Brad Keselowski’s proclamation that things change is a typical response from someone who hasn’t studied history. You might say if it isn’t broke don’t fix it. They fixed it and thousands of fans decided it wasn’t worth it. The track won’t change and the crowds will probably be the same as we saw this weekend. What could have been…

So Bristol is over and we head to another track that no one cares about, seemingly even the people of Southern California. We’ll see three-wide racing and a lot of racing like we saw this weekend at Bristol. My heart aches. Once upon a time it was different. We had the bullrings and the speedways and for one moment, someone thought we had to make Bristol like the speedways. And it was a mistake. At least in these old eyes. But there is a silver lining to all of this. I wrote a column last year that said that Martinsville is the new Bristol. I stand by that. It’s a shame that we couldn’t have had two of those, but then again, it’s been the way things have been going for some time.

March 20, 2012
On to Bristol – Will Progressive Banking Continue to Sideline NASCAR’s Best Race?

On Friday, I head to Bristol for the umpteenth time to watch short track racing at its best. I have attended every race at Bristol since 1996, and it is one of the greatest shows on the NASCAR circuit, second only to Martinsville, but it has changed over the years. The biggest change was when the changed the track in 2007 to progressive banking. This made the track, in many fans’ view, less exciting.

[media-credit name=”Barry Albert” align=”alignright” width=”264″][/media-credit]The fact was that the “old” track has just one lane around it and that resulted in what many longtime fans called “banging and beating” throughout the race. With passing being much easier, there are less racing accidents and less excitement for the fans. Those of us who are racing purists (or think we are, anyway), the extra passing was welcomed, but many fans were very upset. In fact one fan told me that prior to the reconfiguration of the track, he had no trouble getting rid of his two extra tickets. It seems that he had subscribed for four tickets in the 1980’s. Over time, his two children grew up and left home, but the two extra tickets could be sold easily because everyone wanted to go to Bristol. Not anymore. For the last eight races, he has not been able to sell his two extra tickets and has notified the track he only needs two from now on. Many blame the poor economy for this, but the evidence show maybe this is not the case.

No doubt, the economy is a factor, but the racing is part of the problem. Don’t get me wrong, I still love Bristol and all it is to the NASCAR nation, but it is obviously not the same. The question that needs to be asked is why to the powers that be feel a need to change something that is working so well? We’ve seen it at other places, and sometimes it’s successful. It’s not been successful at Bristol. As I write, tickets are still available at BMS. Stubhub.com is still filled with tickets for sale just 4 days before the race. Is it the economy or the racing? You fans have to answer that question.

I see the campgrounds with the empty spaces. I see the empty seats and I wonder. Maybe it’s the drivers. Where once Dale Earnhardt “rattled the cage” of Terry Labonte, we’ve seen races that are more like the other races at other venues. No longer does anyone dominate like a Dale Earnhardt, Darrell Waltrip or Caleb Yarborough, but is the racing worse? That’s up to you, the fan, to decide. So what is you’re your reason for not attending?

No matter what happens, progressive banking or not, I would not miss a race at Bristol. The sleepy little town is one of the friendliest places to watch a NASCAR race. Regardless of what happens, this place is one of the jewels of the circuit. It would be a shame for maybe the greatest place to watch a race to be less than capacity on Sunday, I have faith that folks will fill that stadium. And, if not, the conversation will continue. My hope is fans will fill that bowl for Sunday’s race because regardless of the changes, it still is one of the two places to watch a race. I’ll be there, will you?

March 17, 2011