The Frontstretch: Dollars And Sense: NASCAR Minor League Confusion? The Danger Of Oversaturation by Jesse Medford -- Thursday April 19, 2012

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During NASCAR’s peak in popularity at the dawn of the new millennium, the sanctioning body managed to negotiate monumental contracts to broadcast virtually every race on network television. Culminating with the current $4.8 billion TV contract that is about to expire, the networks have bundled the NASCAR Nationwide Series and Camping World Truck Series races into NASCAR’s television package with the premier Sprint Cup Series.

This over-saturation of televised racing could have a negative effect on NASCAR.

When a casual sports fan is flipping channels on a Saturday afternoon and stops upon a Nationwide Series race, this potential fan can easily be confused. He is probably used to hearing the name Jimmie Johnson on SportsCenter, but no mention of the Five-time Sprint Cup Champion in this telecast. Yet Kyle Busch, another name that gets a lot of media attention, is racing in many of these Nationwide events as well.

A casual sports fan isn’t accustomed to seeing minor league events on television and doesn’t know how to take a sport seriously, where some of the seasoned veterans will compete in a lower series the day before the main event. And these fans aren’t likely to be waiting the next day in front of the TV to see the big show; if they are tuning in to the Sprint Cup race the next day, the difference between the series other than names of the competitors and the size of the crowd may be all that is evident to someone who is not familiar with the different series or differences between the cars that are competing.

When was the last time you watched a Minor League Baseball game on television? How about the American Hockey League? Have you seen the National Basketball Association Developmental League on TV? No, the WNBA doesn’t count either.

Chances are that if you aren’t an absolute sports nut (like I was in the 1980s), you probably have never watched any minor league sports on television — with the possible exception of NASCAR’s Nationwide Series and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, since you are taking the time to read this column.

I have seen MiLB All-Star games on cable while channel surfing, but have never watched them. I don’t recall ever personally seeing any form of professional baseball being televised, other than Major League Baseball and the previously mentioned minor league All-Star games.

The National Football League did put a lot of money into NFL Europe and that was televised in the United States quite a bit, but chances are it didn’t catch your interest. That league is not operating any longer. Arena football leagues come and go and get some air-time on ESPN, but without having any connection to the athletes, the games aren’t very compelling. And I won’t even get into discussing the Lingerie Football League that just announced they are going on hiatus.

“Hey that 18 car is making clouds again because he beat somebody worse than him. Put the dog show back on…”

Minor league hockey does have some games televised, but the National Hockey League doesn’t showcase the lower tiers in the manner that NASCAR does. The AHL’s Chicago Wolves are a rare exception in minor league sports, as all of their games are televised on Comcast’s Xfinity cable service. This was able to fill a void for Chicago hockey fans when the Chicago Blackhawks wouldn’t televise home games. All the Wolves games have been televised for years. But this is exclusive to one team, not an entire league.

The last time I watched a minor league stick and ball sport on TV, it was the Rochester Flyers in the late 80s, playing in the defunct Continental Basketball Association. The currently operating NBA D-League televises select games on NBATV. The old CBA also did have a television contract with BET, unlike any other minor league sport at the time.

As a child and sports fanatic growing up in Minnesota, I watched it all. If NASCAR’s Nationwide Series would have been on TV as I was flipping channels back then, I would’ve watched those races too too. However, very few people are the type of sports fan that I was at the time.

Although the Nationwide Series is considered to be the minor leagues of NASCAR, there sure are a lot of prime time players who compete at the lower levels. Would Calvin Johnson go across the middle in an Arena League game on a bye week?

Imagine you are a die-hard Minnesota Twins fan (I realize this may be difficult for you). You always try to catch as many televised games as you can. In the midst of that daunting task, you are also an avid supporter of the popular Class-A Independent League Saint Paul Saints. It is early summer and your spouse is growing tired of the baseball, and it’s not even halfway into the season yet. Can you imagine if you were going to make your weekend family plans around a Twins game televised on Sunday, but everyone also had to wait for you to finish watching the minor league events on Friday night and Saturday afternoon first?

That just wouldn’t fly!

This hypothetical situation is much like what the coverage of NASCAR does to a household.

That being said, NASCAR’s over saturation is something that I appreciate very much. I look forward to watching every race. I enjoy watching the daily coverage on SPEED and ESPN2. I even like to watch the practice sessions and qualifying on television too. But who watches practice in other sports? Only the über fans!

No league’s third rung would ever be considered for a full season television contract. But all of the NASCAR Camping World Truck races in the history of the series that began in 1995, have been slotted to be broadcast. “Every truck series race has been televised except one at Nashville that was scheduled to air, but delayed by weather,” Amanda Ellis of NCWTS public relations tells Frontstretch.com .

Same name, same number, same font, but racing against guys who have as many career starts as he has NASCAR wins? The racing world is much different than those of other televised professional sports.

By the time all of these practices, qualifying and opening acts have been televised, most households would be worn out from NASCAR being on TV and ready to do something else with their Sunday afternoon. The spouse of a football fan doesn’t even have to put up with that much coverage. Sure, the fanatics have all day Saturday to watch college games and Sunday for pro, but the football season is shorter than NASCAR.

Coverage of football-themed programs are also put together better because football has a larger viewing audience and brings in more money to the networks. The football news can be viewed just about any time during the season and you don’t really have to sit down at a specific time to watch it. And due to the multitude of games being played on any given week during the season, a fan is conditioned to not have to watch every single game from beginning to end. Most often the entire game is watched only if it is the team they root for, or if it is a game of high importance in the season.

Unlike other sports, NASCAR doesn’t enforce any broadcast blackouts if the race isn’t sold out, meaning fans that live in the immediate area have no incentive to go to the track. All the races are televised in every part of the country during every race weekend. That is every week of the 9-month season, with the exception of two holiday weekends.

If the Sprint Cup events were televised without a fans racing attention being diluted by the previous day’s events, those within driving distance of the track would have more incentive to go to the companion races leading up to Sunday’s big event. As an added bonus to NASCAR, the thrill of being at the race when it is a comfortable atmosphere and not very crowded, also leads to more impulse purchases of tickets for Sunday.

For those who wouldn‘t be going to any Friday night or Saturday afternoon races, but wished they could’ve caught them on TV, NASCAR could head to Sunday with some confidence that the viewers would be thirsting for some racing to watch on Sunday.

It is well documented that NASCAR is deep into a huge ratings and attendance slump. Fans just have too many choices of what race – or alternative programing – to watch. With all of the boring single file racing that has been an epidemic lately and tires that don’t wear out; fans are not glued to their seats any more. They can even get a feel for what Sunday’s Cup event will be like by getting a glimpse of the Camping World Truck or Nationwide Series. From an on track racing standpoint, the action isn’t a whole lot different between the three levels of competition.

Because of all this, it would make sense for NASCAR to make televised racing more special and not all inclusive to each level of racing.

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jason
04/19/2012 10:48 AM
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Less races on tv???? nooooo, I would hate that and it would basically kill the series…you are basically saying NASCAR should get rid of the camping world truck series and the nationwide series. There are plenty of lower minor league divisions that are run not on television and I wish they were from the west and east series, to the modifieds, to even ARCA races, yes I know ARCA is not NASCAR, but more racing is not a bad thing…now whether or not all that racing should be relegated to a certain nascar channel is a whole other topic.

tom
04/19/2012 12:29 PM
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What an absolutely ridiculous column. Without television, how would the camping world trucks and nationwide series survive? As Jason said, apparently you are suggesting that NASCAR needs to get rid of those two series. And if so, how does getting rid of those series help television ratings for sprint cup when the races are on different days and include different drivers and levels of competition?

mrclause
04/19/2012 12:37 PM
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Why do these writers continue to try to lump together racing with ball sports? It’s apples and oranges guys. Trucks have their fan base, NW has it’s fan base, cup has it’s base and draws from the others as well and we as fans will watch each series. This over saturation comment makes no sense with racing. The real racing fans want as many races that is possible. A racing fan will watch most any kind of racing be it dirt, short track, super speedways, whatever. You have never heard a racing fan, a real fan of racing say whoa, too much exposure. They may not enjoy a certain race but, to say too much racing? Sorry, it’s not going to happen. Don’t try to lump us with the stick and ball sports, it doesn’t compute.

Matt L
04/19/2012 07:11 PM
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While I agree with you that practice and qualifying coverage is a little overboard, I disagree on the Nationwide & Truck series. Do you want them to turn into ARCA and Pro Cup? Fans can only see half the ARCA schedule, but fans aren’t beating down the doors for more and tv executives haven’t listened to the handful of fans that do want more.

The ratings are in a slump because there is nothing to see when you tune in. The Texas race was literally just cars driving in ovals repeatedly. The sport itself seems watered-down. We saw the closest driver point standings ever last season, but it had no effect. It had all the hype, publicity – but nothing changed. It’s the strangest feeling I have difficulty typing into words. The whole point of the Chase and points changes was to make this dramatic points playoff. It worked to perfection last season, but carried no momentum into this season. Maybe there is something else that draws fans into the sport besides an intangible points battle.

Steve
04/23/2012 10:04 AM
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Is it an oversaturation of racing or is it an oversaturation of racing at the same track in one weekend?

I would be more interested in watching the 3 series on 3 different tracks in the same weekend than I would watching all 3 on the same track.

I have said all along that the more non companion weekends on the schedule the better. I can’t help but think this article supports that theory.