Thanks NBC. Thank you so much for everything you are doing for NASCAR right now. Thank you for taking a product that was accessible to almost everyone, buying the rights to it for ten years and shoving many fans aside in the process.
The fans that NASCAR claim to care so much about. Mandatory Credit: John David Mercer-USA TODAY Sports
While many fans are quick to defend NBC’s coverage of NASCAR, calling it a better experience than listening to the cackling Waltrip brothers on Fox. These same fans are unaware and for the most part uncaring about their brothers and sisters that are unable to watch a race thanks to it no longer being on basic cable.
Sure, fans without cable (NBCSN) will be able to watch select races throughout the season and watch anytime on NBCSports.com. However that hardly seems like the mind blowing experience fans were promised when the deal was first announced back in June of 2015.
“It’s the commitment that they’ve made in terms of how important NASCAR is going to be within the already robust properties that they have, said NASCAR CEO Brian France when discussing why the deal was so attractive to him back in June of 2015.
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Important?
Really Brian France, you want to talk about important? NASCAR is so important now that a multitude of their fans can’t even get the channel on Sundays! NASCAR is so important now that its shown for free on the NBCsports.com. That doesn’t sound important, that just sounds NASCAR is an afterthought to NBC.
Want more proof?
Take Sunday nights Hall of Fame football game between The Pittsburgh Steelers and The Minnesota Vikings. The game was broadcast on both NBC and NBCSN Sunday evening at 8:00 PM ET. For those of you that don’t know what im getting at here, that means that a preseason football game, that will mean nothing in the grand scheme of things, is more important and marketable then the sport of NASCAR.
Want to know what’s worse? Every single preseason game in the NFL will broadcast on a local channel, effectively meaning that NASCAR can’t even compete with a preseason game of NFL football. In fact, only the final three races of the ten-race Chase will make it to NBC’s main channel.
Does that mean a NASCAR playoff race is less marketable then a preseason game of football? It sure looks that way, especially if you consider that the NFL preseason means next to nothing in the grand scheme of things and that the new Chase format is supposed to be the most exciting in all of sports.
Apparently not even four rounds of intense racing action is enough to cause NBC to really bat an eye here. That’s really unfortunate, especially considering all those fans that will be left in the dark for the majority of the Chase for The Sprint Cup. You know NASCAR, those fans you claim to care about?
In fact, what do you say we meet a few of those fans right now. The same fans that other NASCAR fans say don’t exist and that this argument is completely invalid. Well, whether you like it or not NASCAR fans , there are a growing number of you that are unable to watch the race every Sunday alongside of you all.
Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
This is what one fan on NASCAR had to say when the deal was first announced back in June of this year” “Way to go NASCAR. Hadn’t missed a race in 21 years. Now, haven’t seen one the whole 2nd half of year thanks to this sucky TV deal. Why not Fox the whole year, they are obviously better and awards have proven that. I attend live three races a year. But the money I put at the track don’t leave anything left to pay up for sports channel packages. TV deal with NBC is like a suicide move”
Think that’s just one opinion? Well here’s another one for you this time from a fan named Albert who says” Looks like NASCAR and special TV networks are forcing me out! Fan for 36+ years.” I don’t know about you, but Brian France’s comments about how important NASCAR is to NBC is starting to sound like a boldface lie, instead of an honest truth.”
Finally there’s Janice, who commented “Just one more relatively new NASCAR fan who won’t be watching the rest of the season. You guys are idiots for allowing NBC to destroy your audience.” This should go to show everyone, that while some fans are happy with the new deal NASCAR has with NBC, that there are a lot of fans that no longer get enjoy their favorite sport all season long.
And that’s really the saddest part of it all. NASCAR was promised more priority, more quality and the addition of new fans to the sport, but sadly it seems like NASCAR fans and NASCAR itself are getting opposite here. There is no quality here, there certainly isn’t any priority on NBC’s part and thee is definitely not new fans being attracted to this sport.