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Why Nascar is losing fans?


detlef
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It's a funny thing about soccer. If it's some league match or such, I have absolutely zero interest in watching it. If the guys at work are gathered around the TV between shifts watching, I might watch with them for a minute because it's just as much fun to watch them contort and freak out with each play. But still, no interest.

 

And then it comes to the World Cup or Euro Cup, and it immediately becomes appt. TV for me. Sort of the same way with tennis. I never, ever, ever watch it, until it's a major and then I'm catching as many matches as I can.

 

 

Ditto. NASCAR never has nor ever will be my cup of tea. I'd rather watch paint dry.

 

I become a fair weather soccer/tennis fan when the big matches are on. Watched the Wimbledon men's final today, for example. A lot of historic implications for the winner had me rooting for both guys. Pretty entertaining match until Murray was broken in the 3rd set and it all went downhill from their.

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Admittedly my interest in Nascar has waned over the last few years however... Nascar started touting itself as the fastest growing sport back when I was in my late 20's. Being that I am 45 now and the decline started a season or two ago I would say they struck while the iron was hot and made MAJOR bank along the way.

 

ETA:

One of the reasons I have started losing interest is the push away from the short tracks. They did this to build more of the mile and a half cookie cutter tracks which are boring as hell come race day. The thought process behind it was they could get more seats around the bigger tracks and hence more money.

Edited by tbimm
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Admittedly my interest in Nascar has waned over the last few years however... Nascar started touting itself as the fastest growing sport back when I was in my late 20's. Being that I am 45 now and the decline started a season or two ago I would say they struck while the iron was hot and made MAJOR bank along the way.

 

ETA:

One of the reasons I have started losing interest is the push away from the short tracks. They did this to build more of the mile and a half cookie cutter tracks which are boring as hell come race day. The thought process behind it was they could get more seats around the bigger tracks and hence more money.

 

 

Yep, the race at Bristol is by far my favorite.

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Mortality from the meth epidemic has killed NASCAR... That and lung cancer, syphilis, and cirrhosis of the liver. The NASCAR fans are simply dying off in droves or too tweaked outta their gourd to know it exists any more.

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Ditto. NASCAR never has nor ever will be my cup of tea. I'd rather watch paint dry.

 

I become a fair weather soccer/tennis fan when the big matches are on. Watched the Wimbledon men's final today, for example. A lot of historic implications for the winner had me rooting for both guys. Pretty entertaining match until Murray was broken in the 3rd set and it all went downhill from their.

 

I went in to the match hoping Murray would win it for the British fans. But once he started slumping his shoulders and pouting every time he missed a shot, I just couldn't get behind him. It's a shame because he was playing great tennis and going for shots, something he had to do against a guy like Federer.
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I think FOX and the Speed Network and ESPN went all in on broadcasting it to capture the college football demographic between January and August, and eventually realized that it's tough to sell a bunch of billboard covered cars driven by corporate spokespeople driving in circles.

 

It's like the NBA season, or the Belmont Stakes, or the 1600 meters in the Olympics. There are a handful of events that happen in the first 90% of the race that are certainly key elements, but summarizing them right before the final stretch run happens is a lot more interesting than sitting around watching it all.

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Never was a fan. Started watching more motorsports over the last 15 years. Used to love F1 but got tired of the long races and the very limited passing.(Coupled with the single tire season, and other rule changes that seemed artificial.) Also used to watch CART/Champ and some IRL races (not on ovals). But over time lost some interest there as well.

 

Still watch some of the American LeMans series as well as Grand Am racing. Plus several US and world motorcycle road racing series. All of these have better competition, more passing, and generally better racing that F1.

 

I think some have hit it on nose, the increase came during a heyday when many watched, and some have dropped out plus some older fans seem to be turning it off because of the technology, rules changes, and generally homogenized racing.

 

Its great marketing of a relatively boring sport.

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Think what will happen to the golf ratings when Tiger Woods is no longer relevant. You see it now when he is not in a tournament or he fails to make the cut. Fans like this pi$$ me off. They think the sport is only interesting if Tiger is in the mix. This happened to NASCAR when Earnhart was tragically killed at Daytona. Fans stopped coming to the track.

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Think what will happen to the golf ratings when Tiger Woods is no longer relevant. You see it now when he is not in a tournament or he fails to make the cut. Fans like this pi$$ me off. They think the sport is only interesting if Tiger is in the mix. This happened to NASCAR when Earnhart was tragically killed at Daytona. Fans stopped coming to the track.

 

One thing that seems permanent since Tiger's arrival is the changing makeup of the fans who attend in person. There has been a spike in fans not knowing basic etiquette (snapping pics during a guy's backswing, for example), and yelling asinine phrases after tee shots. This only seems to be increasing despite Tiger no longer being the dominant player he was. Hard to say if the Tiger phenomenon was the major cause of that, or if the general dumbing-down and erosion of decorum that is happening everywhere would have naturally affected golf too.

 

At any rate, as a golf fan I can say the game is as enjoyable as ever despite how Tiger is doing. Do the lifelong NASCAR fans feel the same way about their sport? :shrug:

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I'll say this, there's no good reason why I should ever be included as a "golf fan". I played in earnest about one summer and now never, ever do. I've always known who the top guys were and have never spent 5 minutes watching anything but a major tourney. However, to a lesser extent that I do with Tennis, I do pay attention when the majors are going on and will watch Sunday afternoon during the Masters and perhaps another. Whether or not Tiger is in the hunt. I'll also at least watch the highlights on Sportcenter.

 

So, golf can count on me for about two afternoons a year which is exactly two more afternoons a year that Nascar can.

 

Someone mentioned the great marketing. That's exactly what it was and feeds the adage, great marketing is the worst thing you can do for a bad product.

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I like NASCAR as a fantasy fill in for the football off season. You only have to set a lineup once a week and minimal effort is required. I am terrible at it but it does help get me through the off season.

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