Throwdowns > Closed

PatsFan21 said 02/03, 01:24 PM
NASCAR absolutely should add more night races.

First off all, let's discuss the football effect. The NFL plays most of it's games at 1 PM ET and 4 PM ET. That is normally when afternoon races start. So the race is competing with a ton of NFL games. On the other hand, the NFL only plays one Sunday night game per week and a few Saturday night games per year.

So more night games would actually be conflicting less with the NFL. With less fans switching to football, that gets more fans watching NASCAR.

The second reason for more night races is appeal to the average sports fan.

What does that mean? Well, NASCAR is trying to expand to get more fans. All sports fan know what NASCAR is, but to truly grab that fan's attention, NASCAR needs to go outside of the Sunday afternoon box. Going out of the box like that could grab the attention of more people and the night race atmosphere could bring in more fans.

Finally, lights will not be a problem. All other sports have to light their stadiums, and yes I understand tracks are big, but they can afford to light up tracks for a few more night races a year.

Bigalke said 02/03, 02:32 PM
You're quick to point out that fewer games are played Saturday & Sunday nights... by the NFL. But with NBC's flex scheduling, you're going up against one of the best games of the week, & prime-time Saturday leaves one competing with the marquee college games that week. Where is a casual sports fan more likely to stop on their TV?

Moving on to that appeal to the average fan, you SAY it would grab more attention. But the question is: have night races helped TV ratings already? When you look at TV ratings, it becomes obvious that the gains of racing under the lights haven't had the boost you assert.

Finally, "lights will not be a problem"? The initial outlay of installing the lights, & then the continued operation costs of pulling many mWh of electricity from the grid, are no small expense. For a sport that has seen attendance figures in decline the past few years and watched its TV ratings stagnate, the cost-benefit analysis across the board shows that:

A) You're not getting any more eyeballs on the TV with night races
B) You're not getting any more people to the track with night races

Bigalke said 02/04, 12:16 PM
Where in the hard data already presented did it show that fans are more apt to watch their favorite drivers in prime-time than during the afternoon on weekends? You continue to assert this assumption without backing it up. As the TV numbers I presented (& you deigned not to dispute) back up, there is no correlation between night racing and dramatic increases in attendance or TV viewership.

Further, you refuse to refute the question of money. Would a night race generate enough gate receipts to mitigate the not-insignificant cost of electricity to operate a full array of lights? By sheer cost-benefit analysis, it would require many thousands more fans in attendance to offset the outlay.

Which seems unlikely, given that you're advocating racing late into Sunday night. Many people are back to work on Monday, leading those potential turnstile turners to stay home. Maybe they'll watch on TV, maybe not. But a saturated market in terms of TV is going to have a hard time generating enough money to do what gate receipts likely won't.

And besides... a few races is excitement. A bunch of night races takes away the luster of a special occasion & makes it an everyday occurrence.