TV Troubles

I will all but guarantee the television ratings for Sunday's NEXTEL Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway will be down, continuing a trend that has gone on pretty much all year.

The Colts and Patriots put on one of the best games in NFL history Sunday afternoon in a contest that will no doubt lead the sports TV numbers this week and crush the NASCAR Dickies 500.

And NASCAR will have no one to blame but ABC.

Sunday's race was about as riveting as it could be down the stretch with a late race side-by-side battle between Jimmie Johnson and Matt Kenseth, complete with championship implications.

But by starting the race at 3:30 p.m. ET, only diehard racefans were watching the finish with most every other sports enthusiasts' sets tuned into the NFL battle of the unbeatens.

Start that race at noon and it's over well before the fourth quarter of the NFL nightcap kicks off.

Networks say they want later start times to ensure the west coast audience can tune in at a reasonable hour. We've had these 3:30 green flags for nearly two years now and guess what - it's not helping.

I have no doubt we'll see more Saturday night races in the future during the Chase as the networks finally realize going head-to-head against the might NFL is ratings suicide. Until then, a step in the right direction would be to start the Sunday afternoon races earlier in the day.

If you live on the west coast, is a 10 a.m. start time really that bad anyways?

 
Posted: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
Comments:
just turn down the TV sound and listen to MRN on the radio during the race if you do not like the TV people
Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
I don't like the later starts, I miss more races because of it. If they start at 10:00 here on the west coast I have a much better chance of watching the race. Maybe the ABC people are too hung over for the early broadcast, who knows. Or maybe it takes them that long to think up the stupid things they say during the race.
Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
I too would love it if the Nextel races were held on Saturday nights for the reasons you gave. Like me, there are far fewer college football fans compared to NFL fans. My second choice would also be much earlier race starts on Sunday. Beginning at 8am or 9am on the left coast wouldn't be a problem for me and most fans. Fortunately for me, I have a large plasma TV on the wall with split screen capability, so I was able to watch Brady and Manning do their thing while still enjoying the race. I see by DJFF's blog that he is starting to notice the indifference and apathetic attitude that Dale Jr.'s team has towards their driver. Try to convince me that Dale's problems aren't propagated from the very top. I've harped about this many times. Thank goodness Dale will be driving for Hendrick Motorsports beginning next year. I don't think there is any doubt that he'll be running neck and neck with Jimmie and Jeff.
Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
The problem with TV is that the announcers are just horrible.  I know that when FOX hands over the TV package in the middle of the season that the ratings will go down.  Nobody has the charisma and character that the people at FOX bring.  ESPN and TNT would be wise to hire the FOX crew for their part of the season also.
Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
Nah, we are used to 9 a.m. College football games and 10 a.m. football games.

BTW - if you start the race at noon ET - it's 9 a.m. here in Los Angeles
Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
A huge amount of the TV problems is the fact of who the commentators(that female really grinds on my nerves and I am female) are for ABC. I hate to see them come on and most of the time DVR the race to watch later so that I can fast forward through all the awful commentators and especially when they move over to the "tech" car as I had enough of that reporter when he was a crew chief. The first part of the season with FOX I really enjoy the coverage as DW and crew keep me interested and make me want to watch the races live. Even the tech tips with FOX are so much better and don't treat the fans like we are all babies... But second half of season with the female and retired basketball nut is so impossible to watch.
Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
Luckily I only saw the first 10 laps on t.v. and had to listen to the last 100 laps or so on MRN (or was it PRN?). I have to say that I thought they did a good job at the beginning of the race with Dirk, and the green flag coming out. On the other hand, starting it that late was a joke. Not only will the ratings die from competition with football, but just think of all those people having to get home super late and then wake up the next morning to go to school or work? I think that's pretty shallow on NASCAR's behalf.

Plus, even Dale Jr's joke of a crew chief had football pulled up on his pit box tv! I mean, they are at the freakin race, sitting on the pit box, about to go green, and they were watching the awesome Tennessee Titans pound the panthers into the ground? What does that say about our sport? If you can't even get a crew chief excited about the race, how do you think fans feel when they can just sit at home and switch channels with ease? I was pretty shocked to see that and I still can't believe what kind of message that must of sent to people at home. I'm sure that #8 crew is trying real hard when they can watch football during the race, at least we know where their priorities are.

Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
I hate late starts, being English and living in the UK, and being a huge Nascar fan, I find late starts a pain. I watch, every week, but the 3.30 start was an 8.30pm in the UK, and it did not finish until 1am.

Night races are worse though, I mean we have to get up at Midnight, and watch until 5-6am that is how bad I have it, whilst I love night races, I love my sleep.

Bring back the 1pm start, then the races start at Tea time and end half sensible, so I can then go get up for work in the morning!
Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
Till NASCAR starts giving points for EVERY lap you lead you will see a decline in TV ratings and attendants. There is no racing in a 500 mile race till the last 50 miles because the top guns are playing it safe by cruising around like Jimmy Johnson did on Sunday. With a point available for every lap lead and 200 + point at stake these drivers would be running all over each other to lead the race
Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
TV times are bad even for us in the Mt. time zone.  I don't watch pro football but love college.  My biggest rub with ESPN/ABC are the announcers.  I can't stand Rusty "guys" and Andy talks like some redneck from the back woods.  Trained announcers should be a must.  At this time of the season we don't need the constant blabber about loose in/tight in the middle can be corrected with tire pressure.  Fans are watching that know all that.  Get controversial.  That attracts viewers.  Talk about manufactors.  Talk about things like what could be done to COTs to make them race better.  Talk about tires and what different makers could do to the sport.  Tell us why a Chevy is better than a Ford or a Ford is better than Toyota or Dodge.  Yeah, I know the basic cars are all the same but why does R. Gordon run so crappy compared to others.  Where are the differences in these guys?  GET RUSTY out of the booth.  Darrell is even better than most of the ABC guys.  I never thought I'd love to hear, "Boogity, boogity boogity" again.
Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
ABC definitely needs to rethink their tv commentary crew.  Rusty Wallace is about as repetitive with his dialogue as a talking doll.  That basketball has-been needs to go back to basketball.  A sport which he may know something about.  Tim Brewer makes his tech talk about as interesting as watching paint dry.  

After over 30 years of watching Winston and Nextel, I've about had it with the sport.  If it wasn't for people like #20, #17, former #6; I would have quit being a fan totally.  We, family, used to attend 3-5 races a year.  Now, zero in the last 4 years.  The chase is strictly a money grab by the Frances and track owners.
It's not worth going to a race and to watch the almost for sure debris caution within the last 10 laps.
Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM
I think we are saturated with all the different types of coverage.  You can get coverage from radio, tv, internet, and then you got hotpass, driver to crew chatter and all the bells and whistles that you can possibly think of, and that just leaves to many options, when we only used to have one, tv!
Posted On: 11/4/2007 11:07:00 PM

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