Fixing NASCAR: Television
Of the thousands of e-mails and comments we receive at the RacingOne editorial offices, television coverage is by far the most popular topic.
Fans are passionate about the way the sport is covered and judging by what we saw, and heard in 2007, it wasn't a great year for the networks that bring NASCAR coverage to viewers.
The biggest complaint from fans is the amount of commercials that are jammed into a telecast and just when those ads are aired.
With FOX as well as ABC/ESPN paying hundreds of millions of dollars each for the rights to televise NASCAR events, the number of commercials are a necessary evil. It's the only way the networks can recover and make a profit on those heavy rights fees.
But it's another story when those spots ruin the flow of a race and networks miss important action or developments while away on a commercial break.
Rather than embrace the popular "side-by-side' concept used by ABC/ESPN in its IndyCar Series coverage - running commercial breaks in a split screen format while the race runs on the other half of the picture - NASCAR and its partners have chosen to continue the traditional format of commercial breaks.
Incorporating the split screen coverage would be another of those giant positive PR steps taken by NASCAR, and its television partners, that would no doubt make a great impact with fans.
Dwindling television ratings were another big story of 2007 and while NASCAR CEO Brian France as well as the heads of networks publicly stated they weren't worried about the trend, it still has to be somewhat alarming to see audience numbers shrinking week-after-week.
The truth is numbers for all television, not just sports, have been on a steady decline for the last two or three years. Consumers now receive TV content in a variety of ways including through DVRs, the Internet and cell phones, which has no doubt made a dent in the actual number of people sitting in front of their sets watching events live.
But in NASCAR's case, the oversaturation of content available and the presentation of that content may be a bigger reason for the decline.
Which brings us to the final point and that is the presentation of telecasts. The return of ABC/ESPN to the NASCAR fold this year was hoped by millions of fans as a cure for the poor product delivered by FOX and previous partner NBC/TNT.
With ESPN's glorious past history of NASCAR telecasts fresh in long-time fans' minds, the return was one of the most anticipated developments in recent NASCAR history.
But the reviews were anything but glowing.
The chief complaint from fans was ABC/ESPN's decision to bring "non-NASCAR" people into their living rooms, with the likes of Brent Musberger, Suzy Kolber and former NBA star Brad Daugherty featured each week.
With the credibility factor already hurt by those moves, the network compounded the problem by using the same logic in its ancillary programming brining in people like Erik Kuselias and Doug Banks - neither with any connection to NASCAR let alone auto racing - to the daily "NASCAR Now" program.
The end result was, as one fan wrote, "one of the biggest disappointments in the history of my following NASCAR. After the days of Bob Jenkins, Benny Parsons and Ned Jarrett set the bar so high in the sport's formative years on ESPN, the network tarnished that legacy with the assembled 'talent' in its return to the sport. Shame on you ESPN."
A reconfigured line-up of talent would seem to be in order based on fan's reaction, which could help ratings make a march forward in 2008 rather than a continued decline.
What do you think about NASCAR's television coverage and what should be done?