I don't really follow NASCAR, I watch parts of the Daytona 500 generally and that is it. Yesterday, I saw on Twitter photos of the stands at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the race began and was jaw dropped at the amount of empty seats. I have only been to one NASCAR race and it was the Brickyard 400 in 2003. That race had an attendance of 300,000. The race yesterday was estimated to be 40,000 to 50,000. Sure it was hot and humid, but it is always hot and humid in late July!
I know attendance has become an issue in just about every sport to some degree, but it's a Major issue in NASCAR. Here's some stats from the article linked below:
What happened on Sunday was the continuation of a sad trend not just for the Brickyard 400, but for NASCAR. Attendance has plummeted across the board, though IMS has seen the biggest drop — from several years above 200,000 to last year’s estimated crowd of 75,000. And now this year, where the crowd might not have topped 50,000.
IMS is not alone. The iconic Daytona 500 is among the races cutting its capacity — and Daytona slashed it, from 159,000 to 101,000. Earlier this year in Bristol, which once sold out 55 consecutive races, the crowd was less than half its 160,000 capacity.
But then, that’s a guess. NASCAR stopped providing attendance after 2012 because it can’t handle the truth. But television ratings are prickly — NASCAR can’t stop us from knowing those numbers — and the 2015 season saw Fox receive its four lowest-rated races since it began broadcasting NASCAR in 2001.
Pretty entertaining story and a video of Greg Doyle explaining how bad the crowd was for this race:
http://www.indystar.com/story/sport...-2016-brickyard-400-race-no-one-saw/87507680/
I know attendance has become an issue in just about every sport to some degree, but it's a Major issue in NASCAR. Here's some stats from the article linked below:
What happened on Sunday was the continuation of a sad trend not just for the Brickyard 400, but for NASCAR. Attendance has plummeted across the board, though IMS has seen the biggest drop — from several years above 200,000 to last year’s estimated crowd of 75,000. And now this year, where the crowd might not have topped 50,000.
IMS is not alone. The iconic Daytona 500 is among the races cutting its capacity — and Daytona slashed it, from 159,000 to 101,000. Earlier this year in Bristol, which once sold out 55 consecutive races, the crowd was less than half its 160,000 capacity.
But then, that’s a guess. NASCAR stopped providing attendance after 2012 because it can’t handle the truth. But television ratings are prickly — NASCAR can’t stop us from knowing those numbers — and the 2015 season saw Fox receive its four lowest-rated races since it began broadcasting NASCAR in 2001.
Pretty entertaining story and a video of Greg Doyle explaining how bad the crowd was for this race:
http://www.indystar.com/story/sport...-2016-brickyard-400-race-no-one-saw/87507680/
