Nascar's Popularity is Visibly Shrinking

One of the most popular sports is Nascar. It's popularity grew back a couple decades ago and has now become 2nd only to the NFL. One of the most popular race tracks is Bristol Motor Speedway. But there seems to be a definite problem that has become visually obvious: fans aren't coming to the races, as evidenced by Sunday's March 20th Nascar Sprint Cup event at Bristol, Tennessee.

The incredible shrinking Nascar

Anyone who has followed Nascar will understand when I say Bristol is one of the preeminent sporting facilities in the country. Over the recent decade, there were waiting lists to get a ticket - it was that popular. The scene is wonderful and grand as a spectacle, nestled in the Eastern Tennessee hills of Appalachia. A very high banked 1/2 mile track (one of the smallest that Nascar runs at), Bristol offers the fan a complete view of all the racing in a dramatic theater that's completely enclosed clear around. At capacity, there's 165,000 people encircling this sporting experience (the 8th largest sporting venue in the world, as per Wikipedia.com), which certainly could be considered the Roman Coliseum gathering of our day. We can thank the ever-colorful Bruton Smith (who never grows old) for this majestic theater.

Ah, but if only they'd had 165,000 screaming fans to watch the race on a bright sunny March day in 2011 - it was estimated by Nascar at 120,000 (no official count was released, source - RacingNation.com) but having observed as much racing as I have, it didn't look like that many. But let's take Nascar's count and consider there were 45,000 empty seats; to think just a couple years ago, they had waiting lists for tickets to this entertaining happening.

So what's the problem?

The obvious problems with all sports nowadays have to do with the economy and lingering Recession. There are actually many reasons for the fall in attendance in sports and motorsports like Nascar but let's put it where it belongs. Ticket prices went up with the rise in popularity for stock car racing and came to a situation where they went too far with their price point. Whether it was greed or good business to 'get while the gettin's good' - doesn't matter. The critical concern is to accept the situation and fix it. Of course, the biggest predicament is the price of gasoline. With no end in sight as to when oil prices might ease and a looming economic crash being debated, the cost of travel will not be getting any better any time soon.

Nascar has a problem

The giant stock car racing body has not exactly admitted any concerns; although, they don't necessarily have to say anything when it's visually apparent. But something needs to give. One of the places where a sporting event makes the most money is on concessions. But when a fraction of the fans are coming into a facility, it immediately affects the bottom line. But if the cost of a ticket was reduced - and I mean significantly - the seats are full again and concessions are able to do well. Also, remember certain partners (sponsors) like lots of people in the seats and when they don't have as good a draw, they're less likely to partner again.

Albert Einstein was quoted as saying: "We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them."

There are more solutions to the problem

A racing organization in drag racing offered a dramatic alternative a few years ago. The American Drag Racing League (ADRL) came up with a concept where the fans were allowed in free. Can't go into the specifics of the who, when, where and how but in a nutshell: to fill the seats, attract sponsors and create good income for the concessions. The idea was for people to pick up their tickets at a participating store free of charge and voila! Stadiums packed to capacity. The premise, which was thought of by Kenny Nowling, was a success.

Now, I'm not saying that Nascar needs to give away tickets but by lowering the cost for a family to go to the track, offers an opportunity to fill up the seats and everyone wins, even if the profit margins are reduced - better reduced than to see it go away. Keep the fans and stop the bleeding before it gets worse and then Nascar can continue their reign as one of the largest sports in the land.