The prevailing sentiment across the entire stock car racing community is that NASCAR isn’t as popular as it once was. The sport’s future is painted in an extremely gray light. However, there is a different side to the story, a more practical and realistic one. Veteran reporter Jeff Gluck detailed the same recently.
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In an interview with Awful Announcing last month, he introduced a fresh perspective on why things are not as bad as they are made out to be. TV ratings and race attendance are indeed far lower than they used to be. It is also true that the sport has gone from being compared to the NFL to not being close enough in competition.
However, Gluck contends that the current state is not bad enough for fans to fret over. He said, “When you look at today’s TV Market and the landscape it’s a pretty good number. I mean they’re getting, you know, two and a half three million people some Sundays against the NFL in the fall. At the same time it’s not it’s not what it was but that’s still pretty respectable.”
The stabilization of the fan appeal can be attributed to various factors such as the post-COVID travel surge and initiatives like the Chicago Street Race.
In conjunction with the viewership numbers, the media rights agreement with Fox, NBC, Amazon, and Warner Bros. Discovery that the sport signed was a record one. The $7.7 billion deal will run from 2025 through 2031. Gluck also elaborated on the same and said, “The TV money has stabilized the sport. I mean, the interest isn’t what it was but everybody’s making more money than they ever have ever.”
“Because the money has kept all these teams, all the racetracks afloat and NASCAR afloat. So, to get even an increase over that for the next seven years is a pretty big win, I think,” added Gluck. However, it should also be noted that team owners have been demanding a larger share of the TV revenue for a long time now citing financial struggles.
The long-term health of the sport will ultimately depend on the profitability of the teams. If the popularity and the higher TV revenue only reap rewards in NASCAR’s bank, the picture will only return to a grimmer state.
