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Will Greed Destroy NASCAR?

© Thomas M. Sampson

The 1998 season was definitely a season for record setting. Most of the records were set in the racing part of the sport, but some, such as purses, were set in the business and financial area. It seems that every year the purses for a race are growing, meaning more money for the drivers and teams. Where is this money coming from? It's coming from us, the fans.

I've read hundreds of letters to the editor, and commentaries in publications dedicated to racing, and this past year, the complaints about gouging were the highest ever. Track owners are constantly expanding their seating capacities to bring in more fans, and they are passing the cost of this on to those of you who brave the long lines of people and traffic jams. Food, drink, and parking prices are riduculously high. When they add a few thousand seats, the price of all seats go up to pay for it, increasing their profits even more. I've read letters from lots of fans that say "enough is enough, I'm staying home from now on, and watching the race on TV."

The practice of retaining your seats at a race venue from year to year has gotten out of hand. If you want your seat at a race in July, you had better send them your money during the fall or early winter, or your seat will be sold to someone else. Not only are these track owners making a bundle on constantly rising seat prices, but they have all of that money, your money, during the year to reap the interest on. They don't ask for a deposit to retain your seat, they want it all, up- front, a year in advance, in some cases.

But beware, the TV deals are getting out of hand also. I have heard rumors of "pay TV," but they were just rumors. The real problem with the TV venue, is the commercial advertising. In that sense, pay TV would be a lot better, at least you would get to see the race. The worst TV venues are the major networks, ABC and CBS. I recently read where NBC will have a Winston Cup race for the '99 season, so there's another race we'll only get to see half of, if we're lucky. Bill France Jr, NASCAR President, uses the excuse that the major networks get racing out to a larger audience, advancing the sport. That's a crock of bull! The major networks pay more money to NASCAR for the rights to broadcast, than do ESPN, TNN, TBS, etc. Therefor, Bill France makes more money. In the last couple of years, racing publications have been printing letters and articles that deride the amount of commercial adds on major networks, as opposed to the regular racing networks. During a caution flag period, they always go to commercial, and during this past year, we didn't get to see some of the green flag restarts on races carried by major networks. The commercials were deemed to be much more important than the race.

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