In Tennessee, Allen Gregory reported Saturday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Irwin Tools Night Race drew "a near capacity crowd" at Bristol Motor Speedway (BRISTOL HERALD-COURIER, 8/25). But in Charlotte, Jim Utter wrote there was "no sign of a sellout" before the race, which "must be a disappointing reality to face for the crowd who thought 'fixing the track' was the answer to the attendance woes that had befallen the track of late." The problems at Bristol "had little to do with the racing and everything to do with the economy" (CHARLOTTE OBSERVER, 8/24).
CROWDED COURSE: GOLFCHANNEL.com's Rex Hoggard noted because of the PGA Tour's transition to a split-calendar schedule, which resulted in the net loss of five tournaments this year, the Tour had eight events "expand their field size to mitigate the reduced playing opportunities." But a source said that the Tour "will allow those fields to go back to their normal size" for the '13-14 season. There had been "some concern that if players and officials felt that the increased field sizes could be sustained the Tour would have pushed to make the change permanent, but the logistics and daylight concerns seemed to have nixed that idea" (GOLFCHANNEL.com, 8/23).
TO THE VIDEOTAPE: YAHOO SPORTS' Martin Rogers reported the NFL "may soon have the option of using a version of soccer's new high-tech, decision-making technology to help speed up disputed touchdown calls." NFL Senior VP/PR Greg Aiello in an e-mail wrote, "We have looked at this type of emerging technology and would not rule out using it at some point in the future." Rogers noted the system is an "adaptation of the Hawk-Eye technology that has long been used in tennis" (SPORTS.YAHOO.com, 8/22).
