Around 30,000 fans are expected to attend next month’s Daytona 500, according to NASCAR President Steve Phelps, as the sport continues to try to bring as many spectators as possible back to races. As the sport ramps up for its '21 season, Phelps revealed that number in an interview with SBJ Exec Editor & Publisher Abe Madkour. NASCAR had previously said it would have a reduced capacity for the race but had not given specifics. Daytona seats about 101,000 in its frontstretch grandstand and also has room for thousands more in its campgrounds. The 500 is taking place one week after Super Bowl LV in Tampa, which will have about 22,000 fans on site at Raymond James Stadium. "The first and foremost obviously is trying to keep our competitors and our fans safe when they come to our facility, so we are eager as all sports are to welcome fans back," Phelps told Madkour during a video interview that will be released next week. "We were very aggressive in bringing fans back to this sport, so for us it's more of the same early on obviously. So at the Daytona 500, we will have fans. In fact, we'll have a fairly robust number of fans, probably in the 30,000 range plus camping, but we have to do it responsibly." The reduced crowd will break a five-year streak of full sellouts since Daytona finished its $400M renovation in '16
THE PATH FORWARD: Bristol Motor Speedway had crowds around that 30,000 figure last year and is expected to again for its dirt race in April. The races are among the largest U.S. gatherings that have taken place in sports and entertainment since the pandemic started, but motorsports venues are often far larger and more spread out than other stadiums. NASCAR begins its season with the Daytona 500 on Feb. 14 on Fox before staying in Florida for another two weeks for races at the Daytona road course and Homestead-Miami Speedway, which will also have reduced capacities. NASCAR relies on media rights money for the majority of its revenue, but getting back to having fans is still crucial because track operators lost an estimated roughly $150-175M last year in ticket revenue.
