It’s impossible to miss the sense of optimism that’s flowing through NASCAR these days. Fueled by the changes to the Chase, the sport’s three season-ending races showed double-digit ratings increases and featured storylines that crossed over to the mainstream media.
Throw in the new TV deals this year — NBC is in; ESPN and Turner are out — and add the tweaks NASCAR made to its schedule, and you’ll hear more positive buzz around the sport than you’ve heard for a decade. Media executives will not make any ratings predictions about the coming season. But it’s clear that they believe the momentum will result in higher viewership across the board, starting with this weekend’s Daytona 500, even though many races will be on Fox Sports 1 and NBC Sports Network, which are in fewer homes than ESPN and ESPN2. Fox and NBC executives believe early season races will carry more of a sense of urgency this season because of changes made to the end-of-season Chase for the Sprint Cup.
For Fox Sports President Eric Shanks, this new era of good feelings stems from simple consistency in several areas. He is embracing the broadcast consistency around the Xfinity Series this season, when Fox and NBC will produce an entire weekend’s worth of races. In the previous TV deal, ESPN produced the Saturday races and threw it to Fox for the Sunday races during the first half of the season.
“Consistency is good for viewers,” he said. “It’s the consistency for the entire weekend and having one real destination and one voice. From a viewer perspective, the more of a routine you establish becomes better for tune-in.”
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Fox Sports will put Jeff Gordon (left) and Kevin Harvick behind the mike, along with Brad Keselowski, to help broadcast Xfinity Series races on Saturdays.
Photo by: GETTY IMAGES (2) |
Shanks continued: “We cross-promoted Saturday and Sunday with ESPN the past few years because it was in our best interest to make sure that everybody is doing well. But when it’s something that is on your own air, you probably promote it a bit more.”
The desire for consistency doesn’t mean Fox is averse to making changes, In fact, Shanks said he is most excited about some changes Fox is making in the broadcast booth this year. The network is bringing on three well-known drivers — Jeff Gordon, Kevin Harvick and Brad Keselowski — to call the Saturday Xfinity races on air with Adam Alexander and Michael Waltrip. Each driver will call three races and will receive charitable donations for their services.
“Probably more than any other sport, because the drivers are really independent contractors — they’re not employees of the league — it’s part of a NASCAR driver’s DNA to really generate money off the track with their personalities,” Shanks said. “These guys are some of the biggest personalities in the sport. Adding a little star power to it on Saturday will draw a lot of attention to it.”
Fox executives told the drivers to be natural and let their personalities come out. They will go to production meetings and will prepare for the race the same way regular on-air analysts prepare for them.
“We told them that they’re not guests, so they shouldn’t sit up there and expect to just be asked questions,” Shanks said. “They all get it. Believe me, all three of those guys very much have their own opinions about television broadcasts. So this is an opportunity for them to get up in the booth and be part of the broadcast team.”
John Ourand can be reached at jourand@sportsbusinessjournal.com. Follow him on Twitter @Ourand_SBJ.
