Economy, lack of drama likely will translate into empty seats at Homestead
Sunday's Ford 400 marks the final race of the 2009 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. // Jim Fluharty, NASCAR Scene
HOMESTEAD, Fla. – The grandstands will not be full for the NASCAR Sprint Cup season finale Sunday at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which not only is facing the challenge of promoting a pivotal event during a down economy but is also trying to promote an event where people can wait and see how close the championship is in the days leading up to the race.
With most tracks trending at least 20 percent behind normal in ticket sales leading up to a month prior to the race and then seeing a surge of last-minute buyers, the walkup crowd for the Ford 400 today at Homestead-Miami Speedway could be impacted by the fact that Hendrick Motorsports’ Jimmie Johnson has a 108-point lead on teammate Mark Martin for the title.
All of the lowest-priced tickets ($55) were sold, leaving walkups with a decision to spend at least $90 for a ticket today. HMS seats 63,000 but also has 71 corporate suites. Most of the suites are sold.
But the fact is there is not the drama of some of the past Chase finishes, especially the inaugural Chase in 2004 when Kurt Busch won by eight points over Johnson in the closest points finish in NASCAR history.
“It makes it more difficult in a way,” HMS President Curtis Gray said Saturday. “In a perfect world, you’d like five guys eligible all within 30 points. But the nice thing about it is it seems things fall into place pretty well when you have Jimmie Johnson doing something that no driver has ever done in the history of the sport potentially in winning four championships.
“That’s promotable. There’s a lot of folks that we hear on the phone that want to be part of that. There’s a lot of other stories. You’ve got Mark Martin, who I think everybody would love to see possibly win this thing. Something dramatic is going to happen in this Chase at this championship race at some point. I think we all believe it. It already did the first year. I just don’t think people really were aware of it at that time because they didn’t know what the Chase was all about. We all thought it was going to be that every year.”
NASCAR Vice President of Racing Operations Steve O’Donnell said that even though the championship has more than a 100-point margin that he hoped the race itself could attract people to buy tickets.
“Let’s not forget there is a race going on as well – 43 drivers with all a chance to win,” O’Donnell said.
Almost 55 percent of the fans in the stands today will be new fans, Gray said.
“You cultivate the new fan base [and] when the economy turns around and you get that old fan base back, we’re going to be sitting very well for the future,” Gray said.
The cheaper tickets have been sold out for a couple of weeks.
“What we’ve seen is the lower-price tickets are all sold out, but we sold very well in our upper-price tickets,” Gray said. “So it’s that middle – kind of mirrors what’s going on in the economy – that middle-class is feeling it, feeling the pinch. I think that is what’s happening with us.”
Not being sold out is not new for the track, which sold out the championship event five months early in 2006, didn’t sell out but had a capacity crowd in 2007 and then was under capacity in 2008.
One thing helping the crowd will be the Hispanic market with the success of Colombian driver Juan Pablo Montoya, who has made the Chase for the first time in his three-year NASCAR career. Gray didn’t have a percentage of how much the crowd will be Hispanic, but he expects it to be significant.
“The numbers are overwhelming that we hear on the phones of the Latins that are going to be rooting for Montoya when they get here and that’s why they’re coming, but there also are a lot of Hispanics who come to see Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Tony Stewart, Carl Edwards, all the guys,” Gray said.
Homestead-Miami Speedway has sponsorship from Ford to promote the championship weekend of races. Gray said the Miami fan base is more likely to gravitate toward a championship event.
“I feel like we’re very good [at Miami] at hosting championship events,” Gray said. “We’ve hosted more Super Bowls than any other city and also the NBA finals, Stanley Cup finals, a couple of World Series and the Orange Bowl every four years for the national championship along with one of the biggest tennis tournaments and golf tournaments. It’s just a natural to have the NASCAR championship here.”
What is natural, too, is that the Cup championship will be tighter in the future.
“We also know it goes in cycles and it will all come around,” Gray said. “We’re going to promote the best we can. It’s just with the economic situation and the points right now, it is tough to promote the event. [But] there are also a lot of cool things going on.”
