Erik Spanberg: NASCAR tracks still face daunting task trying to sell tickets, fill empty seats
There were many empty seats during this year's Brickyard 400. // Elmer Kappell, NASCAR Illustrated
COMMENTARY
Any way you slice it, NASCAR’s numbers game looks ugly.
In recent weeks, a range of moves and events have illustrated the plight of tracks – and the sport – when it comes to getting fans into the grandstands. Consider the following bellwethers of a bust:
• Attendance at the Brickyard 400 fell to a NASCAR-estimated 140,000 this year, down by nearly half since 270,000 fans attended the NASCAR race in Indianapolis in 2007. Track officials have already cut prices for the 2011 Brickyard 400.
• International Speedway Corporation, the largest track operator in NASCAR and home to more than half of the Sprint Cup dates with 19 races per year, reported ticket revenue of $74 million for the first half of 2010. That’s down from $92 million a year earlier, when the economy was in even worse shape than it is now.
• Rival operator Speedway Motorsports Inc., the second-largest track company in the sport with 13 Sprint Cup events, is projected to finish the year with a 12 percent decline in ticket sales and a 10 percent drop in event-related revenue, according to analyst Tim Conder of Wells Fargo Securities.
• Soon after ISC reported first-half results, the company forced out veteran executives Robin Braig, the president of ISC’s Daytona International Speedway, and Roger VanDerSnick, the parent company’s chief operating officer. VanDerSnick’s job won’t be filled, and, in an accompanying press release, the company pledged to reduce spending by $20 million to $30 million next year through layoffs and other cost-cutting measures.
Everywhere NASCAR turns left, wooing fans and holding the line on costs are the order of the day.
“NASCAR has a tremendous entertainment value, but things are going to have to change,” says Humpy Wheeler, an industry consultant and former race promoter. “Races are too long. The total emphasis should be on winning and leading.”
What’s daunting is how difficult it is for tracks to sell tickets even after several years of lowering prices and adding perks ranging from all-you-can-eat sections to pit tours and special souvenirs.
ISC lowered prices on 150,000 seats in 2009, accounting for 15 percent of its available tickets at tracks ranging from Daytona to Fontana. This year, the company boosted the number of reduced-price seats to 500,000 – and still found it hard to fill the grandstands.
All of which leads to an obvious question: What’s next? Companies and track executives are loath to say so now, but the likely answer is another round of perks and lower prices in 2011.
Some signs of what’s to come have emerged in recent weeks. Take Texas Motor Speedway as Exhibit A. The track recently staged a free Goo Goo Dolls concert at the House of Blues in Dallas just for the privilege of informing season-ticket holders what’s in store for next season: Lower prices and new benefits to get close to drivers and VIPs.
The recent concert included invites for 2,000 fans – all of them Texas Motor Speedway season-ticket holders – as well as special guests such as NASCAR Chairman Brian France, three-time Indy 500 winner Helio Catsroneves and NASCAR star Tony Stewart.
Track president Eddie Gossage describes the changes as “extremely broad,” starting with season-ticket price reductions of 10 percent to 16 percent. New perks include access to race-day garage parties featuring driver interviews on a small stage, live music and special food offers, with attendance limited to season package buyers only. The Texas track has 50,000 season ticket holders.
“We’re the ones that pioneered the season ticket in motorsports,” Gossage says. “It’s hard for some tracks that have been in business all of these years to switch over to a season-ticket program. Those tracks would have a very difficult time switching over. But, to me, it makes all the sense in the world.”
Season tickets or not, the basic premise of the moves at Texas illustrate a maxim that holds true across NASCAR – and all entertainment businesses – amid the slumping economy and tight-fisted consumers.
“You’ve got to give value and benefit to the fans,” Gossage says.
In Richmond, a short track with a long NASCAR heritage, recent changes range from a new scoreboard and electronic screens to installment ticket-buying plans, family areas and, yes, lower prices.
And more adjustments are expected in the months ahead as the track continues to push for more tweaks likely to motivate fans to attend a race.
“I’ve been in the business since high school and I’ve never seen it as hard to sell tickets as it is right now,” says Lauri Wilks, vice president of marketing at Richmond International Raceway. “People are uncertain about the future. They’re on a limited budget and they’re spending their dollars very purposefully.”
Even as NASCAR executives lament the difficulties of enticing fans to buy tickets, they believe the sport remains strong. And, unlike past years, even frequent critics such as Gossage, the Texas president, say the racing competition has improved – with help from the sanctioning body.
Marcus Smith, Speedway Motorsports president, says smaller crowds at NASCAR races are still strong by the standards of other sports, with race crowds often exceeding 100,000 fans.
“We’ve got some incredible attendance numbers,” he says. “When you look at a down year and we’re bringing in 150,000 people at Bristol or 110,000 people in Charlotte, that’s a sizable crowd. Our TV ratings, on a bad year, are fantastic. It’s very strong, still, even in the face of economic weakness.”
