I could bitch some more about the weather, but I already did that nine days ago. I have a bunch of non-racing subjects that I could weigh in on, but I try to limit that to one a blog entry so check the end of this one. Before that though I want to touch on a subject that I have presented my views on often in the past and that is the proliferation of Pay Per View, or subscription streaming of short track racing. If you don't already know my views on this subject I am going to make you go hunting through the Back Stretch archives to find them, or you might be able to pick them up in a subtle manner as you work your way through today's entry.
Let's talk about Kenny Wallace and how one Facebook post followed by a series of videos that he posted on the subject on the XR dirt race brought in over 3,000 comments not to mention how many there were on YouTube as well.
First a bit of background. This was the second year of the Bristol Dirt Nationals on the streaming site XR and in the inaugural event hundreds of cars in each division showed up for their chance to compete in racing's true colosseum. It was a once in a lifetime opportunity, at least in 2021 they thought that was the case, to race on the dirt covered high banks at NASCAR's most famous short track. In fact, there might had been even more cars show up in the support classes last year if there had not been a limit on the number of entries accepted. Super Late Models would headline on Friday and Saturday with around fifty drivers showing up for the $50,000-to-win finale. The early spring weather in eastern Tennessee is unpredictable and with all of those grassroots drivers, many of them from right here in the Midwest competing for five nights, plus the top names in Late Model racing slugging it out for big money I am sure that the number of people who paid for the $39 a month subscription to watch was incredibly high. I will admit that I was one of them.
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| Maquire DeJong came up one spot short of defending his Bristol Sport Mod win from 2021 |
It must have been so high that this year there would be two weeks of racing on the dirt with one set of four support classes running the first week and another set racing on week two with the Late Models now geared up for four, count 'em FOUR $50,000-to-win main events, two of them each week. When Barry Braun's XR announced not only the return and expansion of the Bristol Dirt Nationals, but the full XR Super Series of high paying Late Model shows through the remainder of 2022, I figured that he would be playing on "house money" given the obvious success of last year's trip to Bristol.
That might be a good thing because you only have to look at the car counts from the past couple of weeks to see that competing at Bristol was the novelty that I assumed it would be. These are the numbers for the opening night of each division:
28 Hobby Stocks
41 Stock Cars
28 Sport Mods
22 Modifieds
7 602 Crate Late Models
37 Super Late Models (week 1)
7 Factory Stocks (A division that did not race here in 2021)
25 Open Modifieds
42 Street Stocks (A division that did not race here in 2021)
84 Hornets (The division that had some races cut due to weather in 2021)
7 604 Crate Late Models
30 Super Late Models (week 2)
Other than the single digit classes, still plenty to put on a good show, but way, way less than the year before. And with fewer cars in the pits, there were fewer people in the stands as well although one must remember that even a few thousand fans would look lost in this arena that lists a capacity of 153,000. Last year when I watched the stream I could see a few fans in the stands. This year, while checking out the highlights, I can honestly say that I never caught a glimpse of anybody in the seats. Obviously the camera angle and the coverage can have a lot to do with that, but even when the drone was flying over the seats I never saw anybody. And that was likely what prompted Kenny Wallace to post this comment on Facebook:
I guess the BRISTOL MOTOR Speedway DIRT race (Experiment) with the .. "Greatest Super Late Model" drivers in the world is over? .. I think there was 100 people in the stands
I left out two little emojis which, I guess, could have changed the way you might read that statement, but it definitely lit a fuse as there are now more than 1,000 comments on that post. There was a wide range of views on the subject and I was impressed with how well thought out most of them were with several of my own Facebook friends making some great points. (I hang with a good crowd) I'm not sure if Kenny really read any of those though as the next morning he posted a video that just seemed to stoke the fire even more.
First of all, for Wallace to call it an "experiment" makes me wonder if he didn't realize that this took place last year, but when he asked about why there were no people in the stands, that was really the true tell. That's when the reasons started to roll about the price of fuel, the weather was too cold, hotel rooms are too expensive and so on, and so on and that prompted Kenny to follow up with another video where he comes to the conclusion that more and more people are going to stay home "to watch dirt racing on their app".
Is he right about that? Could anybody have predicted that, say two or three years ago when this was all getting started? Hmmm
What could not have been imagined a couple of years ago was the fact that dirt track races would be scheduled and promoted as PPV or streaming events, with seemingly little concern about how many fans might actually show up. FloRacing's Dirt Night in America started it last year, although Mother Nature did her best to strike it down and the 2022 XR Super Series moves the needle all the way to full tilt. How else can you explain four straight nights of $25,000-to-win Super Late Model races at the Stuart Speedway that can seat at best around 800 people in it's modest central Iowa bleachers. Fill the place at thirty dollars a head all four nights and you still come up $4,000 short of paying just the winner's share of the purse! It's all about subscriptions and the sponsorship money that you can command for ads during the broadcast.
Even with nobody in the stands at Bristol, if XR sold enough subscriptions to watch online they probably broke even, or only gave back some of that "house money" from last year. But that's Bristol, in March, when not much else is going on in the sport. Is this business model sustainable? If it is, doesn't that spell doom with a capital "D" for the grassroots level of the sport?
When I discuss this with friends, or anybody else who wants to listen to an old man give his theories on a sport that he has watched evolve over the past fifty years, I use my home track 34 Raceway near Burlington, Iowa as my example. The track has a 305 Sprint Car division that runs weekly on Saturday nights and has a loyal group of open wheel fans who have been regulars for years. Now let's say that some of those fans pay their subscription to DirtVision, $39 a month where they can watch every World of Outlaws event live on their computers or casted to their big screen TV. Now on this particular Saturday night the Outlaws will be racing at Eldora and, since that fan has already spent his $39 for the month, he decides to stay home and watch the Outlaws instead of buying that ticket at 34.
Now let's say that he invites three of his buddies over to watch the Outlaws with him, friends that he normally sits with at 34, and now that's four less tickets sold at the local track not to mention the food and beer that this foursome goes through while in attendance.
Proponents of streaming live races always want to argue that real fans would never stay home and watch racing on TV instead of going to the race if they are able, BUT THEY ARE ALWAYS TALKING ABOUT THE SAME RACETHAT IS BEING STREAMED. They never seem to grasp the residual effect that I have illustrated above.
After being on Done Right TV last year, 34 Raceway announced this past week that all of their events except those that are already under broadcast rights (WoO, Lucas Oil) will be presented live on FloRacing for 2022. I guess that means that the four guys who stayed home to watch Eldora can also bounce over to Flo if they have paid their $150/year subscription to see how their favorite 305 driver is doing, but I wonder if the rights fees that the track receives makes up for that $50 to $60 loss at the gate and concession stands. Not that I have directly asked, but I have never had a promoter tell me how much they get for Rights Fees allowing their event to be presented on PPV. It must be pretty good since so many are now doing it.
But again I have to ask, is it a sustainable business model?
No doubt that the $150 subscription to Flo is one of the best entertainment values around. Looking ahead to next weekend, since several previously scheduled events for tonight and tomorrow have been canceled due to weather, there are 27 racing events that you can watch live from the comfort of your own home. Twenty-seven! And that's just on Flo, how many other PPV's are available on other services as well? Does this reach a point of over saturation at some point? A friend of mine who owns one of these outlets feels as though we have already reached that point, but since he is already invested in it he has to do what he can to try to stay at the top of the heap.
My favorite comment and reply on 34's FloRacing announcement came from Sue Trevitz who said "This is awesome now I can watch my nephew Ray Raker", to which Ray replied "I will make sure they have a camera on the back of the pack so you can watch me!"
Back to Kenny Wallace's Facebook posts, one of the replies came from top-notch announcer Eric Huenefeld who basically said we are giving people too many reasons NOT to go to the races. Who would have ever thought that it would have been making racing too accessible that could be the downfall of the sport?
Even though I could stay home this weekend and watch any number of races on PPV, instead I have rounded up three friends and we are going to do a 1,000 road trip to take in some live racing putting cash in the hands of two different track promoters. Is that a wise budget decision? Hell no, but it is what I have been doing for more than forty years and only old age is going to eventually stop me, not the ease and comfort of live stream races!
I hope that you as a fan of short track racing, take on this attitude as well. Besides, as I have said here before, live stream racing puts me to sleep in a matter of minutes.
Now for that non-racing rant that I promised. I have a real problem with this discussion about forgiving student loans as I see it as a political party just trying to buy some votes rather than looking at this logically. My wife and I are among many parents who scrimped and saved for many years to be able to cover the costs of our children's education and I am even more impressed with those kids/adults who worked hard through school, made good financial decisions and have already paid off their education bills on their own. To forgive the student loans using tax dollars to make the lenders whole would be a slap to the face of so many who did it right in the first place.
In some cases the person holding the debt is at blame, but I put this more on the colleges and universities that have raised tuition exponentially over the years knowing that the federal government would just keep backing larger and larger loans to pay those bills. And then, once the student earns their degree, they find out that the jobs that it will get them do not pay enough to even make a dent in their debt.
That's why I loved the suggestion made this week by David VanCamp on the Markley, VanCamp and Robbins show. Add them to your podcast list! He said that Congress should pass a law where a person who wants their student loan forgiven would apply for that right, and the school that this person went to would then be responsible for paying back the lender out of their endowment. But here's the kicker, the student would also have to surrender their degree or certification since they have deemed it worthless.
Puts the responsibility where it should be, on the student and the school rather than on the taxpayer.
Brilliant!
Now get on out there and support your local dirt track, IN PERSON! I will be looking for you from the Back Stretch.
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