It was just a little Monday night reception and hospitality event on the Charlotte Media Tour. The new president of FOX Sports, Eric Shanks, was meeting the NASCAR media. Along with Shanks was Patti Wheeler, who has taken over the programming and production departments at SPEED.
The elephant in the room was the colorful Aussie who is never at a loss for words where his opinions on NASCAR are concerned. FOX Chairman David Hill recently gave up the day-to-day management of FOX Sports to Shanks, but in return took over the SPEED network and immediately installed Wheeler to begin his revamp.
Veteran reporter Dustin Long was at the reception and offered this recap of Hill's comments on a variety of NASCAR topics. Here are the TV and media-related responses.
On the focus of the TV coverage this season:
"What this sport is all about is the driver. Everything else in NASCAR is an afterthought. People follow the sport because the drivers are heroes because that’s what the fans want to hear, superheroes that can do things that only very, very few people can or will. Anyone can be a crew chief. Anyone can be a tire changer. Anyone with the technical ability. Just think about what it takes to drive a car 200 miles an hour. ee sports: Mountain climbing, bullfighting and auto racing. All the rest of the games."
How FOX/SPEED will accomplish this new focus:
"Fox is going to concentrate on the driver, too. Right across the board. We’re putting the emphasis back where it belongs on the driver. We probably haven’t utilized Darrell (Waltrip’s) inner knowledge enough. Darrell is the only one on our (announcing) team, in reality who is a champion. He understands the motivation and what goes on. I don’t know. Is it instinct or is it skill? This is something that I’ve talked to the Alain Prosts about and the Jackie Stewarts. What is it? There’s something that drives them. What we’re going to be doing at Fox and what we’re going to be doing at SPEED is telling stories of drivers."
After confirming FOX would not offer an extended post-race show, Hill talked about his idea for a perfect Sprint Cup Series telecast format:
"Four hours (total). I think that probably 30-40 minutes to set it up, do the race and then tell the story of the race in 15 minutes. That was the beauty of SPEED to take the viewer across there to do that analysis."
Hill offered his idea on the perfect NASCAR tripleheader weekend for TV:
"For me, I would have continuity. I would have truck race on Friday night, I would have the Nationwide race Saturday night and I would have the Cup on at 1 o’clock Sunday. Bang, so everyone knows when it’s on. Everyone knows the football games. Football games are 1 o’clock Sunday. Football games 4 o’clock Sunday. There’s a game on Monday night and game on Sunday night. There are too many other things going on in people’s lives."
In wrapping up, Hill confirmed he would like FOX to remain in the sport but said NASCAR is not the same kind of value as it used to be. He also addressed the issue of online streaming of races. FOX delivers the Sprint Cup Series races over-the-air and Hill has steadfastly maintained that there will be no streaming of races to protect the FOX local stations.
Unfortunately, it seems that no media member asked Hill or Shanks about RaceBuddy. This online technology used for the TNT races is a companion to the race, offering individual cameras, social media conversation and a designated pit reporter for online viewers.
RaceBuddy does not replace the telecast, but expands the viewer's ability to get more information and have more options. The one clear purpose RaceBuddy would serve for FOX is to provide an opportunity to view racing action while the broadcast network is in commercial break.
There are no plans at this point to offer side-by-side commercial breaks on the Sprint Cup Series races. A spokesman for Turner recently confirmed there are no plans in place at the present time to offer RaceBuddy on the FOX or ESPN telecasts.
Turner, TNT and NASCAR.com are scheduled to have a media tour function on Thursday, so perhaps some news will come from those parties in reference to some of these issues.
Hill is a character right out of central casting. A brash Aussie, his statements are often confusing given his track record. Here is a man who inserted Digger right over the top of live Sprint Cup Series telecasts, taking away from the focus on the drivers and the race.
Now, Hill is gruffly saying that the focus must be on the drivers and that TV will lead the comeback by example. Few can forget the endless hawking of Digger by Darrell Waltrip on FOX and SPEED telecasts. The same Waltrip who now supports Hill's driver focus once showed-up for a Trackside telecast with a life-size Digger character driving a golf cart. How many times did DW mention Digger merchandise was available on his website?
Hill also was adamant about later start times and eventually pushed through sweeping changes that altered the entire landscape of the sport nationwide. Now, he offers that his perfect start time scenario for Sprint Cup Series races is 1PM local and is suspicious of NASCAR's pending changes.
Sports TV is made up of colorful characters and Hill fits the bill. Love him or hate him, FOX has played a major role in the television development of NASCAR and SPEED is the only TV network located in Charlotte, NC. It should be interesting to see what this season brings from Hill and the gang.
This post is meant to allow your comments on this topic. To add your opinion, just click on the comments button below. This is a family-friendly website, please keep that in mind when posting. Thanks for taking the time to stop by The Daly Planet.
Click here to read Dustin's story in full. Thanks to Hamptonroads.com for the link.
So basically what he is saying is we are going to be bombarded by DW telling us how hard it was to drive a Monte Carlo in 1985. Over and over and over and over. His days as a credible source for what it is like to drive in today's Nascar ended years ago.
ReplyDeleteHello MRN.
Sam
As it is, David Hill's idea of "driver focus" seems to be the 12 drivers who are served up each week. Well, rather the 12 cars that are served up each week instead of the 43 cars and drivers that are on the track. So will we actually be presented 43 drivers each week or will it continue to be the 12 Chosen Ones selected by BZF? And what about the Faux Sports Booth Buffoons? Will they actually talk about all 43 drivers as it's supposed to be focused on the drivers or will it continue with the Booth Buffoons doing their well-established cheerleading for the Hendrick and Toyota drivers and shilling for certain sponsors and one car manufacturer?
ReplyDeleteAs to the start times, I thought the standardized start times was done to satisfy the fans? If they're going to change the start times, that isn't going to be to satisfy the fans but to satisy the networks.
The fans who show up at the track aren't paying to see 2-3 hours of racer-tainment. They're paying to see 400, 500, or 600 miles or 300, 400, or 500 laps of racer-tainment. If Faux Sports really wants to show a 2-3 hour race, then they need to be broadcasting F-1 or another racing series that has races that are done on a time schedule.
It's bad enough we have BZF trying to force NA$CAR into the stick-and-ball sports mold with his idiotic play-off system but now we have Faux Sports wanting to do the same with a set time schedule?
And what happens if there's a rain delay or a red flag that stops the race? Will Faux Sports shift the race over to Speed TV if the race exceeds to allocated time slot and P.O. the fans watching on the open airwaves or will they just cut the broadcast off altogether leaving everyone at home hanging on the outcome since they wouldn't shift it to Speed or are unwilling to use a streaming internet format?
Faux Sports needs to be rethinking things in addition to leaving David Hill in charge. He's already demonstrated his contempt for the fans with his comments about that damned gopher.
If "it's all about the drivers" means they will focus on drivers deep in the field, that will solve a constant complaint with the TV coverage. Or it could mean they ignore the racing in favor of close-ups of the drivers and cars.
ReplyDeleteARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! He thinks we need more of DW's outdated 'mindreading' of drivers? The truth is, he has NO IDEA what these guys are thinking. So let's have some more of those moments where he goes on some rant, and then the drivers' comments are exactly the opposite...I felt really bad for him when Tony Stewart went on that tear a few years back, but I am starting to understand where it was coming from...
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of driver focus, but what we usually get with that menu is focus on specific drivers, instead of the race. I like DW for telling stories, but during the race broadcast I want Mike Joy to call the race and let DW chime in SOME of the time with "color". DW should not be the focus, the racing should be.
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that I'm in favor of keeping the standard start times - it is interesting that Hill reversed his point of view on that.
Did you hear apparently Larry Mac is still being punished for his statements from last year? At the media event, he got up and sounded off about how the media needed to be "positive".
It's not the job of the media to be positive or negative, it should be a factual presentation. Opinion is one thing, but it should never take the place of presenting the facts.
Mr. Hill, What about the "Race"?
ReplyDeleteWe get enough focus on the drivers with 2 hours of Race Day Live every Sunday, 5 hours of Race Hub each week, qualifying coverage and practice coverage Friday and Saturday!
No one wants to cover the "race" anymore!!
What am I missing here?
The drivers are overexposed already!
David Hill knows how to run a sports network. You don't. End of story.
ReplyDeleteWhat a simpleton!! Of course it's about the drivers, but it's about a whole heck of a lot more than that. It's strategy, tactics, gas mileage, LUCK, and more!! The complexity of NASCAR is what the TV partners fail to capture. If you focus on the lead cars...and Junior...then yes, the race is too long and too boring. The radio guys can do it. The SPEED crews can do it. Why is their a talent drop for Saturday and Sunday on television??
ReplyDeleteIt is incredibly hard to win one of these races and it takes a TEAM effort. And, no, not just anyone can be a chief, tire carrier, or even carry the catch can. Teams that put the wrong people in the wrong places will lose. Period.
Hill's obtuse sense of the sport we love is what is killing it. Had he carte blanche to act as he saw fit NASCAR would wither and die on the vine in quick fashion.
And does David Hill mean by drivers JJ driving around and around and around maybe show JR for a bit and perhaps the driver in first place. That's not concentrating on the drivers to me!
ReplyDeleteI'm going to come to the defense of Mr. Hill here and hope for the best out of FOX/SPEED in 2011. There's obviously so much more to a race than the drivers, but this is a sport in need of new stars to draw in viewers. Even though it was a paid segment a couple years ago, I liked the weekly video clips of Joey Logano as they established him as a young, likable driver. If FOX would devote one segment to their pre-race show to a reality-based diary of multiple drivers every week, I'd willingly tune in.
ReplyDeleteOf course, Hill needs to look in the mirror and realize that TV coverage is certainly part of the issue regarding NASCAR's struggles. Cut down the bias and goofing off, tell your announcers to stop sucking up to NASCAR's powers-that-be, and get on the online bandwagon -- even if it means streaming the races via RaceBuddy at NASCAR.com instead of FOXSports.com.
(Considering how much FOX's NFL and MLB coverage has fallen off over the past year or two, I doubt any of this will happen.)
Sounds to me like Mr. Hill is telling us all the same thing that he once said about Digger.
ReplyDeleteTough.
We can only hope that, just like everybody's least favorite rodent (or at least second behind ESPN's owner, Mickey Mouse), Mr. Hill will have to backtrack and give in to the desires of the fans lest his ratings continue to plummet.
The rating are down because the broadcast of the races are awful! Not because there is a lack of attention to what the drivers are going through!
ReplyDeleteI don't need to know how to run a sports network to know that mr. anonymous!
Rating are in the tank and the drivers are over exposed! DW is over exposed too!
HILL: “I believe what has happened, unintentionally probably, is that the emphasis, you guys (the media) are to blame as much as anybody else of moving the emphasis away from the driver.
ReplyDeleteHILL: “We probably haven’t utilized Darrell (Waltrip’s) inner knowledge enough."
You have to be kidding me. Blames the media and says we need more DW. I guess little old me just disagrees.
More DW? Sounds like less NASCAR for me, sadly.
ReplyDeleteWe need more DW like we need another $10 trillion added to the national debt. One word out of DW is one word too many. Can DW, Chris Myers, Larry Mac, and Hammond and bring in Buddy Baker (who has at least stays current by working with some teams), Eli Gold, and recent retiree from the crew chief job like Fatback McSwain who has actual experience on the COT.
ReplyDeleteI simply have never ever really, really taken the inner Darrell into consideration in ANY of my thinking heretofore.
ReplyDeleteI feel ashamed.
Now, I'll go read the original.
What are Hill's thoughts on "Boogity Boogity Boogity"? I bet he's OK with it.
ReplyDeleteI agree with him about shorter races, for some tracks, especially Pocono and Martinsville.
NASCAR could speed up the show by a half hour or more a race by cleaning up cautions faster and getting back to green flag racing. There is no need to call a caution for every time someone brushes the wall or for a one car spin.
David Hill has still not answered my question. Has he ever sat & watched a NASCAR RACE, IN ITS ENTIRETY, on TV?
ReplyDeleteWell, judging from this rant by Mr. Hill, he and Brian france seem perfectly suited for each other! Neither one of them has a clue why people watch races, how to present them to their consumers (the fans at home) so they make sense, and keep 'fixing' things that aren't broken in order to ignore what really IS wrong. They both treat the fans (those of us who, ultimately, pay their bills) as ignorant idiots who need to be lead by the hand and told what we REALLY want. Notice that neither of them ever acknowledges they, and their decisions, may have in any way contributed to the problems the sport is facing now. As long as it's everyone's fault except those in charge of presenting it to the public, we are doomed.
ReplyDeleteSadly DW will focus on his favorite driver Kyle Busch - who somewhat resembles Digger (particularly when he's running away from an interview in a snit to his hauler)... However, when 'Jaws' latches onto something he gnaws on it until we are all somewhat nauseous. I think the booth should focus on the race and leave the mindset of the driver out of it unless it pertains to something occurring on the track.
ReplyDeleteThe booth announcers focus too much on ONE driver, there's usually a driver of the week based on what happened last week which they talk about on and on and on until it's so annoying one has to mute the TV. I must admit I have my TV on very low sound anyway as I am transcribing Dale Jr's scanner for my blog, but I digress.
I personally hated Digger - dumbest idea ever!
I LOVE Saturday night Cup races. Much more exciting to have the races under the lights, it seems to bring out more heated moments of actual racing. Everything seems more electric and alive.
The fans don't need to have the same start times every week, we are smart enough to remember when the next race is, or at least look it up. The same stuff gets boring week in and week out!
I totally disagree that anyone can be a crew chief or tire changer etc. I will throw out McGrew as a for instance. He did not prove himself last year, it will definitely be more than interesting to see how he and Martin do this season.
I wonder if focusing on the drivers is what all the powers that be believe is the solution to the decline of nascar, or is this just one man’s opinion? Either way, he or they still do not get it. I am not losing interest in watching nascar because of lack of focus on the drivers. My problem is poor coverage. All they have to do is follow JD’s Bill of Rights plus get the camera work straightened out. Is that a difficult concept? MC
ReplyDeleteI can hardly contain my excitement for NASCAR 2011...
ReplyDeleteReally don't see any difference from last year or the year before.
It's doubtful Brian France will say anything Wednesday of any importance.
Have you heard they paved Daytona and the chance of a pothole is slim?
Trying to get back into the NASCAR whirlwind but without cable in my new location, catching the races might be a challenge for the early part of 2011.
ReplyDeleteShortening of races is a foolish idea in my opinion. Yes, some races are too long as it is and I think it should be a decision made by the local fan market and individual track to shorten an event. However, NASCAR should cap the length of any future events added to the schedule to 400 miles or less. That much I'll give you. But to say a race needs to fit in a certain time window without allowing for overlap seems silly. Football games go into overtime, as do most all other sports. Some have a 3 hour window as it is, I don't see people turning their local NFL game off just because it went into overtime. If you want to skip the first half of the race to see the ending, then thats your decision as a fan.
All his other comments just seem to be him playing the fence. He wants to be on the leading edge of a brilliant idea so badly so he can take all the credit that he doesn't put the needs or concerns of the fan first. Always listening to the public opinion isn't always the right idea because sometimes the public opinion is too shortsighted and misses something.
Don't have a problem with the length of the races, only the length of the schedule.
Sounds to me like Hill is getting ready to play hardball with NASCAR and King Brian.
--David
I am glad Hill called out NASCAR as being a big problem when it comes to TV. The races are way too long.
ReplyDelete"I think the racing is far too long," Hill said, but added it won't do much good to push NASCAR to shorten its races because "NASCAR doesn't negotiate."
Also, for all those clamering for side-by-side commercials, Hill pointed out why it won't work for NASCAR. Sponsors simply won't pay the same amount.
He also said that there is no chance of Fox using the side-by-side coverage that Versus uses during IndyCar races in which commercials are shown on a split screen with green-flag racing.
"The sponsors don't want it," Hill said, adding emphatically that his network is a business, that his concern is about bringing in revenue and that sponsors just won't pay as much if they have to share the screen.
Mr Editor -
ReplyDeleteAs a member of the TV police, I'll just read what's on the booking sheet for all NASCAR media: Charge - self-absorbed and overactive ego; contributing to total disregard for the fans. Report -Item #1: Digger needs to crawl back into whatever hole he came out of. Item #2: Shove DW in behind him. Item #3: Since David Hill is now showing himself for the person [TV exec] he is. Hey, David Hill ...find the hole Digger and DW went in and sit-on-it! It's "tread cam" and it's been around for 30 years [didn't ESPN or Ligner(?) have sense to patent, trademark or copyright the application?] Item #4: Lack of full control in the hands of Patti Wheeler [surely, she has enough of dad Humpy's genes in her to right the broadcast process and turn things around]. Summary: The more we that hear from NASCAR and it's broadcast minions, the more that becomes known of their intent, the more I sense that NASCAR is one big 'swirly' and we're only waiting for the gurgle to know that America's premier racing series is gone. Stock car racing as it prospered is gone and no one at the top seems capable of reaching down to lift it out of the morass. Sad state of affairs.
John:
ReplyDeleteWhat you have very astutely encapsulated
in concise form is the motus operandi of David Hill for the entire duration of his career. He's a blowhard who acts as a bull in a china shop, wreaks havoc with knee-jerk wholesale changes that result in fan and staff alienation. He then, months or years later, portends to ride in on his high horse just in the nick of time to save the day.....leaving fall guys to take the blame for his own idiotic, out of touch ideas and mandates. In sum, he screws everything up to a faretheewell and then blames everyone else for his screw up.
Follow me here. He gets put in charge of Fox broadcast network and he loads up on "when dogs attack", police chases, world's scariest and other video crap. It took replacing him with gail berman and years of her work to fix that mess.
He gets Fox sports, blows the NHL coverage (glowing puck?)appeals to the lowest denominator at Fox Sports Net (best damn? really david?)claims to write the theme song for FOX nfl from the opening music from Superman movies (not kidding, he claims it) then gets his mitts on NASCAR and thinks it would be cute to portray NASCAR fans as ravenous pigs who cant get enough, as flag waving lemmings who can't read or write, and other curiously "american" characteristics like being fat and drinking beer.
Finally, someone at Fox woke up and took sports away from him. now he has a little playground at Nat Geo channel and who knows what else to screw up so he can fix it later.
The guy is a self absorbed, egocentric,arrogant, petulant, uninformed poseur who deserves to
sacked and ignored.
Bray
I know that Mr. Hill knows much more about sports broadcasting than I ever will but I don't understand how he can say that the media is to blame (unintentionally) for taking the emphasis off of the drivers. That just doesn't make any sense to me. It's the media's job to cover the sport (all of it) and that is just what the media does, whether it be the COT or Kyle Busch tantrums or empty seats. It seems Mr. Hill is focused on the media when he needs to be focused on better broadcasts. The awful race coverage is why the rating are down. Its all a blame game now and nobody wants to step up to the plate and make any REAL changes. The ratings will change when the race coverage improves. Until then all the hotshots at the top of the Nascar and Network food chain can blame anybody they want. It changes nothing.
ReplyDeleteWow. David really sounds like someone who doesn't want this sport on his network after 2014, and he really sounds like someone who is completely disconnected from the viewers. No wonder the quality of FOX nascar broadcasts have decreased in recent years. This guy is a joke.
ReplyDeleteSo between him, Hunter Nickell, and Wheeler whos running SPEED? If Wheeler is in charge of programming she has bombed the 2011 lineup already. Car Warriors? Are you kidding me? Someone save Speed please. The nascar programming is good but crap like car warriors is really not necessary.
Was really looking forward to FOX this year, now Im not.
Even more interesting is Bruton Smith coming out the same day saying NASCAR needs to scrap the Chase!!
ReplyDeleteIt's music to my ears.
DW is the only champion they have?
ReplyDeleteWho the hell is Larry Mac, then?
What an INSULT!
I know this post is about David Hill, but there's some bad contract news in NASCAR TV: ESPN has renewed the contract of Rusty Wallace through 2014.
ReplyDeleteMr. Hill is beyond clueless with his arrogant know it all attitude when, guess what, he doesn't know!
ReplyDeleteSPEED is a horrible station except on Sundays or when quals/prac trucks are on.
All this talk about fixing things that ain't broke but NOBODY addresses the camera problems. The End
We've been banging this drum for years.
Give us more wide shots of cars COMING AT US on the screen. No bumper, roof cam or in car crap. Show all the cars Crossing the Finish Line! Dat's all ya gotta do folks.
More focus on drivers?! Are you kidding me? aka More in car cam.
I watched nothing online so far on Daytona. Not listened.
I'm looking forward to the Indycar season with the changes they are making and Simone Desilvestra (sp) is something to watch. New. Fresh. Not over hyped.
NASCAR? JJ. KyBush, Hamlin. Probably media hounding on Jr until he improves.
They changed the points system but I have no idea the details cause I really don't care.
Got into this sport in 2004 & INSTANTLY fell in love with it. Read every thing on Jayski in those days. Read books, my brother sent tapes of old races, Inside Winston Cup show. LOVE!
Now the camera work has cheated me out of watching the race!with the advent of HD it is worse than ever and guess what. Way too many commercials/cautions=2 many hours WASTED.
Nobody in charge cares about the TV PRODUCT SHOW the race. We get that now.
I guarantee NOTHING will be said about the tv issues on Wed. BZF does not have the ability to address this cause he NEVER WATCHES A RACE FROM HOME.
I've recently learned the Bengals NFL Franchise is the most profitable one in the history of the NFL. This is from the many areas of revenue. Mike Brown is living on easy street. . . a very wealthy man. Doesn't have a clue. Doesn't need one in his eyes.
Not only does he not care about his bad product on the field, this guy has fought the IRS twice. TWICE! And won! In court, against the Master of Disaster Stan Chesley.
So Mike Brown is happy. His life ain't broke. But his team certainly is. QB Carson Palmer wanting to leave or retire is the lowest point in Bengals history says former team players (Bob Trumpy) and others.
There's only one NASCAR. One guy in charge of tv, Hill. One family that owns it FRANCE. When we do not SEE the race on the tv that's called a 4 hour infomercial with bits of cars.
Enjoy your arrogance & plummeting ratings Mr. Hill & BZF. You deserve it.
We the fans deserve to see the race the way it used to be.
But I'm no longer staying in this dismissive 'relationship'.
I get tidbits on Twitter, that's enough for me. But my Twitter stream is only 10% NASCAR stuff.
Remember that book some guy wrote for clueless women? "He's Just Not that Into You."
That's me and NASCAR. I'm not that into it!
Only because of the camera work that I detest!
Why not award some points to the leader at the end of each quarter of the race to eliminate the "don't push it to the end" mentality and put some excitement into the boring 3/4 of most races.
ReplyDeleteI had to laugh at Hill's comments about ESPN and NASCAR struggling for ratings when the NFL starts by saying they should go to Saturday nights. Guess he hasn't heard of college football?!?
ReplyDeleteI totally disagree with Mr. Hill's comments concerning Waltrip. Nascar has gone from night to day since Waltrip drove, and all he is concerned with is running his mouth with the constant shill and blather. 'Ol DW did well in his day,but that is long gone. Please spare us Mr. Hill. Many of us were not born yesterday and do not need to be dumbed down on by you or Waltrip.
ReplyDeleteAnon 2:44 -- yep, David Hill sure knows how to run things. That's why the ratings are down and the fans are so unhappy.
ReplyDeleteI'm laughing at the DW thread that developed here. I could not watch much of the SPEED streaming of testing last week, but what I did see was DW going on about his team putting drops of oil on the car and then running it around the track a few times. Seems like they could tell how the air was moving over the car by looking at how the drops of oil had moves across the surface of the car. Really? This somehow gets to the core of how things are done today? Again, Hill oversimplifies the sport. It's insulting to me that he is at once fostering and believing the stereotype that NASCAR fans are dolts. His race coverage is like so many curricula in our schools....a mile wide but an inch deep. We need more depth of coverage...not just the 48 and the 88.
ReplyDeleteOh Lord here we go again. I won't even get into the fact that he is talking out of both sides of his mouth compared to last year. First off anyone can be a crew chief, tire carrier etc. Dude have you met Chad Knauss, and throw Larry Mac under the bus a little farther, not to mention let's see you pick up one of those tires.
ReplyDeleteNext yes it's about the driver but it's about the RACE first and how EACH driver is doing in the race. It's also about the team because how they perform also impacts the race results. I like DW but if he runs over Mike again this year, hell if the format runs over Mike again this year I will be beyond annoyed. The common theme for all our issues was CALL THE RACE, and call all of the race not the top few and the notables who were having a bad day.
I refuse to even address the Rusty issue, lets just say when I saw that on Twitter I closed the laptop and went to bed.
Anon 2:44 - may not know how to run a sports network but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
ReplyDeleteThat being said if given the chance I'd probably start by doing something really novel, like showing the flipping race . . . a concept that has somehow seemed to escape the current broadcasters.
Most football fans I know tune into NFL games to watch a . . . you guessed it, a football game.
Most race fans I know, tune in to watch the NASCAR race to . . . watch the race.
Showing the race . . . That's where I'd start.
And I may not know what it takes to put a broadcast together but I truly believe if someone took the MRN broadcast and just put that to pictures (ie-show what they are talking about) you could produce better race coverage than what we're seeing today.
Remember, a good broadcast can't make a bad race good, but a bad broadcast can sure make a good race bad.
Try covering the race, make the race between the drivers and not the the drivers the focus.
You might be surprised.
Fans that travel many miles to a race want to see more than a 2 hour sprint. I will stop going to my 12 races per year if they are shortened.
ReplyDeleteGive DW a rest, he always has to assign blame in any icident. Many are just one of them racin deals. I am so tired of him that I always rejoice at the end of the Fox coverage in June.
First of all, thanks for covering Nascar Mr. Hill. On the subject of shorter races I find it incredible that you want to shorten the races as today's fans can't stay focused for over 3 hours. I have seen many young and not so young people sit in front of a computer for 8 hours playing some stupid online game. If they can't stay for a 4 hour race then let them stay home or watch soccer.
ReplyDeleteAre any of you people ever satisfied?
ReplyDeleteIf it's so bad,why do you watch?
Satisfied? Hardly, are you?
ReplyDeleteWhy do we watch? We rarely do anymore. Two races in their entirety last season, down from four the previous year, down from every one and watching replays on tape before FOX came on board.
What little I watch is on the off chance I might just see a race broadcast.
Just keep in mind, its not the non-positive comments NASCAR and FOX need to be concerned about. If folks are commenting they still care. Its when the comments stop that folks need to be worried.