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DEAR ESPN AND THE REST OF YOUR BROOD..

S

Studio20

Mighty sorry. Downgrading our Friday night Nationwide Series race off to ESPN Classic isn't going to cut it. Tell you what; keep it there, and we'll play third fiddle to a couple of prelim NBA Playoffs that you ll have till mid summer...but we're going to simulcast it on SPEED. Just for s and g's, lets see which channel draws more viewers...even with the late announcement.

Sincerely,

NASCAR

(Wonder when the pennant races heat up, will one of their Cup dates get "Bump drafted" to the ABC stations, lol)
 
NASCAR:

This is the Nationwide Series you're asking about, right? Be grateful we took pity and offered to carry your races at all.

Yours,
ESPN
 
I was just talking to my son about whiney NASCAR fans. I love NASCAR, but to complain because the Nationwide series was bumped for a NBA playoff game is stupid!

Nationwide nascar = triple a baseball! ESPN bent over backwards, showing the race on Classic, simulcasting it on Speed (owned by arch-rival FOX,) and replaying it after the game. ESPN is doing NASCAR right. NASCAR whiners: Grow up and act like knowledgeable sports fans, and you'll get more respect in the mainstream sports world!
 
Studio20 said:
(Wonder when the pennant races heat up, will one of their Cup dates get "Bump drafted" to the ABC stations, lol)
Click to expand...

One more thing. ALL of the Cup races from just before the Chase on to the end are on ABC. Anybody who knows anything about tv knows a broadcast network is an upgrade from cable only channel. Check your facts and please don't make all NASCAR fans look like uninformed, backwoods hicks!
 
It is pretty bush league of ESPN to have to depend upon SPEED to fullfill network obligations.

The 'NASCAR whiners' are right: ESPN Classic and ESPN360.com (which is not a net neutral site that all high-speed connections can access) ain't gonna cut it.
 
Nate Wesley said:
It is pretty bush league of ESPN to have to depend upon SPEED to fullfill network obligations.

The 'NASCAR whiners' are right: ESPN Classic and ESPN360.com (which is not a net neutral site that all high-speed connections can access) ain't gonna cut it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, "bush league." Minor league (Nationwide NASCAR) vs. major league (NBA.) Grow up whiners! You want to be treated with respect, use your brains!
 
The only thing happening today is the Kentucky Derby. Everything else is just filler.
 
Towerclimber31 said:
The only thing happening today is the Kentucky Derby. Everything else is just filler.
Click to expand...

Tell me about it. The Tampa ABC station ran three hours of infomercials opposite the Derby, MLB on FOX and the Tiger-less PGA on CBS....

Back to the original thread...When ESPN pitched NASCAR to come back from NBC, they swore allegiance to the Nationwide (2nd tier, whatever) Series. They would build it up and, in turn, get the prime chunk of the Cup Series, i.e. ...wait for it.....The Chase......

Having to bring in a FOX network to simulcast the series had em snickering at FOX, I ll bet.


As an aside, on air thanks from Mike Joy to the circuit for pushing the start time back, in case the Cubs blew another huge lead...which, for awhile, looked plausible....so as the race and ball would not collide as they did previously.
 
Studio20 said:
Tell me about it. The Tampa ABC station ran three hours of infomercials opposite the Derby, MLB on FOX and the Tiger-less PGA on CBS....
Click to expand...

Living in that same market, unless ABC has sports scheduled, WFTS would run infomercials almost all-day, from 12 Noon to 6PM (with a break for NBA's Inside Stuff, I think).
 
PTBoardOp94 said:
NASCAR:

This is the Nationwide Series you're asking about, right? Be grateful we took pity and offered to carry your races at all.

Yours,
ESPN
Click to expand...

LMAO. I am now cleaning up water that I spit out laughing! ;D
 
A couple of Saturdays ago, ABC aired an Nationwide Series race on Saturday and an NBA playoff game on Sunday. NASCAR won. It was the fourth highest rated sporting event of the weekend. The Nationwide race had a 2.6, the NBA, a 2.4 NASCAR was going head to head against the first round of the NFL Draft and still garnered better ratings. MLB had a 2.0 on that Saturday. Earlier this season a Truck series race on Fox beat an NBA game 1.5 to 1.3.

They might be NASCAR's "minor leagues" (although plenty of Cup drivers are in the series,) but the ratings say otherwise. http://sportsmediawatch.blogspot.com/search/label/NASCAR
 
Preacherdude said:
Nate Wesley said:
It is pretty bush league of ESPN to have to depend upon SPEED to fullfill network obligations.

The 'NASCAR whiners' are right: ESPN Classic and ESPN360.com (which is not a net neutral site that all high-speed connections can access) ain't gonna cut it.
Click to expand...

Yeah, "bush league." Minor league (Nationwide NASCAR) vs. major league (NBA.) Grow up whiners! You want to be treated with respect, use your brains!
Click to expand...

How much brain does it take to resort to ignorant name-calling?

I'm not even a NASCAR fan, but the complainers have a legitimate gripe. The race was scheduled for telecast on one channel, then it got shuffled to other channels/platforms that a viewer may not have subscribed to.
 
ignore, double post
 
Why the Nationwide Series?

Just like Cup cars only with less horsepower. Us oldtimers fondly remember it as the Busch Series.

Nationwide "is on your side" -- big insurance company and sizable TV advertiser. Used to own TV and radio stations but got out of broadcasting after Telecom '96 was pushed through.

Studio20 said:
(Wonder when the pennant races heat up, will one of their Cup dates get "Bump drafted" to the ABC stations, lol)
Click to expand...

ESPN airs all 10 races of the "Chase for the Championship" on ABC -- a guarantee ESPN made in order to get NASCAR back. The ESPN baseball schedule does not overlap with NASCAR.
 
Mwd_711 said:
NASCAR was going head to head against the first round of the NFL Draft and still garnered better ratings.
Click to expand...

This is apples and oranges. If you're going to compare, keep it the same. Your comparison has no merit because you're comparing an event on network TV to something that ran on cable. And on NFL Network in prime-time, IIRC, nonetheless. Making your comparison fall flat on its' face even harder.
 
You know, there's an ad running now which features some guy who stands there frozen with a milk shake in his hand - staring at a shiny Corvette. Everyone around him is taking photos with him in it and acting as if he's some star. For weeks, I was trying to figure out why the advertiser would feature people doing this with some guy. Made no sense. And, nobody else who saw the ad with me got it either.

FINALLY, I figured it out. He's a NASCAR guy. And, the ad inadvertently highlights the whole NASCAR issue - it features people fawning over someone who is a complete unknown in any top 10 market. Given this, the ad ends up being funny (which was clearly not the intent). After all, for most of us, they might as well have just dragged some average Joe in off the street as feature this NASCAR guy (who's name I still don't recall).

In a nutshell: NASCAR is still a niche sport. Now, the NBA is becoming one too...but it still has more general appeal than NASCAR. ESPN gets that, which is why they did what they did.
 
BRNout said:
In a nutshell: NASCAR is still a niche sport. Now, the NBA is becoming one too...but it still has more general appeal than NASCAR. ESPN gets that, which is why they did what they did.
Click to expand...

The NHL and NASCAR passed in the night a couple of years ago -- racing going up and hockey going down. NASCAR and the NBA will soon do the same thing. While it may have been the right choice for the moment, it was a bad move for the future.
 
N_D_Radioguy said:
BRNout said:
In a nutshell: NASCAR is still a niche sport. Now, the NBA is becoming one too...but it still has more general appeal than NASCAR. ESPN gets that, which is why they did what they did.
Click to expand...

The NHL and NASCAR passed in the night a couple of years ago -- racing going up and hockey going down. NASCAR and the NBA will soon do the same thing. While it may have been the right choice for the moment, it was a bad move for the future.
Click to expand...

We'll see about that. Some would say that NASCAR has already plateaued. It is certainly stalled (pun intended) in its attempts to gain traction (another!) in the big markets outside of the South. At least the NHL has it's own country where it's madly popular (Canada). But, it is definitely consigned to niche-hood here in the US.

As for the NBA, it's hard to say. It's golden years were definitely the 80s and 90s with stars like Bird, Magic, and Jordan. The league has done a poor job of promoting it in recent years. And, the NCAA has definitely taken some of the wind out of its sails as well - during March madness, few bother with the NBA. However, it could catch fire again someday, remember that lots of kids still play pick-up basketball.

Not many race around (and around) a track in the backyard.....
 
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