On
February 7, 2017, Frank Buhrman posted an insightful article entitled "Media Coverage Today Could Be a Lot Worse" in which he discusses how today's coverage, which
some view as information overload, is much preferred to the near barren
wastelands of coverage he and fans of the earlier days of racing endured. I too second his assessment, having been raised
on the smattering of clips on Wide World of Sports, yearly Indy 500 coverage by
the Louisville Courier-Journal and an occasional National Speed Sport purchased
on trips to Salem, IN or DuQuoin, IL.
Hardly an information diet for a growing race fan!
Frank
is absolutely correct - "Media Coverage Today Could Be a Lot Worse"
because as we've seen in the past, it has been a lot worse and it's something I
pray we never see again. I do appreciate
what we have and am continually amazed with each new source or enhancement
(sorry, it's apparently THE word for the 2017 season).
With
that said, I also believe that media coverage today could be a lot better,
especially in the area of television coverage.
When television race coverage expanded, everything changed. Rex White summed up television's role in that
age so well in his quote noted in PattyKay Lilley's article entitled "A Few More Nicknames and Some Quaint Quotes"
"I
never dreamed I would see the sport where it is today. But I did see that when
television got into it, there would be no end to where it could go. With
television, you could get into everybody's house. People that had never been to
a race could see it on television, and then after they went to a race, they're
hooked."
Television
was the "hook" that got race fans from the local tracks to the big
tracks. It was the "hook" that
got non-fans to races where they became race fans. Once fans, television sustained them between
live races and whet the appetites to return to the tracks.
Almost
as important was television coverage’s impact on sponsorships. Businesses had brand loyal fans to sell their
products to.
Back
then, The Race was the focus. Everything
was about The Race. The Race was why
there was a broadcast at all. The booth
personalities became who they were because of how they presented The Race. They understood their role as well as Nance's
Third Law of Racing - Good coverage can't make a bad race good, but bad coverage can make a
good race bad. They presented The Race. Whether The Race was a nail-biter or a
snoozer, it was what it was and presenting The Race to us as accurately as
possible was their job. With just a
thimbleful of the technology available today, they did it and did it well. The results were evident as the sport
exploded.
Then
something changed.
From
my perspective, everything changed in 2001 with FOX coming on-board. I had high hopes, with expectations that
their entry would take the sport to new levels.
Even though not a fan of their broadcast team, I hoped they would be
successful as they brought a fresh energy to the sport. Although my hopes were high my expectations
were not; all I hoped for from them was MRN/PRN with pictures. If they could do that at a minimum, we would
all win. Anything beyond that was as
they say around here, gravy.
Regretfully,
they took the sport to new levels, just not the direction I'd hoped. The fresh energy was hardly taken as
positive, especially by the more experienced fans. Their entry brought a divisiveness (we know
best what you fans want) and a change in the focus. Beginning with their first drivers' lineups
with the logos of those car sponsors who had not advertised with them pixilated
out so as to not be recognizable, they sent a clear message The Race was
tertiary, behind The Broadcast and The Bottom Line.
Initially,
the broadcasts seemed to have an old Monday Night Football feel to it and that
could have been OK. Mike Joy easily
filled the role of Frank Gifford.
Unfortunately, Darrell Waltrip seemed intent on being both Dandy Don
Meredith and Howard Cosell, while Larry McReynolds was odd man out. Race starts began with Waltrip's
now famous BBBLGRB sendoff and race finishes would often see DW occupying all
three roles, stealing calls from Joy or talking over him, making the finish
unintelligible.
In
between, poor camera coverage seemed unable to capture any on-track action and
incidents were rarely shown live.
Extended segments of commercials were broken up with short clips of cars
on the track, much like the Wide World of Sports coverage mentioned in Frank's
article. The only differences being, FOX
was live instead of delayed and instead of The Race being interspersed with
segments of wrist-wrestling and log-rolling it was endless commercials or
in-booth shilling for a specific make of car.
Throw in the overused Turn Cam and FOX's beloved "Digger" only
added fuel to the growing fire of fan dissatisfaction. Coupled with an
increasing number of Broadcasts ending with a saying that is now almost as
famous as DW's sendoff - "Where did he come from?" fans displeasure
grew.
The
resultant outcry of The Broadcast was not only from "experienced"
viewers but "new" fans who just wanted something that was seemingly
impossible to see - The Race. FOX
Sports' Chairman and CEO David Hill's response to fans displeasure was a
refusal to make changes along with an "I'm right-you're wrong, now get
over it and like it" attitude (my observation not a quote-but it sure
could have been). It didn't sit well
with the NASCAR viewership either. The
FOX belief that The Broadcast could overcome anything including bad races and
diminishing track attendance was severely flawed. Not surprisingly, the viewership numbers
began to drop as fans, tired of pleading for The Race over The Broadcast
realized no change was coming. They
decided The "Product" was no longer worth The Price - their time investment. As Law One from the Three Laws kicked in (The
Buyer not the Seller Determines a Product's True Value) many shut off their TVs
and found life after NASCAR. They joined
a growing fan demographic, the dreaded "Lapsed Fan" - formerly active
fans but for reasons unknown to the Sanctioning Body are no longer active. Anyone familiar with Law Two could see that
coming, as objects (fans) with poor television coverage no longer had a reason
to stay in motion.
Coupling
this with a less than racy on-track product has resulted in Nance's First
Variation of Law Three which says "Bad coverage of bad racing equals bad
results for TV viewership and Track Attendance." It needs no further explanation. The numbers speak for themselves.
If
NASCAR is going to improve its appeal and try to reclaim some of its former
glory and status it experienced from the time Rex White uttered those words
above until the downturn in 2006-two things must occur - The Racing must
improve and Media Coverage of that racing, especially Television Coverage must
get better... Now!
We
are still early in the new season, a season of change. You name it and it's been changed. It's my hope that The Broadcasters take
advantage of this widespread change to improve The Broadcast by turning back
time and actually bringing us The Race.
Although
it's hard to tell, I actually think I can see some positive changes. One is the novel concept of allowing pit
reporters to actually report from the pits.
In the past, though titled pit reporters, these people acted as pit
collectors, gathering information and passing it to The Booth where it was then
dispersed as from an all-knowing source.
Actually seeing pit reporters report is refreshing and a minuscule step
in the right direction.
The
jury is still out on this one, but possibly one of the benefits (more likely an
unintended consequence) of Stage racing may be it finally forces FOX to
broadcast The Race. There seems to be a
wee bit more focus, less time for the Booth to take us off into the weeds,
never to bring us back. There have been
times when I seriously doubted FOX could broadcast an NHRA drag race properly
and I'm not talking about the entire event, a single race in an event. Maybe, just maybe these new race format
enhancements are helping them out.
Finally,
I seem to detect a nearly imperceptible shift in The Booth from the one who
Hill described as "He's kind of like a missionary with enthusiasm; he's
like the Billy Graham of NASCAR" to the other members in the Booth. It's probably wishful thinking overriding
truth or maybe it's finally professionalism overcoming passion (BBBLGRB aside)
but we'll only know for sure as the season progresses.
Bottom
line - we have so much farther to go yet... there is so much room for coverage
improvement, so many exciting opportunities to get back to where Rex White
envisioned the sport could be and where it once was. Of course, The Sanctioning Body needs to
step up and improve The Product while The Broadcasters do their part to bring
the improved Product to the household televisions or whatever viewing device is
being used by fans these days.
I
am hopeful though. You are probably
surprised, as these writings make many think David Nance is actually Eeyore's
pen name. However, I am hopeful as the
season goes on FOX adapts to covering the new race format and NBC watches and
learns and hits the ground running when their half of the season arrives.
Pessimistic? No, as Frank mentioned earlier, I've seen
worse than what we have now and if you've been watching for very long at all
you have too. No, when it comes to race
coverage I now consider myself an optimist, a total optimist like the
optimistic twin in that old familiar story.
You
remember the one about the "twin boys, five or six years old. Worried that
the boys had developed extreme personalities – one was a total pessimist, the
other a total optimist – their parents took them to a psychiatrist.”
“First
the psychiatrist treated the pessimist. Trying to brighten his outlook, the
psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with brand-new toys. But
instead of yelping with delight, the little boy burst into tears. 'What's the
matter?' the psychiatrist asked, baffled. 'Don't you want to play with any of
the toys?' 'Yes,' the little boy bawled, 'but if I did I'd only break them.'”
“Next
the psychiatrist treated the optimist. Trying to dampen his outlook, the
psychiatrist took him to a room piled to the ceiling with horse manure. But
instead of wrinkling his nose in disgust, the optimist emitted just the yelp of
delight the psychiatrist had been hoping to hear from his brother, the
pessimist. Then he clambered to the top of the pile, dropped to his knees, and
began gleefully digging out scoop after scoop with his bare hands. 'What do you
think you're doing?' the psychiatrist asked, just as baffled by the optimist as
he had been by the pessimist. 'With all this manure,' the little boy replied,
beaming, 'there must be a pony in here somewhere!'”
When
it comes to race coverage, since 2001, the racing manure has been piled high
and deep. For sixteen years, the remnant
race fans wanting to see The Race have dug through it with their bare hands
knowing that with all this manure there must be A Race in there somewhere.
Hopefully,
this will be the year we'll find it.
It
will be none too soon.