Anyone else think this proves ESPN sucks at Nascar?

Question

From Fox News.

ESPN earned just a 4.2 Nielsen rating for its 2007 NASCAR debut last week at Indianapolis, a 24 percent drop from last year's race on NBC. Then again, maybe that was a good thing, because it meant that many fewer people saw the miserable way ESPN handled the end of the race, failing to show any drivers other than the winner crossing the finish line. Plus, the order of finish behind winner Tony Stewart wasn't seen for nearly two full minutes after the race.

Answer 1

ESPN sucks balls

Answer 2

All I will say is that without ESPN, I would have missed seeing about 400 races. They were televising NASCAR when NOBODY else wanted too. When ESPN began televising races where I was living at the time, you couldn't even find it on the radio and it was rarely even mentioned in the Arkansas Gazette.

If you like watching NASCAR on FOX then you need to thank ESPN!

It was ESPN that helped build the sport's popularity and turned into such a valuable commodity that no single network can afford the rights to televise it.

Those expensive rights are paid for by commercials and if a company can't make a profit, how long do you think they will eat a loss.

I don't mind the commercials, instead I view them as beautiful things that allow me to see a lot of what I couldn't see any of before.

For godsakes people, upgrade to get ESPN. Pay the extra 10 dollars a month, or whatever because the next step from NASCAR just may be PPV at 40 dollars a pop. Let's see, 40 bucks a pop times 36 races plus Chase fee equals a ton of money.

Answer 3

The shot they use of showing the winning car cross the finish line then zoom in on the flagman is an aspect of the race being at Indy, not just how ESPN showed it That shot has been a tradition at Indy for many years and ABC, NBC, and now ESPN have always shown the finish that way since the very first Brickyard 400. As far as ratings go, they've been down all season long as the amount of people watching racing has leveled off. This is probably because many of the casual fans who began watching after all the coverage surrounding the death of Dale Sr., but never became die-hards, have moved on to something else.

Answer 4

I had no coverage problems. I saw the end of the race and interviews. In fact I think they did a much better job than NBC or TNT have ever done. The low ratings could be due to several things. Consistently changing networks makes it hard to find (Fox, NBC, TNT, and ESPN. Make up your mind and pick just 1). Everybody has NBC but not everybody gets cable. Everybody bashes Indy as a crappy track for stock cars so maybe people didn't watch because they thought it would be a waste of time or money. Its too bad because they missed a great race. Actual attendance was down quite a bit too. They didn't even sell out.

Answer 5

i think the ratings are down because nascar has become boring to watch.I have been a nascar fan for close to 30 years and i seldom watch it anymore.All the cars look the same not like the good old days when you could tell the difference from one make to another.Every driver sounds the same when they interview them they are all racing for points instead of wins.I bought a dish back in the 90s when the only channel you could see nascar on was espn.Now the only time i watch nascar is when im in need of a 2 hour nascar nap.

Answer 6

For sure!! I like the way we saw Jimmie Johnsons car once it was toasted and replays of it hitting the wall a hundred times but all I wanted to see was the blaze but no go. Then there was the first big accident that they hesitated for almost 30 seconds to even notice. We never even got to see Tony Stewart & Crew kiss the bricks. Such a bummer. Not the way to treat diehard NASCAR fans.

Answer 7

I really DO NOT enjoy ESPN doing the races. I would prefer out of the current stations airing races, for it to be aired on Fox. I think they do the best job between ESPN, TNT, and Fox. In an ideal world, I would like the Speed Network to cover it, because I love their on air personalities.

Answer 8

actually no, i was epceting it but.........the reason there was a huge drop in ratings is because NBC and fox are on basic cable, which is what a lot of people have. ESPN is the next upgraded package. They will improve but FOX is the best and NBC just sux at it

Answer 9

I'm just glad they show them on tv. It would be bad to have to listen to them on the radio. Some of the stations do a better job than ESPN. I like FOX the best.

Answer 10

Well it is going to drop NBC is a local channel while ESPN is a cable channel they should put races on ABC then it would even out and i didn't think it was that bad

Answer 11

Ha! Espn sucks at ALL things. There Canadian counter part TSN, sucks just as bad. hell who are we kidding? Nascar just is just hemorrhaging fans left and right. Nbc,Espn,Abc, whoever carries it I am sure the ratings would not be much better if at all. After 10 years of watching Nascar I have found better things to do with 3-5 hours on my Sunday.