How Mighty Have Fallen; Charlotte ABC Station Drops Bristol Race for Redskins Exhibition

The Washington Redskins were the first pro football team to be seen on television in the south, through their old Redskins syndicated television network. To this day, in my current residential locale of Charlotte, I often see more Redskins jerseys than Panthers.

Today comes news that Charlotte's ABC Television network affiliate, WSOC-TV will not air the previously scheduled Saturday night Bristol Sprint Cup race, but instead televise a Washington Redskins EXHIBITION football game.

How the mighty have fallen.

Charlotte race fans can still see the Bristol telecast. It has been picked up by independent station WAXN.

Same here locally. WKRN, local ABC affiliate, has contract with Titans to broadcast their 4 pre-season games. Apparently iron-clad. As a result, Bristol is getting bumped to a non-HD weather station.

http://www.wkrn.com/story/26290627/nascar-sprint-cup-series-at-bristol

I used to be able to pick from several radio stations to listen to the races here in NC. Now If I can find it at all it is on an AM station with limited range. Sounds like the TV coverage is headed in the sane direction. Guess it is good that I'll get to see the race in person this year.

We too have had our share of AM and FM stations over the years in middle TN with MRN, PRN and even Hank Schoolfield's Universal Racing Network broadcasts. We now have a low wattage FM station in Franklin that I sometimes listen to on race days. And the big sports station in Nashville seems to air the races - though not all of them. Doesn't take much seems like for a few of them to get bounced for something else.

One upside with today's technology is being able to stream MRN and PRN on their websites and apps. One downside to that tech is the tracks haven't kept up with bandwidth needs. It's often impossible to send a text, email or tweet at the track - much less try to stream audio to your ears as you watch with your eyes.

Enjoy, Dennis. Hope it's a good one.

All of this reiterates what we've been saying for years.........the wolf has been at the door, and nobody in Daytona seemed to care. Now, this week, the fur seems to be flying, with the unofficial word of the much hoped for Labor Day Southern 500. But is it too little, too late? Is the horse long out of the barn? Why did powerful continually ignore the advice and pleas of fans, of LEGIONS of fans? So much damage was done, and for so long, it's not a given this ship can be righted. NASCAR has their work cut-out.

I saw this today. Looks like this is going on in 15-20 markets. Unreal to me. The Bristol night race is a pinnacle to the series. NASCAR may need to look at putting this the first weekend in Aug. before pre season starts for most teams. Although next year I have a strong hunch this race will be on NBCSN and not the major network of NBC so it won't matter anyway. Many of you may already know this is not the first year for this to happen it has been at least the last 5 years or so that ABC has diverted some markets to other channels to carry local football games. Pretty sad as it sounds like some of you are getting redirected to a non-HD channel which in my mind stinks as although back in the day I watched many races in non HD and it works fine this day and age it should be available to any and everyone who has a TV service on an event as big as the Saturday night race at Bristol.

I agree with the gentleman who spoke earlier the giants have started to take over and at this point have their claws in very well that being the king which is and always has been the NFL. Getting bumped for pre season!!! In Allen Iverson's words. Are we just talkin' about practice?

I think bigger losses are ahead for NASCAR in the very near future. Next year the majority of the races will be shown on FOX Sports 1 and NBCSN. This compared to the last 10 years where FOX put all it's races on it's major network channel and although the ABC portion was almost always telecast on ESPN the fact is ESPN is in much more homes than is NBCSN or FS1. Look for rating to sink next year and not because less people care about racing but just because less people will have the proper channels in their cable package as FSN1 and NBCSN are in the upper tier packages and many people like racing a bunch but not enough where their going to shell out $20-$30 more each month to have 20 races or so a year. I think it is odd that on the last contract bid ABC (ESPN) and Turner Sports (TNT and in the old days TBS & TNN) did not even put in a bid to retain NASCAR. NASCAR still came out way fine as the new contract is bigger than the existing one but that is because FOX and NBC each bid up a ton of money so they can air races on their cable sport channels to build those channels ratings which in turn are in a lot of less households than that of FOX, ABC, and even though it is cable ESPN which is in more package options and thus in many more homes than that of FS1 or NBCSN.

Sad to see the day for us diehards but NASCAR has truly lost a bit if ABC and Turner Sports did not even want to put in bids to retain the races. The ratings have been steadily declining over the last 5+ years and I think the next 10 years which is the length of the new contract with FOX and NBC starting in '15 has the potential to hurt ratings even further by just being in less homes and having much less exposure.

Perhaps I'm in the minority - but I think too much is being made about Saturday's Bristol race. This year isn't the first time it's happened - though I suppose it might be the last since ABC/ESPN will no longer broadcast races after this season for at least a decade.

Don't get me wrong - I think TV ratings SHOULD be a concern to the suits at the beach from a business perspective. Based on what I've read, it sounds like the revenue streams from FOX and NBC are guaranteed to NASCAR, the tracks and the teams. I recall reading the price was set based on a 36-race Cup schedule - but not pegged to ratings numbers. Having said that, I'd have to believe FOX and NBC would strongly suggest a re-negotiation if the ratings continue their downward trend in the early years of the new agreement.

But as for Bristol specifically...

• Only 15 markets are affected - some of which aren't even NASCAR stalwart markets.
• Most of the ABC affiliates who will pre-empt the race for football will have it available on an alternate channel.
• Web streaming may be available on some cable or satellite packages.
• PRN will air the race on over-the-air radio and their app.
• ABC AFFILIATES have made this decision based on their locally-negotiated deals with NFL teams. This isn't a grand, us-vs-them decision made for those markets made by the Disney-ABC-ESPN programming managers.
• As has been well documented, the Bristol night race is no longer a guaranteed sell out. PLENTY of tickets will be available. And with fewer people in the stands, traffic and parking should be a bit better - and street tickets may be a bit cheaper. At worse, folks will pay face value at the BMS ticket office. If folks want to see the race live and don't have or don't want the other TV or web options, perhaps they'd be willing to drive to BMS this year.

From a high-level perspective, I get how many were taken aback by the programming switch. Race fans are prideful of the sport and don't like to see it take a back seat to other sports (or other) TV programming. But I don't think this one off deal in 2014 really moves the needle one way or the other in terms of national interest in the race.

15 years ago, beginning around June, the Charlotte newspaper would have 2-3 columns in its classified section from fans seeking tickets to the Bristol night race. Now, of course, there are zero ads seeking tickets for Bristol, but multiple ads seeking Carolina Panthers tix.

It really shows to everyone how far NASCAR has fallen. Very sad indeed