NASCAR insider questions attendance issue after small crowds at Bristol, Martinsville

At certain NASCAR tracks, attendance is better than at others. And at certain tracks, a bad audience looks worse than at others. In-person attendance numbers are not made public by the sport, unless there is a sellout, but we all have eyes.

A track with the capacity of Bristol Motor Speedway is tough. It looks amazing, theatrical, and beyond belief when it’s nearly or completely sold out. The problem is, it hasn’t been sold out in a long time.

Bristol can hold nearly 150,000 in the grandstands. So when you only have 40,000-50,000 fans in the stands, it doesn’t look nearly as good. Attendance numbers are also a favorite topic for those who want to say negative things about NASCAR for … reasons. You see it in the comments on every social media site.

Jordan Bianchi of The Athletic was asked in his latest mailbag about attendance. Does it matter? Should NASCAR worry? Do TV numbers really matter that much?

“With NASCAR not publicizing attendance figures, it’s hard to know if the sport is facing a bigger overall problem or if Bristol and Martinsville should be considered outliers,” Bianchi wrote. He continued.

“But any time this issue comes up, context matters. The weather was a factor; the forecast leading into Martinsville called for rain, which likely hurt walkup sales, and Bristol was both rainy and cold. Hard to fault fans for not wanting to come out for either race, and each track also has a second date that tends to resonate more with the ticket-buying public.”

Bianchi is absolutely correct. The crowds that NASCAR pulls in at the race track should be taken into context. Besides football, how many sports could pull in the attendance numbers that NASCAR does for 38 weeks out of the season?

NASCAR ticket sales matter, ratings matter more

In the modern sports media landscape, in-person attendance doesn’t matter. Well, it doesn’t matter that much. There is more emphasis on TV ratings now, and that will likely continue.

Jordan Bianchi highlighted this in his mailbag. Good news, NASCAR is doing well in TV ratings.

“While having packed grandstands is important, it’s not the most important factor in NASCAR’s current health. The best barometer is television ratings, and on this front, the sport is doing well this season. Even though viewership was down this week, Bristol still was the second-most watched sport of the weekend, trailing only the Masters on CBS and ESPN, per data shared by NASCAR.

“That NASCAR routinely ranks as the first- or second-most watched sport during the spring and holds its own against the NFL in the fall is why it recently signed a record media rights deal that generates billions. And this revenue is the lifeblood of the sport, allowing NASCAR to construct a purpose-built oval inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for $1 million-plus and a street circuit in downtown Chicago for an estimated $50 million.”

Now, I don’t know about holding its own against the NFL, but Bianchi is right. Enthusiasm in motorsports, and especially NASCAR, is rising. It has been for a few years. With all the problems the sport may have, it is in a great position.