Forum: SCRAFAN.COM Forum (go)
Moderators: ljennings

I was just wondering how long you think a sporting event should take?

These are roughly the average time for sporting events (did a goggle search to get results)

Baseball - 3 hours (seems longer doesn't it)

Football - 3 hours

NBA - 2.5 hours

NASCAR Race 3-5 hours (obviously tracks, wrecks, race length can greatly affect time)

College B Ball - 2 hours

It seems like 3 hours is the sweet spot. In order for short tracks to accomplish that, they should plan to start the "Main Event" for the premier series that night approximately at 9:30 - 9:45 or sooner if they start their program at 7pm.

With the cooler weather in winter/spring, I think some fans would appreciate a quick running show. At Las Vegas for the WOO race, fans on dirtvision (let alone the fans at the track) were not impressed with how long the show took place the first night, although the main was pretty damn good even with wings on a big track.

So, do you think short tracks should shoot for a 10 PM finish for the premier division every night? For many fans, they already get to the track at 5-6 pm to watch qualifying.

In the 3 hours from 7-10, the track promoter should have sold all the hamburger, beer, sodas they need too but I guess if they run till 11 or later, they could sell more coffee

I know many times I base my decision on going to certain tracks (especially if they are far from me, by what time they finish and how long a program is. For Ventura, although I live within 30 minutes, many times I pass on Ventura because I have to sit thru 4 hours of prelimary races to get to the main. On the otherhand, I don't mind driving to Santa Maria or Tulare as generally they try to get the main event done in a decent hour. Perris is crapshoot, sometimes they run a quick program and other times it drags out. Although I wasn't at Perris last Saturday I was surprised at how long the program ran considering the chilly conditions. Last year at Hanford, they had 30-45 minute delay one night (car took down the fence) and also had many other delays with flips, but they still got two sprint car main events (wing and non wing) in before 11. One thing that impressed me, was the promoter sold drinks at a reduced rate during the delay and also gave an award to a long time track employee who was battleing health problems (it was a nice touch).

As CRA is a traveling series, (even the fans who go to Perris are traveling fans from all over So CAL and beyond, so you think it would be wise for tracks "to try" to start the CRA main event no later than 9:45 and if they are running late, run the support main events after the CRA main.

Maybe more families would attend if there little ones where not falling asleep late in the night. I am sure we have all seen families leave after the heat races for support classes or semi's and I always wonder with the cost of going to a race (Close to $100 easily for a family) how often Dad will come back if he didn't get to see the main..

For me a perfect night would be have the heat races down by 7:45, semi by 8:30, line the cars up on the front stretch by 9:20, driver intro's, and start the main by 9:30. And try to fit the other 2-3 support classes around this schedule. Does it really matter if the seniors, dwarf cars, Ca Lighting Sprints, pintos etc race at 9 or 10:15. To fans it does matter what time they leave the track. 3 hours of fun is great, after about 3 1/2 the wife, kids, neighbor want to go home,

What do you guys think?

as long as the show is moving I don't care If I get out of there at 10pm or 2am.I've been to alot of tracks and at times they all seem to have useless delays (Chili Bowl excluded) but then I'm just a fan and have no idea how to run a show or what goes on behind the scenes.after all the bitchin I.ve done in the past I've learned to just sit back and enjoy the show.

ROB

A couple of years ago I submitted an article about this same problem. I too wondered about the stream of cars leaving the track before the main feature, because promoters insist that the feature attraction be run last regardless of what time it was. These people paid a premium ticket price to see the feature, but due to cold weather, small children or lateness of the evening they were forced to leave.

When Victorville first came back a couple of years ago, they ran the feature right after intermission or close to it. They then ran the supporting classes and it you wanted to wait around to see them, it was your decision, but everyone went home happy. I talked with the promoter and asked if this caused any problems and he said no. The feature drivers were happy because they got an early start on a long jouney home.

This was and still is a problem at Ventura where one has to sit thru numerable lower classes to see what you actually paid for despite what the hour or conditions are.

This has been my biggest gripe with the promotion of races with this attitude prevailing, especially tracks with curfews, where races are shortened because the promoter did not run one or more of the lesser classes before the feature.

Whats the big deal of trying to satisfy your fan base who pay the bills. The promoters already have the back gate revenue. It is time to start giving some thought to your paying customers. There is no excuse for fans having to sit around until late in the evening, especially tracks where it is cold. I have been going to races all over the country since the mid-fifties, and it seems that many west coast tracks have a propensity to run a lot of different classes thus prolonging the evening. Obviously they do this for the back gate thus lets give all the fans a break.

Time is one problem with running the support classes first the other is track condition, if people come to see a great sprint car race and the track is not good it becomes 20-25 hotlaps, that they have waited 4-5 hrs to watch. This will not grow the sport period, another problem that needs to be addressed is down time, until promoters are willing to change the way they look at these problems nothing will change and it will slowly go away.

Grady

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