Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

Knoxville gets about 4000 fans per night. According to the add where 34 raceway is for sale they have 3500 seats. The NSL will likely draw more fans at Knoxville than a regular saturday night show. Plus with no sanction fee they are still paying a larger purse. 3000 to win & 500 to start. 

Funny how all them driver's complained about the $6000 mid week shows and.... now you have Drivers promoting and making money off them cheap shows.

You have to account for the fact that Knoxville can charge the same as they don't have any sanction fee.

All that being said, the best post is the one about the owner.  I hope the fans really appreciate what Tod is giving them.  The tracks are not covering the point fund and just a small contribution to the staff.  He has put together an awesome program for drivers and fans.  Let's hope everyone gets out and supports this deal.

Where did you see Husets is charging $28?  That is shockingly high.

Funny, that was from the drivers criss crossing across the united states, not from a midwest tour that runs 6 states. 

Keep It Real

From what I have heard (secondhand), there is a small sanction fee (to cover the NSL operating expenses) that the tracks pay (that is a lot less than the purse $$ is), and the tracks pay $0 toward the purse (Tod is paying the purse out of his pocket).

Don't know if it's true or not, just what I've heard for quite some time (and if true, is why tracks have been wanting race dates, they have very little risk involved in having an event).

IMO, the price at 34 is way too high, but, they charge $20 for a Sprint Invaders Show too, so maybe they think they can sell out at that price.

I'll still attend 34 but have heard from a lot of people who would normally go that aren't because of the entry amount. Maybe 34 thinks they'll be fine because it's the first 410 race of the area this year and it's the inaugural NSL event. Both are very good things to have but 1,800 at $20/head is better than 1,200 at $28/head and that's before you even factor concessions. I have to question their pricing model - think somewhere around $20-22 makes much, much more sense.  

Absurd ticket pricing. Should be $18-20.

Before all of you guys start complaining about the ticket price, just be glad you are not from California.  Outlaw shows are up to $45.00 a ticket and regular shows are hovering in upper $20s.  I would be glad to pay $28.00 for that level of a show! 

I mean, you could look at this way if you completely ignored Cost of Living between the two areas. Outlaws at 34 in June are $37 for GA, so not terribly off your $45 number.

Promoters are going to end up pricing themselves out of the game at this rate. 

Your Outlaw shows are over-priced as well (at $45) the same as they are overpriced here in IA at $45 (at some venues) and $35 (at Knoxville).

However, economics in CA are much different than economics in IA.  Pay rates are much higher in CA, as is the cost of housing, gasoline, etc., etc..

A 1500 square foot home in Iowa costs anywhere from $135,000 to $225,000 in Iowa, where the same homes in CA costs you double that (maybe more).  We're not comparing apples to apples except when you are in the same area (Knoxville is a 2.5 hour drive to Burlington (34 Raceway) and a 5 hour drive to Huset's in Sioux Falls, SD (lots of disparity in pricing considering the cost of living at all 3 locations are virtually the same).

The same can be said for wages across the US.  A professional job (Engineer for example) in Iowa may pay $65,000-75,000 per year whereas that same job with the same company may pay $150,000-200,000 in CA or NY.  Cost of living has to be factored in to what people are getting paid as well as what they are getting charged.

This is why the former owners of the WRG failed.  They saw all markets as the same and wanted to charge the same $$ amount at every track across the USA (regardless of seating capacity, economic factors, or what the market could charge).

Could Knoxville get more $$ for the NSL or WoO than other tracks in the area?  Probably, but at the same time, someone must have finally noticed that empty seats don't buy concessions as they have kept pricing the same for the last 5 years or more (but the minute they raise prices $1 per ticket everyone will throw a big hissy fit and attendance will drop).

$37 ticket for a $50k purse = having to sell 1,351 tickets just to pay the purse

$28 ticket for a $25k purse = having to sell 892 tickets to pay purse.

I left sanctioning fee out as I don't know what NSL charges if any, though the Outlaw fee is going to much higher.

The $37 ticket price while high is much more in line with the purse.structure of a typical Outlaw event. Booking NSL event with the purse structure they have should result in a $18-20 ticket. I'd even be okay with $22 given that it's new and promoters may be taking a risk. But $28-30 is silly and way over priced.

I think 34 raceway pricing is way too high for both the NSL and WoO events. I was planning on going to the NSL show until I found out to get the family in will be 80 bucks. Add some burgers and a few cokes and I would drop a hundred bucks for one night of racing. The WoO show is even worse as it will be $108.00 to get everybody in, no thanks.

Sprint Invaders at 16 bucks for an adult is a good deal and they put on a very good show in my opinion.

One segment of fans that I think racing is loosing are families and those kids are really the future of the sport. If they don't go as kids more than likely they won't as adults because they are interested in other things. For example I can throw the dirt bikes and kids in the truck, go ride all day and do it all for 40 bucks for the day. Easy decision.

Good we don't want poor people like you there taking up space.

Which is why there are less and less in the stands every year.....

How about everyone that complains about the ticket prices just works for free at the race track.

Then they would get in for free and the the tracks Could charge every one else less to get in.

Yeah sprintfast you got me. I am dirt poor and can't find enough pop cans to get the admission money. My next complaint is the concession stand will not accept my food stamps so I can feed my family while I enjoy the races. Jackass.

You're right. We should just accept it or not accept it without question. Like I said, I'll still be paying but I know others who won't. My point was offering a more reasonable ticket would likely get more than enough people to make up the difference in price. 

1000 * $28 = $28,000 gate

1273*$22 = $28,000 gate, plus whatever the additional 273 spent in concessions

Assuming Saturday is a 3 1/2 hour show, you're paying $8/hr. That's basically the rate of watching a movie nowadays. Racing used to offer a much better value, but those days seem to be gone.

Following your tenable definition of value,  the UMP Summernationals race I attended at 34 years ago must have set some sort of record. 

I paid $25 to watch almost 6 hours of racing action.  Thats only $4.17/hour of entertainment!  I will happily pay $4.17/hour for entertainment on a Wednesday night in SE Iowa.

You're right - that wasn't the best method of value to use, as it can end up with a false value like what you've shown here. 

Still believe the price to be too high for this week. Changes nothing.

I was looking at there website and clicked on race details for the NSL race where it showed the price.  I will still be going for sure just was wondering why they charge so much if Todd is covering the purse.