Reply to:
Posted By: Scoanut on August 20 2017 at 09:12:17 PM
Hey just a quick note on money.im for the driver owners and track making money but for years I've told anyone that will care .its to much money to go to the races, that's way people don't go crowds are down,I have 5 people in the family when we go to Knoxville each sat night on a reg sat it costs 100 bucks tickets food drinks.thats 400 a month a house payment or car payment,plus that's no other forms of fun.kids movies or date night what ever else people do. When I was a kid going you'd see the same people in the same seat each week that's gone for the most part.plus people just can't pay a place 400 a month thats a Big part of a family's budget for fun.Then there's the single parents looking for a cheap place for kids to go. Now the seats are built and paid for why not let high school age kids in free mom can give them 20 bucks the kid gets in free and spends it all on food.remember seat are there? You can get there 20 bucks or a seat getting dusty? Plus that's the age a kid starts to get hooked and just mite become a fan for life.ive looked at old programs from Knoxville in 1970s and it will say Ray Lee Goodwin wins in front of 4700 people today you can't get 4700 people at a outlaw race ? And plus Wayne Gret was a sports writter he'd do story's on drivers in the paper in Des Moines not now! Hell the Des Moines paper doesn't even know the biggest race in sprint cars is 30 min away. Also you mite see a add in the paper racing tonight in Knoxville. Not now the promoters think they have a key that fits the lock just open and people will come some do and so don't? The fan just don't care who much point fund money terry mcarls going to get they just need a place for the 16 year old kid to go cheap? But for me I'd sell a kidney to go each week we don't miss but I can't see where a family mite go only once or so a month so then they are not envolved in it as much don't care about point funds and stuff a place like Knoxville needs to keep prices low so people can go cheaper then there house payment. But still keep the great drivers and point funds but really they need to try to gain more 12 year to 19 year kids when they come they spend all they got and become ticket buying fans from going as a kid. And little kis need to be free so the parents don't have to spend 400 or more a month. But I'm sure it's a fine line to walk but weekly racing fans have to grow the tracks do okay on the big shows and get killed weekly. Theres to many places to send money and kids like to do other things, so racing has to be a cheap form of family fun.think out side the box have a concert local band or bands start at 11 in the afternoon place your local drivers cars around let them sell shirts,give them 6 sets of tickets the fair broad gets give them to,the drivers so when the concert is playing let the drivers hand tickets out to non race fans, they sell beer play music local bands play cheap. Get the non race fan to go start the racing after the concert the mud in your beer concert think outside the box offer things do do that brings in non racing people maybe they mite like it as long as they don't have to pay more then there house payment to enjoy this hobby.
|
I'll attempt to tackle your run on sentence here.
If you tink the drivers and owners are making money you should go talk to one sometime about what it actually costs each week to put the car and the track.
It's a $$$ losing proposition for pretty much every one of them except maybe 2-3 cars on a weekly basis. And the purse $$ isn't why those cars aren't losing $$$, it's because of sponsorships. An unsponsored car could WIN every week and probably still have a loss at the end of the season.
Crowds are down for a multitude of reasons, but costs to attend isn't one of them. It would cost you more than $100 to take your family to the movies in DesMoines as well, (last time I took my wife and 2 kids to DesMoines it costs us $48 to get in and another $40 at the concession stand for just popcorn and soda and water for us (and we shared the popcorn).
I agree to a point that teenagers should be free, but they tried that for 2 years straight, guess what, no more came than were already.
Do you really think that the stands are that empty? The Suites hold about 1200 (Between the HoF and the front stretch), with ZERO people sitting in the stands there are 1200 sold seats. There are 16 sections on the front stretch. If you have 100 people in each section, that's another 1600 people, so 2800 now. start counting heads in your section next time you are there, I think you'd be surprised what the actual crowd size is (but due to 17000 seats, it doesn't look like anyone is there).
DesMoines Register (and any paper for that matter) is hemmoraging $$$. They haven't adapted to the digital age fast enough. Their answer thus far has been to consolidate and lay off staff. So far they've accomplished losing even more readers and advertisers.
Knoxville (don't know about others) does MORE advertising than they have ever done. TV, Print, Radio, Internet, Facebook and Twitter. When I was a kid (my guess is we are similar in age), they advertised on Thursday in the DSM Register and just in the weekly paper in Knoxville, Pella and Osky. Radio ads consisted of KNIA (which had far less reach in those days) and NO TV advertising.
The Points fund is paid for by sponsorship (all those billboards you see). Ticket prices have Zero effect on the point fund (and without the point fund, you'd be watching hobby stocks as one of the classes every week).
Again, the racetrack did bands for a few years and guess what, 4 or 5 people showed up early to watch them. Could the drivers and teams do more, sure they could but who's going to pay them for their time? Most are going to do what THEIR sponsors want them to do. Odds are it involves that sponsor's business, not a Racetrack.
Now to address your obvious lakc of knowledge when it comes to ticket prices. Adults are $15, TEENS (you complain about teens in your run-on sentence) are $10 and under 12 (you complain about little kids needing to be free above) are FREE and have been for at least the past 5-6 years.
Thinking outside the box is great in theory as well, but remember that tracks (all of them) have to cater to die-hard fans (don't care about anything except hte racing), casual fans (only come when it's convenient) and trying to attract newbies. If they cater to only the newbies they may run off the die-hards (ask NASCAR how that's worked out for them).
|