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There's several different factors here that need to be analzyed.
First, it is safe to assume Racin Boys has a contract to broadcast the ASCS National Races unless explicitly stated otherwise. I doubt Scott Traylor is working individual contracts with each of these tracks over 5 years - someone would have pulled the same move sooner or later.
Another question here involves the ASCS contract that McCarl would have to sign to sanction the event. I'm not going to speculate if this would specifically note broadcast rights - if it didn't, I would think the ASCS really dropped the ball.
But the biggest reason this was a mistake on T-Mac's part is the reason. It's the same reason why the RIAA/MIAA's argument against piracy sucks - it doesn't follow logic.
For this broadcast to cost T-Mac one ticket, you would have had to had the following:
-A person interested in the race enough to go with money to go
-Within range to travel to Oskaloosa for the race, factoring in distance, travel money, time, etc.
-Would have listened to the race in lieu of going, but since the broadcast was canceled, is now going to attend.
Honestly, how many people could fit that bill? I would be very surprised if that number was greater than 20. Now, 20 tickets could be substantial, but when you think about the negative effects not allowing the broadcast, you get the following:
-You're now denying those who aren't within range of traveling to Oskaloosa or who don't have the time or travel money a chance to at least experience the race. Whether justified or not, you're going to make some of those people very unhappy. And to be honest, you're going to turn a lot of those people off from possibly attending the event in the future. That's the brutal honesty of it - people love to stand up when they feel they've been wronged, and whether it's justified or not, it's going to happen.
-How did the ASCS react? It's possible they were absolutely fine with it. It's possible they were a little perturbed that a promoter wouldn't work with them on such a simple front when many others have before. Who knows how deep this deal goes in terms of money? Media contracts are very, very abnormal a lot of the times. Regardless, it's publicity for their series - listening to an awesome race in Iowa could make a fan in New Mexico, Oklahoma, or any of the states the ASCS race in sit there and go "Man, I have to see these guys when they're around me next." That's the narrow-sighted viewpoint that people fail to acknowledge. Stuff like this that people don't even pay attention to exists, and those who notice it and utilize it are the ones who can really impact a brand and make it take off. I've taken college level courses on marketing and this stuff really is effective.
-And finally, it's something that T-Mac himself could have instead used to his advantage instead of flat out denying. Maybe barter a bit to get some ad-time for Casey's, the title sponsor for the race. I'm sure Racin Boys would have had no problem putting in a few notices about tonight's race. Also, back to the previous point - it may serve as reasoning for someone to attend a race in the future.
To me, those cons outweigh the pros of the unknown number of people who actually decided to attend the race after finding out the broadcast they were planning on listening to was canceled. It's a major fallacy - it's assumed that if you take away the broadcast, the prevailing option among persons interested would be to attend, but in reality, it's the opposite - most will just not attend for any of the reasons listed further up.
I want to close by saying this is just an outside view looking in - maybe there was a valid reason regarding the cancelation that will never become public - it's always a possibility. On its face, however, there doesn't appear to be one. I mean no disrespect to T-Mac, his wife, or any of the FRC promotion group, the ASCS nor Racin Boys by what I've said here. It's just one man's opinion.
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