News has come out today that likely starting next season, Charlotte will lose one of its races to Las Vegas. In the words of Bruton Smith, "When the game is over, it'll be money, money, money," Smith told WBTV. "Money will move it."
At least he's being honest about it I suppose. Basically as was said on Facebook, it's nice to see that Bruton Smith, and Nascar as a whole, 10 years since their initial efforts began, are still working overtime to piss off and run off their traditional fans with stupid decisions that will do nothing to benefit Nascar as a whole. Anyone who believes that Las Vegas will draw more money than Charlotte for Nascar is quite simply irrational in their thinking.
I just can't understand why this group is working so hard to run off their traditional fans. There is no other sport on the planet that has done more to purposely run off their core group of fans as Nascar has done since around 2002. Such things as creating and giving races to the "cookie cutter" tracks, taking races away from VERY well established traditional venues such as Rockingham, Darlington, Atlanta, and now Charlotte (which I would've believed to be like Daytona in that it would be untouchable), moving the Southern 500 from Labor Day weekend to Mother's Day weekend for no reason whatsoever other than to spit in the face of 55 years of tradition and once again, spit in the face of the traditional Nascar fan.
I've written for several years that I wouldn't be surprised to see Nascar fold by 2020-2025. Or at the very least, there would be races that weren't televised live any more, if at all. Regrettably, there are enough sheep out there to keep the sport alive but I see no reason to change my prediction about Nascar on television because any sport depends on its traditional fanbase to support it in hard times. Nascar's attendance and ratings have been down for years and it can be traced right back to the unholy trinity's concentrated efforts to run off the traditional fans. MLB, NBA, NFL, NHL, Soccer, Tennis, Golf, other auto racing bodies such as Indy and F1, and nearly every other sport I can think of tries at least to innovate but still remaining loyal to their core fanbase. In the case of MLB, I think they try too hard sometimes to do this since it hinders progress that could actually make the game better, but they are at least trying to keep their core fans.
Nascar on the other hand doesn't subscribe to this theory. They think that the fairweather fans are the group they need to go after. I'm not saying they shouldn't try to lure in new fans but I am saying that perhaps if they didn't mess with things that worked to draw in fans for over 50 years previously, perhaps they might actually draw in some new fans without running off millions of fans that Bill France Sr and Jr worked for a combined 55 years to draw in.
I've compared Nascar to the WWE for a variety of reasons. Among many other reasons, there is a major reason this comparison is more valid than many people realize. The question has been asked as to whether Vince McMahon was ashamed of the wrestling business given how much he's worked to make the wrestling business a joke in the eyes of mainstream America. This question needs to be asked of Brian France, Mike Helton, and Bruton Smith. Are they ashamed of stock car racing as a whole and ashamed of the fact that the southeastern US has always been the core group that has made Nascar what it was before they came to ruin it? This, like the case of McMahon, being despite the fact that millions and millions of dollars have gone into their pockets from the very thing they seem to be ashamed of?
Finally, this comparison becomes even more valid because, like the WWE and Vince McMahon, the unholy trinity of Nascar will continue to make money despite themselves because there are enough fairweather fans and sheep who will keep giving them their money for a product that hardly resembles the legitimate product of pre-2004 Nascar which is what I refer to as "Nascar done the right way." As more time passes, they will still continue to make more money because once the current group of fairweather fans move on to the next shiny object on the wall, a new group will come in. Most of whom will not have seen Nascar done properly and will thus not know the difference. Over time, this is how Nascar will survive. Ignorance from their fans who will have never seen the sport run and operated correctly.
So yes, these people will make their money despite themselves just like Vince McMahon.
