[miledirt]

Puts a bad taste in the mouth for both of them... need to get it figured out

[Crankin]

Originally Posted by ChetC I am not privy to the dealings between USAC (Flo) and DirTVision, but I do know we (Speed Shift TV) will be broadcasting the All Star race from Knoxville in its entirety, so I wouldn’t hold this against DirTVision.

O.K.., So why was Flo either not allowed, or wouldn’t show the All Stars at Joliet..... And I pretty much assume you didn’t show the Midgets either at Joliet?
I asked in another thread for anyone to explain this.... You sound like an “in the know” person. How does this work?

[brsteg]

I am the most upset at Knoxville, and I don't think I'll make any plans to attend there anytime soon. But Dirtvision, Flo, USAC, and Knoxville all had their part in screwing to the fans and a broken promise.
Knoxville uses USAC name and drivers to build hype in there event and then will not allow USAC to broadcast it, essentially telling all the USAC non-wing fans to p**s off; we're going to sell our own PPV and try to squeeze out all the $ we can.
I will never attend the non-wing race there if this is how they handle it in the future, and USAC should never co-sanction it again. And like I said this stops any plans I had of maybe attending the Nationals in the immediate future.

It's nice to have a big non-wing race, but not when it comes with dishonesty from those putting it on.

[chillyrn]

It was announced earlier this year that all of Knoxville's sprint car races in 2019 (the races this weekend included) were going to be streamed on DirtVision. Nothing has changed there. I don't think the issue is necessarily with Knoxville (you can blame them if you want!?), but more so with FLO and DirtVision (mostly FLO, IMO - but DirtVision is probably not without some fault) not working out a deal to do a simulcast so both groups of subscribers (FLO and and whoever pays for the DirtVision stream this weekend) could see everything. This happened at Eldora in May for the USAC/WoO doubleheader... where you could only see USAC if you subscribed to FLO... and could only see WoO if you subscribed to DirtVision. That sucked then for DirtVision subscribers who wanted to see the USAC portion... and this sucks now (for FLO subscribers).

[ChetC]

Originally Posted by Crankin O.K.., So why was Flo either not allowed, or wouldn’t show the All Stars at Joliet..... And I pretty much assume you didn’t show the Midgets either at Joliet? I asked in another thread for anyone to explain this.... You sound like an “in the know” person. How does this work?

If one company is not allowed to show the other’s division, why would they allow the other company the courtesy of broadcasting all? The alternative is to determine whose show it actually is and the associated broadcast belongs to that company.

Times have changed in race broadcasting of late. What used to be a field comprised of race fans just trying to enjoy and share Motorsports has been turned into a business. When we first started Speed Shift it was all handshake deals, now it’s written contracts and ********.

[Crankin]

Originally Posted by ChetC If one company is not allowed to show the other’s division, why would they allow the other company the courtesy of broadcasting all?

I'm not 100% sure what you're saying here? But, I wrote (most) of this the other night (Joliet), and received not one explanation from anyone:

On another subject surrounding this race, what could possibly be the reason for Flo not showing the ALL Stars, and Speedshift not showing the Midgets?? What possible good does this do for anyone, and what possible harm could be done by each "network" showing the other class?

If you say it would hurt the one off sales for the ppv, you're wrong. People that follow the All Stars know where to buy their PPVs, and vice versa for the USAC PPVs. So one off sales are not the reason.

I mean if you want exclusives on the replays, that's fine, and understandable.

With that said, can someone give me a legitimate reason why each "network" would not want to expose their product to a different audience??? It's not like these co-sanction events happen everyday in our form of racing? Take your coats off and expose each other, it's only going to help you in the end.

Example of it not helping:
All Star fan tunes into watch his sprint car guys on Speedshift, sees some really cool Midget racing, and possibly buys a future Flo Racing telecast to see more Midget racing. Doesn't change the fact that he is a All Star fan at heart.... Vice Versa for a USAC fan seeing the All Stars... They may go out buy one of their future PPVs, but will be a long loyal USAC fan.

Not Rocket Science that any extra exposure is a good thing for everyone involved. Now, with the way it was handled, All Star fans paying for the telecast are less than thrilled that they have to just sit there waiting for those damn Midgets to run while they watch commercials or replays. USAC fans are less than thrilled having to sit thru endless race replays (some twice), while those damn winged cars are running.
Please tell me what was accomplished by any of this.

Working together for the common good, is just going to help everyone's bottom line.

[brsteg]

Originally Posted by chillyrn It was announced earlier this year that all of Knoxville's sprint car races in 2019 (the races this weekend included) were going to be streamed on DirtVision. Nothing has changed there. I don't think the issue is necessarily with Knoxville (you can blame them if you want!?), but more so with FLO and DirtVision (mostly FLO, IMO - but DirtVision is probably not without some fault) not working out a deal to do a simulcast so both groups of subscribers (FLO and and whoever pays for the DirtVision stream this weekend) could see everything. This happened at Eldora in May for the USAC/WoO doubleheader... where you could only see USAC if you subscribed to FLO... and could only see WoO if you subscribed to DirtVision. That sucked then for DirtVision subscribers who wanted to see the USAC portion... and this sucks now (for FLO subscribers).

It was announced that Flo would have every USAC National race Live. Knoxville asked USAC to co-sanction and they built interest off of USAC's brand, name, and drivers; and then locked USAC's fans out that could not attend by not allowing Flo to do what they said they would do, and what USAC said they would do. It was not announced till 4 days prior to the event with one group having there hands out expecting $40 to watch the weekend's races. Way to win a new fan base and build an event.

Every party has blame to share in this.

[ChetC]

Originally Posted by Crankin I'm not 100% sure what you're saying here?

Because of ********, I’m not going to get into this and it’s the reason no one else in the industry will either. Just ask yourself when this started happening and what changed at that time.

[brsteg]

Originally Posted by ChetC Because of ********, I’m not going to get into this and it’s the reason no one else in the industry will either. Just ask yourself when this started happening and what changed at that time.

Well, I know things seemed to get less friendly this year when a new organization that was made up of none racing people showed up to the bargaining table and signed a deal.

But I may have missed something along the way also.

If the woman from the progressive commercials is to blame, the United Auto Club needs to find a way to make a deal with that speedy shifting company.

[kdobson]

This was a very unique year where the subscription model became a "thing". I'd guess these problems get resolved in future years. As a track promoter, I'm of the opinion that the track controls the broadcast rights of the events it holds, and can only give that away by agreement with a sanctioning body that demands it. Let's look at the timing here...

Knoxville and USAC announce this race in on July 9th 2018. https://twitter.com/usacnation/statu...380675?lang=en At that time there was some tacit agreement that USAC was going to sanction a race at Knoxville. I doubt there was a written contract with dry ink at the time. In July 2018, Flo Racing wasn't even on the radar. Speedshift was doing a lot of USAC stuff and The Cushion was doing Knoxville stuff... and Dirtvision was doing only World of Outlaw stuff.

Fast forward to this past offseason... Dirtvision expands to include Knoxville, I'm sure getting the rights to "everything Knoxville" for a price. Flo Racing does it's deal with USAC getting "All of USAC" for a price... and Speedshift moves more into the subscription game with the All Stars, POWRi etc.

Very few of these sanctioning bodies had any communication with the tracks (which I firmly believe hold the natural rights to the broadcasts) prior to doing their deals. It was more or less assumed that the tracks would fall in line and allow the series to do these broadcasts. Most - if not all - have, but it was done long after agreements and scheduling to host events were made between tracks and sanctioning bodies.

So this year in my opinion the cart came very much before the horse...but that's because this subscription model didn't really exist to any large degree when races were scheduled. Everyone I know or have met doing the PPV stuff are really good people - not out to screw anyone (I don't know anyone at Flo) but now find themselves with their hands tied contractually by agreements that were made without realizing some of the potholes that were going to lie ahead. I'm doubting that when USAC announced or committed that all events were going to be on Flo Racing, that it occurred to them to circle back and talk to Knoxville about this particular event prior to making that agreement/announcement. Maybe they did - but I'm not sure these problems were obvious back then.

Next year I can assure you that most every track when they agree to host a series is going to be asking about what obligations it carries regarding video - and the PPV companies promises to the public will give them more wiggle room to not carry certain events. I know that I much prefer when possible to broadcast our stuff at Jacksonville for Free. There are some events where I now know to even have the event in the first place, I'm going to have to give up that right to the sanctioning body. But I also know that there are other events where my desire not to give up those rights are going to result in the sanctioning body having to race at our track under my rules for video - or not race here at all and I would expect they will know they have to cross that bridge with tracks in the future before agreeing to a rigid contract with a streaming provider.

It did upset me when I had my own video plans in place... had hired people/bought the equipment to do it... and then a month before the season read that certain of my events were going to be part of a subscription service I had no part in negotiating. Again... it was an odd year where this all kind of snowballed after events had been scheduled. Next year all of the interested the players will understand the game better when scheduling shows.