Originally Posted by flagboy55:
Heath. That’s an interesting analogy. But here’s the caveat. I don’t consider it a giveaway. I spent $550 on streaming services this year. And, here’s the kicker. Because Seafoam sponsors Dirtvision I changed my fuel stabilizer. Because Castrol sponsors Flo Night in America Late Model series, that was my last oil change. I bought a Lucas detail kit. See where I’m going? I’m a streamer who is definitely not the bad guy, I’m a paying customer in more ways than one. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I’m only going to so many races. Of course I could go to more if some of you would volunteer to stain the deck and do other house projects for me.
You make valid points. “Giveaway” is probably the wrong wording, it’s just what came to mind in context of using Napster as my first example and my own experiences trying to grow our fan base. Plus, using the music industry might not even be a fair comparison. It may be apples to granola bars for all i know.
It’s definitely good to see corporate sponsorship in our sport. If streaming availability is the catalyst to corporate sponsors helping to increase purses, then that’s awesome!! But i’d still inject the idea of a larger purse does not translate to dollars for the track owner. See Terre Haute from earlier this year.
That said, the amount of production time and equipment it takes to even air it is obscene. If that’s where the majority of the money from streaming stays, i can’t comfortably ask for money out of their pocket to give to the tracks either. It’s a difficult puzzle for sure.
Side note. Kokomo was packed with families Sunday night! You could tell nobody had to work the next day. Kudos to them for continuing to make a go of a mostly “work night” schedule.