[flagboy55]

My friend Stevensville Mike brought up the elephant in the room on another thread pertaining to the question of if streaming of races keeps fans away. I’m pretty sure there are cases to be made for both sides of the argument. I would like to hear from all of you and your thoughts on the matter. One thing that occurred to me today, that I hadn’t thought about before is the affect streaming has on attracting sponsors. I often hear teams talk about how their sponsors can watch but can stay home and tend to business. Another thought I came up with, and I’ll use NOS as a random example. Do you think NOS would be involved if they had to rely on the exposure they get from ticket buyers only? Certainly something to think about. Looking forward to what my bud Mike has to say as well as the rest of you

[Rapid Rick]

I have had Floracing for a little over a year. I have attended about the same number of races as usual. My wife says that I spend marginally more on her than my $150 annual expenditure for my girlfriend Flo. Both are worth every penny.

[cornerthree]

I have Floracing and go to, the same amoiunt as before. I only watch races I can't get to. I still think it hurts attendance cheap people will stay home. I know after watching there are more tracks I won't go to. Poorly run programs that take to long. I see people on facebook saying they are having watch parties for big shows. If they have 6 people at one that's a lot of lost income for a track.

[DaleDuBois]

I think FLO is good for the people who don't have the time to travel to races very far from them. Watching races on FLO is not as good as being there. I do think the local race tracks with good races are gaining people. What I do see on FLO is poorly ran shows by the promoters.
As it is now NASCAR races are boring and most sprint car racing is not which has opened the NASCAR watchers eyes and helped fill the seats at the local tracks.

[dsc1600]

There’s no evidence that streaming hurts attendance. In fact, many series are experiencing an uptick in attendance because more eyes can follow the series on a regular basis and are more likely to come out to the track when it’s in their area. I’m sure there are times when diehards stay home because of this reason or that to watch online, but that is more than offset by new fans that come out to the track because they saw it on Flo or DV.

[Eric Smith]

We know the tracks are getting paid by Flo to stream their races. We don't know how much. It's doubtful it is equal to a ticket price for each person watching. So could you claim that is lost income? Sure you could. But how many people (that paid Flo, that Flo is paying the track) watching on Flo would be there if it weren't for Flo? in the big picture, I'd say very few. People watch online all over the world. Realistically, most ordinary fans aren't traveling real far to go to a race. Die hards don't count. I've watched races all over the US and even other continents on Flo. So me paying Flo to pay the track so I could watch has actually increased the track's income. Without Flo, the track with get nothing from me. So far, I've missed exactly zero races in person that were close enough and practical for me to attend. Furthermore, I've now seen tracks that I never would have seen before, and as a result, planning vacations to see races at some of these tracks. I'd also say in the end, that will increase the track's income. One good litmus test of is Flo beneficial, is this year's Front Row Challenge. Terry always said no way would he ever allow streaming of his event because it would hurt ticket sales. Until this year.... Must not be all bad.

And I've known Mike a few years. He's not really an elephant.

[Charles Nungester]

What DSC said. In gerneral I find attendance up since streaming became common.

Real elephants, covid, There are still many that are still playing it safe and this is not a young crowd. Also some travel restrictions, Know a few from outside US haven't been able to make a US race in two seasons now.

After midget week, sprint week, knoxville, kings royal. dreams only so many four day trips people can afford or get off to go to. The ticket price is trivial.

Lack of weekly racing and fans, Quite honestly I think the Hornets or mods bring in as many fans as the sprints for weekly shows. Yeah this is sprint and midget events but you don't have those fans And I don't care what anyone says, At least fifty percent of a tracks fans at most shows are somewhat local.

Also seen many times at multi night shows some stay out and party they're having so much fun. Not sure how many, but it happens. Know quite a few they take the wife and go to the race themself but the wife stays at the camper, racing's not her thing, but she enjoys camping and friends.

[davidm]

Nothing beats being at a track live. I will say that I've added a few tracks to my "I want to go there list" from watching racing online.

[Spi-nex]

In today's modern society, would people be tempted to go to any event if it wasn't broadcasted?

Would people flock to the Indy 500 today if it HADN'T been televised say, at least the last 10 years? (And that's for free!)

Would the same be applied to other events like high school sports that has a huge streaming fan base?

Streaming is the best thing that has come along to auto racing in a long time in terms of exposure the broadest possible audience (and record keeping of events).

I imagine a day where the streaming becomes more interactive between the drivers, announcers and the fans at home. Imagine being able to send a tip to your favorite driver or donate to a helmet pass live on air all while at home or on your phone.

The surface has only just been scratched for the potential...

[double checkered]

Here's my issue with streaming services. They set up shop on "prime" high level seating taking away from customers who actually paid to be at the facility that day. They usually have 2-3 of the top rows blocked off for their cameras.

Jeremy