NASCAR and Amazon Prime TV partner to entertain some, alienate others

• NASCAR’s partnership with Amazon Prime Video for mid-season race broadcasts has sparked controversy among fans struggling with streaming services.
• NASCAR’s deal with Prime aims to attract new viewers, prioritizing future growth over traditional viewing habits.

The owners of Atlanta Motor Speedway sold the track’s naming rights this week and, frankly, you could sense the collective shoulder shrug.

EchoPark Speedway? Sure, why not?

There was no mere shrug back in 1999 when Bruton Smith and Humpy Wheeler brought another innovation to NASCAR: The rebranding of their mothership Charlotte Motor Speedway, which would henceforth be known as Lowe’s Motor Speedway.

For a decade, anyway, when the deal ran its course and the Charlotte signs were dusted off and rehung.

The late-’90s were near the tail-end of a time when the mainstreamers made fun of NASCAR for selling out whenever and wherever the selling was good. Individual races had long ago set a marketing tone that’s now commonplace.

Even the sport’s most vaunted event was briefly known as the Daytona 500 Presented by STP. The Winston Cup and Busch Series brought title sponsorship to entire leagues, while all along, the drivers and their cars were walking and rolling billboards.

In certain circles, you still might find a longtime fan who can do an impression of Ward Burton gushing over his Gwaltney Meats Chevrolet. 

NASCAR, teams, drivers have always sought the highest bidder

All of it had been digested by a loyal fan base that seemed to take pride in being so different from the traditional sporting fare.

Individual racetracks and race teams didn’t have the built-in, guaranteed income streams like those in the NFL, MLB, etc., so you eventually get used to seeing the DuPont Chevy win a race at Lowe’s on its way to a championship sponsored by RJ Reynolds. With a driver touting Pepsi while wearing his Ray-Bans.

But boy oh boy is this different. NASCAR’s partnership with Amazon’s Prime Video involves just five midseason races within a 36-race season, but it has thrown a definite monkey wrench into the clutch assembly.

The reviews of Prime’s coverage are solid to great, and the reviewers aren’t wrong, by the way. The product is really good. You also hear great things about a 2003 Dom Pėrignon — but good luck finding it, even if you don’t mind paying the price.

Struggling with the labyrinth of streaming TV offerings isn’t a made-up malady. It’s a real thing, and quite maddening for folks who are already being nickel-and-dimed to death by phone and cable companies selling us air at ever-increasing prices. 

Let’s check the mailbag for a sampling of the above gripe.

HEY, WILLIE!

I’m really disappointed NASCAR went to “restriction TV.” I would assume many fans — current and prospective — don’t subscribe to Prime or in my case don’t want to (mess) around with my TV settings to change to Prime. 

Do you have any numbers on the viewership of the Prime broadcasts? I didn’t think NASCAR was popular enough these days to alienate fans. 

PATRICK IN MELBOURNE

HEY, PATRICK!

Kinda-sorta bad news for the angry holdouts. The numbers are OK through two weeks of NASCAR on Prime.

According to the Nielsen folks, Prime is averaging between 2-3 million viewers per race, which is right in line with races on Fox’s cable arm, FS1. Races on Fox do better.

If the numbers were in the ditch, meetings would be held. Not sure what they’d produce, but with six more years on the NASCAR-Prime deal, the Smart People would be looking for a Plan B and potential carve-outs.

One has already been delivered. Commercial entities with DirecTV (sports bars, mainly) can offer these Prime races on one of their 32 screens each Sunday. So there’s an alternative to get you through these next three Sunday afternoons, though a few draft beers aren’t the cheap date they once were — or so I’m told.

Can Amazon Prime deliver new fans? NASCAR is banking on it

As for alienating longtime fans, that probability was surely baked into the decision do business with Amazon. Also, Prime is reportedly paying a little more than a billion bucks for its piece of seven-year deal worth $7.7 billion overall. That can make the baking smell better.

Also, the modern world doesn’t care much about the way you’ve always done it, and barely cares about how you’re doing it right now. Most important is future potential, and the parties are betting that Prime offers the opportunity to attract new viewers and fans that might not otherwise pay attention.

Over the decades, there have been plenty of “new ways of doing things” that angered the stock-car masses. 

The ditching of traditional Southern tracks. Changing the championship format. Changing it again. And again. Toyota. Stage racin’. Car of Tomorrow. 

Some changes came and went, some came and stayed.

But none of them took away your ability to watch on Sunday. In reality, this one hasn’t done that, but some (many, probably) perceive it that way.

And you know what they say about perception.

— Email Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com