France: NASCAR wants young fans
RICHMOND, Va. — The challenge of connecting with a new, younger generation of fans is something all sports are trying to figure out, and one that NASCAR will take some time to investigate and address.
That was the message from Brian France, the organization’s chairman and CEO, ahead of Sunday’s Cup Series race at Richmond International Raceway.
Speaking before the Toyota Owners 400, France compared the challenge sports are facing to brick-and-mortar retailers’ struggles because of the popularity of online shopping.
In recent seasons, attendance for NASCAR races has shrunk at virtually every track — many of which have removed seats — and its television ratings have plummeted. At Richmond, which once routinely seated more than 100,000 fans for races in the premier Cup Series, only 60,000 seats remain. They were not close to full for Sunday’s 400-lap event.
“We’re not isolated here,” France said. “Every sport is trying to unlock the new consumption
“We’re not isolated here. Every sport is trying to unlock the new consumption levels and fan interest by a younger demographic.”
— CEO AND CHAIRMAN OF NASCAR BRIAN FRANCE
levels and fan interest by a younger demographic. Of course we love our core fan, and everyone does, but every sport is thinking carefully about how to reach the millennial fan to get them excited about their sport.”
He said NASCAR will convene a summit next month in Charlotte, N.C., that will bring in experts from various fields to discuss the issue. France also downplayed the difficulty
some teams are having securing sponsorship for next season.
“It’s only April. Those kinds of decisions from corporate America typically get made in August and September, something like that,” he said. “We’ll always have that. That’s not anything abnormal.”
He still sees one clear advantage for NASCAR when it comes to courting sponsors.
“They can’t own a team in any other sport, but they can here,” France said.
France also paid tribute to Dale Earnhardt Jr. Voted the sport’s most popular driver the past 14 seasons, he announced last week that he will retire at the end of this season. That makes him the fourth star to plan to quit racing in less than three years.
“He’s meant a lot to the sport in many ways, on and off the track,” France said. “Not just his popularity and whatever, but carrying on the Earnhardt name in such a good way that he was always competitive on the track, always raced at a high level and always worked with NASCAR to make the sport better, just like his father did.”
With his retirement, Earnhardt will join Tony Stewart, Jeff Gordon and Carl Edwards in walking away from Cup Series competition. France said an exodus like that is not all that unusual in the sport, and he noted that financial stability often makes it possible for the drivers.
“If you look back at our history, we always tend to see drivers in waves move in one direction,” he said, “so it’s not uncommon to have three, four or five of your top drivers exit for different reasons in a short period of time — two years, whatever it is.”