Forum: HoseHeads Sprint Car General Forum (go)
Moderators: dirtonly  /  dmantx  /  hosehead

(maybe this has already been discussed) I don't know if this is a feasible idea or not, but would having live broadcasts of the big sprint car races (examples: Knoxville nationals, King's Royal, National Open) with a 200 mile blackout on Speed be a viable option in the future. Would make everyone within 200 miles attend the race if they wanted to see it live while still getting sprint car racing out there for everyone to see on TV when it is most exciting: LIVE!! What does everyone think about this? I know there is likely a big cost hurdle, but wanted to know what everyone thought about the concept.

I would be in favor of it. I love the posts "well you should have been there and supported the damn race." Well hell yes one should have been there and if it were possible people would be. But when you live nowhere close to those venues then live or even ppv events are the next option.

It is the world we live in now and wave of the future. I think one of the tracks on the west coasts does what you mention, blackout those who live near the track but available everywhere else. Kinda like mlb.com, you can purchase to watch all the major league baseball games but blacked out in your area. Which that part is kinda bogus because OKC is blacked out on Texas Rangers and St. Louis Cardinals baseball games.

In short, I personally think it would still be a great idea.

David Smith Jr.
www.oklahomatidbits.com

When they broadcast a stream for the CRA/USAC race's from Perris Cali, they have it blacked out for a 100 mile radius, even though they now charge $4.99 for it.

Half the lies they tell about me aren't true. 

I dunno, it didn;t really seem like the National Open being on live television hurt the William Grove crowd even a tiny bit. That was probably the biggest crowd I have ever seen at the Grove. But central PA is probably different than anywhere else in the country when it comes to crowd support.

Does anyone know what technology that they use for this? Do they tie it to the billing address of a credit card? I am having a hard time understanding the technology that they are using.

Billing address of the card is correct. First you have to register. If your outside the 100 miles you get a password to continue on.

Not sure how they could block out broadcast television unless its a pay-per-view deal. I dont think thats feasable, but I've been wrong many times before.

Jeff Kristensen

Blackouts for broadcast television is done on a local affiliate's location basis and that includes cable -- satellite TV location is tied to the zip code of the account billing address. Internet blackouts (i.e. MLB TV) is based on IP address resolution - and proxys don't work for MLBTV.... been there, tried that...

Phil Taylor

home-theater-systems-advice.com

I probably shouldn't say this but television coverage of Sprint Car racing is losing ground. Remember Thursday Night Thunder, Slick 50 and when there were actually races on Speed? They tell me that the decrease in televised racing had something to do with a lack of money. Sponsors weren't lining up to sign on with the Sprints in a good economy so I'm not seeing where we're going to have live racing with NFL type blackouts on Speed.

I'm a dreamer and try to be optimistic when it comes to the racing predictions I see on these boards but I don't think I'll hold my breath waiting for this one. If there was money to be made televising Sprint Car racing we'd see a lot more of it on the tube. I'm seeing the opposite, there was more back in the old TNN and early Speed days than we've got now.

Streaming internet television is another matter. I think that some of these services offering this are pretty cool but it's still not where I'd like to see it. When I can stream it onto the HDTV through my wii console like we do with Netflix then maybe we'll have something. The only thing I don't care for about that is I already subscribe to a satellite package and Netflix and my accountant would wring my neck if she caught me putting internet PPV races on the Visa. Her reasoning is that if I can't see it on our satellite then it's not worth watching. No sense trying to reason with a smart accountant.

Stan Meissner

i agree. It will be tough to get it back. things cost way too much today to get done and i don't think the fan base is there to justify it. It is too bad because i think they could get the fan base if they had more coverage live. Kind of a cart before the horse scenario. Can't get more fans until we get more coverage but can't afford more coverage until we get more fans.

I understand the need for blackouts but they can really get out of hand. When I have to work on a Saturday night, I purchase the Knoxville show from Turn 2 media and watch it at work. If the 100 mile radius blackout occurred I wouldn't get to watch the show and they wouldn't get my 10 dollars. Some radius exceptions would be nice. Perhaps, I could talk to the folks with Turn 2 and make some arrangements. I would really be bummed if I wasn't able to watch the races on the nights I'm at work.

The more TV coverage (even if its live) the better. If it wasn't for Diamond P Motorpsorts coverage of sprint car racing in the 90's, I wouldn't be involved in the sport at all, much less a fan. My family isn't into racing, I grew up in the city (St. Louis), and was not exposed to any type of short track racing. The TV coverage attracts fans and creates new fans who will come to the race track.

Ben T

"If you're gonna run the bottom, you might as well get 
a real job."