Full Version: ESPN TV Booth Strong for NASCAR Show

From: Razin-Kahne [#1]
26 Jul 6:04
To: ALL

Marty Reid, Dale Jarrett and Andy Petree are the prime booth residents for ESPN NASCAR coverage for the remainder of the 2010 season.

They face a numbers game.

NASCAR stands are suffering attendance gaps and TV viewing has lagged too for FOX and TNT 2010 coverage. The sluggish economy can be identified as the ticket sales pest, but unless unemployed and dollar strained fans can’t keep the cable hookup going, that’s no excuse for dropping viewers.

NASCAR is concerned.

ESPN changed the booth composition by bringing in motorsports veteran Marty Reid. Jarrett and Petree have the track and wrench experience and add much to any analysis. Reid has vast motorsports experience and that is no doubt why ESPN moved him into the NASCAR booth.

Reid discussed what gives him the biggest kick when broadcasting.

“When I get to the end of the broadcast and I look back and we haven't left a story unfinished, Reid said. “In other words, if we introduce something along the way, I really like it when our pit reporters are able to ?? we make the observation in the booth, they put a period on it.

“And every now and then you look back at a race and go, Oh, my God, we didn't get this period in on whatever it may be. Some individual who had a problem and we got swept away by something else that happened and we never got back to it. To me that is the most satisfying.”

Jarrett chimed in with his thoughts about working in the booth.

“I think the thing that I enjoy the most is the people that I work with,” Jarrett said. “It's fantastic. Everybody does a terrific job, and it's giving me the opportunity to see the sport from a whole different angle and level.

“I think that I have even a greater appreciation for when all the people, whether it's the crew chiefs and everybody that works with them, the owners and certainly the drivers what they go through throughout the day, because before I was just looking at and pretty focused on what it took for our team to try to be the best. And now I get to see the efforts it takes from all these people.”

Fans might suspect that racers turned announcers consider themselves fortunate and Petree confirmed that.

“I was a fan first, and, you know, getting to all of these races and still, you know, see all of our friends that are there, cover these things from the best seat in the house,” Petree said. “It's the easiest job I've ever had. Don't tell my bosses that.

“But anyway, it is a dream job to have. I look forward to every race and just feel very, very fortunate to be part of it.”

Reid understands his role as the lead announcer and strives to be the best. Yet he showed humility when he described his goals.

“I've always said if I've ever done the perfect show, the perfect event, the perfect broadcast I'm out of here because it's always downhill from there,” Reid said. “And here we are in our 29th year, you know. Shows you that we never are perfect, but I keep trying for it.

“But that is the greatest satisfaction is when we walk away from a track feeling like any story that we talked about, that we got a period put on it.”

That period may just be NASCAR’s ticket.

A new post race show may boost viewer numbers. ESPN fans are accustomed to that in other sports like NFL, MLB and NBA.

ESPN executive Julie Sobieski is obviously optimistic about ESPN, but she claimed that they have listened to fans like NASCAR.

“One great example this year of something we've been hearing not just this year but in other years is that fans want a more in?depth post race experience around the races,” Sobieski said. “And one of the opportunity that's these 14 races on ESPN affords us this year uniquely is that we'll be able to have SportsCenter, an expanded SportsCenter, on the back end of those ESPN races.

“And we'll be able to go back, as we would with most other major sports we have on our network, when SportsCenter is on the back end, to be able to go back to the track and do more in depth post race analysis. We're looking forward to that.”

It’s ESPN and they are undisputed leaders in sports coverage so if anyone can boost NASCAR out of a valley of fan apathy, they can.

The numbers will tell the tale, but ESPN has fan loyalty. NASCAR should benefit from that.

Motorsports Examiner, Dwight Drum

From: Pete [#2]
26 Jul 7:04
To: Razin-Kahne [#1] 26 Jul 7:11

I wish they would quit beating a story to death. The Carl/BK story has been on all forums for a week and these guys talk as if it is the only thing out there.

If the reporters can't come up with something new to interest the fans, is it any wonder the fans are leaving?

Maybe each pit could have a naked lady cheering section like football does. :sarcastic:

From: CommieCanuck [#3]
26 Jul 8:19
To: Pete [#2] 26 Jul 8:48

Yup give me less drama coverage and more race coverage. I want to know what the teams are adjusting on during the race. Compare the strategies. I want to hear more radio discussion about issues with the car. I don't want to hear about how breaks work for the 2000th time. I don't want to follow Danica for 20 laps while nothing is happening around her.

From: Pete [#4]
26 Jul 8:49
To: CommieCanuck [#3] 26 Jul 9:58

Want, Want, want :sarcastic:

:hiding:
:canadian: :dance: :dance: :dance:

From: 2flames4 [#5]
26 Jul 11:53
To: Razin-Kahne [#1] 26 Jul 12:03

I have a couple of suspicions about sagging interest as it pertains to my own experience.

10 years ago I used to try to see every lap of every race (yes, even Loudon ... lol) and I'd listen to about 30 mins of pre-race stuff to get caught up on what took place over the previous week.

That changed with time to the point where I only watched certain races flag-to-flag, then changed again to recording only certain races so I could go back and watch it later.

For the last few years the only race I watched flag-to-flag was the Daytona 500, mostly because I'd gone almost 3 months without any cup racing. The rest of the races I'd check in once in a while to see who was where. Yesterday I looked in on lap 42 and didn't look again until they were interviewing Tony Stewart after the race.

I feel the sport is just so overexposed that there is no need to see every race. If I miss a race I can catch the highlights on Wind Tunnel. If I miss that there are a couple other shows on SPEED channel where I can see the highlights.

But then there are all of the other shows about cup racing, and the 2 or 3 hours of pre-race drivel from idiots like Jimmy Spencer where clips are shown again and again, it just gets nauseating.

One other thing is the lack of competition. Some would say that the competition is as close as it's ever been, and that may be largely true, but to see 26 qualifying races, where one team seems to treat it as a long test session, then cleans up in the <cough> playoff<cough>, 4 years in a row no less, it just gets kinda boring.
don't get me wrong, I respect the 48 team for what they've accomplished, but it's just made it less desireable to tune in and watch.

Someone posted here a while back that interest seemed highest when we only got snippets of races that Wide World of Sports chose to broadcast. Much less coverage then. Maybe that was a good thing.

From: liz,actually (MISSLIZ) [#6]
26 Jul 11:58
To: 2flames4 [#5] 26 Jul 13:04

i think you hit on something there, combine that with fans unhappy with many of the changes that have been made over the years and then being told by the media and folks that "everything's great!" and it's a recipe for disaster

From: Dan_Williams [#7]
26 Jul 12:45
To: Pete [#2] 26 Jul 12:49

Maybe that explains the topless woman behind Hamlin's pit at Pocono.

From: Pete [#8]
26 Jul 12:50
To: Dan_Williams [#7] 26 Jul 21:48

:rofl: Did he win?

From: sweetp [#9]
26 Jul 12:53
To: Dan_Williams [#7] 26 Jul 21:48

:rant: :rant: :rant:
If thats what it takes.
I want a whole herd of them hefiers behind
the 14 pit box this weekend!!!!
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

From: 2flames4 [#10]
26 Jul 13:11
To: liz,actually (MISSLIZ) [#6] 26 Jul 13:26

quote: owl_queen (MISSLIZ)

Yep.

Now there are some changes that I'm perfectly OK with, because they are in the name of safety. Could they tweaked a bit for improvement? Yes. But overall not too bad.

I guess my disappointment stems from the fact that the wigs in Daytona Beach seem more focused on TV ratings, attendance and jerking around with the schedule to suit the big track groups and less so about the quality of the actual racing.

I've already aired my opinion about the chase many times, so no need to rehash it. I was perfectly fine with Kenseth's championship and saw no need to suddenly abandon a system that had worked fairly for years.

From: 2flames4 [#11]
26 Jul 13:13
To: sweetp [#9] 26 Jul 23:27

quote: sweetp

:rant: :rant: :rant:
If thats what it takes.
I want a whole herd of them hefiers behind
the 14 pit box this weekend!!!!
:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

PM

Sweetp, I think you've just hit on something that might help with declining interest in the sport. :sarcastic:

From: liz,actually (MISSLIZ) [#12]
26 Jul 13:26
To: 2flames4 [#10] 26 Jul 13:57

:thumb:

From: Dan_Williams [#13]
26 Jul 21:51
To: Pete [#8] 26 Jul 22:06

He certainly did. lol Am I the only one who saw her? She had her back to pit road so there was no frontal shot, but it was very clear she was wearing no top.

From: tc (THE_BLACK_SHEEP) [#14]
26 Jul 21:53
To: Dan_Williams [#13] 26 Jul 21:53

She'd a been damn hard for me to see with a 3X5 screen. Damn, missed it. :frusty:

From: Dan_Williams [#15]
26 Jul 21:56
To: tc (THE_BLACK_SHEEP) [#14] 26 Jul 22:18

I meant to save that race on the Tivo so I could post that part but I forgot and overwrote it.

From: tc (THE_BLACK_SHEEP) [#16]
26 Jul 22:19
To: Dan_Williams [#15] 26 Jul 22:21

:rant: :rant: :rant: :rant: :frusty: :frusty: :frusty:

:doh2:

From: intomidator [#17]
26 Jul 23:19
To: Pete [#2] 27 Jul 9:17

quote: Pete

posters on the forums seem to have a problem letting it go... maybe the networks are just reporting the same thing that the fans continue to spar about... don't see the relationship between what is being reported and fans leaving but that's just me...

t... :yes:

p.s... i have a naked lady in my living room during races so i don't need no steenkin' cheer leaders...

.

From: 5885 (HAYWIRED) [#18]
28 Jul 14:25
To: 2flames4 [#5] 28 Jul 14:28

Yep, 3 hrs. of pre race BS is a little much. Then you turn on the race that's supposed to be televised at X:XX o'clock and come to find out that they have their own pre race BS or you have to watch that dumb ass Rutledge. It's like some kiddy show. It's insulting IMO. The only other program I liked to watch was This Week in Nascar and it's gone because we need Nascar's got talent and the crew chief chef. :yuck:

How in the hell did I miss that chick with no top :noidea: This ticks me off :angry:

From: 2flames4 [#19]
28 Jul 14:30
To: 5885 (HAYWIRED) [#18] 28 Jul 15:19

I miss INC/TWIN also (even if we had to tolerate Mickey W). lol

I missed the topless chick also, but according to Dan she was all back. :smile:

From: CommieCanuck [#20]
28 Jul 14:52
To: 2flames4 [#19] 28 Jul 18:13

I think it was best when they had Dave Despain as host with Schrader and Mikey. Waltrip might be annoying but the reactions he'd get out of Schrader were priceless.

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Full Version: ESPN TV Booth Strong for NASCAR Show

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