More than 100,000 people are expected each day for Saturday’s Xfinity Series Boyd Gaming 300 Race and Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Kobalt 400 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
The NASCAR Sprint Cup series hauler parade will kick off the weekend of events when it rolls down Las Vegas Boulevard on Thursday evening. Despite the fanfare, however, NASCAR has seen better days when it comes to television ratings and attendance numbers.
Last year, the first 15 races saw a drop in ratings, and tracks such as the Daytona International Speedway and Talladega Superspeedway actually took the step to remove seats to avoid an unfilled spectator area.
This season, television networks FOX and NBC paid a whopping $8.2 billion to broadcast the Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series races for the next 10 years.
Las Vegas’ race will not see its hometown driver Kurt Busch, however, who is still on suspension for an alleged domestic abuse incident involving an ex-girlfriend.
But it’s still an immensely popular sport – fans like the danger component, says Jordan Bianchi, sports writer for SB Nation. So why the decline in attendance?
GUEST
Jordan Bianchi, sports writer, SB Nation
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