20 May 2018, 01:06 (Ref:3823478)
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#19
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Veteran
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 12,043
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Purist
Well, actually, a big part of the decline was the recession, coupled with the subsequent switch to cable networks for a lot of the races.
For a while there, starting in 2001, you knew, week-in, week-out, that most of the races (27 of 36, plus the pre-Daytona non-points event) would be on one of two stations that you were basically guaranteed to have. FOX took the season up through Sonoma/Daytona, and NBC had the rest, plus the following year's Daytona 500 every other season. Quite a few people didn't have cable then, and even fewer have it now. Once you broke their viewing habit, and many of them couldn't watch the races on the new stations, what would you expect to happen to viewership?
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Sure the recession played a role, but other series have come out as strong or stronger. Same with the TV deals but these are good points well made as there's many factors thrown in around the time of the Chase starting.
Shortly after, the removal of the 2nd Darlington race and The Rock from the schedule and adding in the cookie cutters don't help but it all starts in the early 2000s....
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