Submitted by NASCAR Ranting and Raving Blog
Part 4: Media Coverage
Although recent events in the U.S. have drawn more awareness about this to most NASCAR fans living below the 49th Parallel, we fans in Canada have suffered from poor media coverage of NASAR on a daily basis for years.
I mentioned the other day about how good Canadian media coverage is when it comes to hockey. In fact, nobody can top Canadian media when it comes to hockey, but as good at covering hockey that it is, the Canadian media is equally as bad at covering NASCAR, and any other form of auto racing for that matter.
As I’ve said in the past, the nation’s self-proclaimed sports television network and U.S. based ESPN affiliate, TSN, is lacking in their coverage of NASCAR even though they are the ‘official’ broadcaster of NASCAR in Canada.
All TSN really does is pick up the live broadcasts coming in from the various U.S. based networks like FOX, ABC, TBS, ESPN, and the like, and uses Canadian commercials instead of U.S. ones during commercial breaks. As far as their ‘real’ coverage about NASCAR goes, we the sports fans, are lucky to see a 30 second clip of all of the weekend’s NASCAR racing, including the new Canadian Tire Series - although there are a few more seconds added if there is a spectacular crash.
Even when they are showing hi-lights during Sports Centre the sports anchors/analysts even get some of the driver’s names wrong, yet in contrast each and every broadcaster can say Datsyuk, Kovalchuk, Khabibulin, and Ponikarovsky (to name a few Russian hockey players) without so much as a stumble or slight mispronunciation. I mean how hard is it to say Juan Pablo Montoya or Bobby Labonte? Really.
The print media is no better. Did they have anyone at the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series Banquet in Toronto when it was held? Not to my knowledge - not even the Toronto print media was there, let alone TSN who’s studios are located in Toronto.
Another example is when Tony Stewart showed up for a personal appearance at a local Home Depot in Hamilton and the local newspaper didn’t even send a photographer to get a shot.
Or how about this; according to an employee I know at our local Lowes, Jimmie Johnson showed up in Hamilton the Monday after the Awards Banquet in New York to give a ‘pep-talk’ to the Lowes owners, managers, and selected employees just before their official opening of 4 stores in the Toronto-Hamilton area, and the Hamilton Spectator, whose office is a short 5 minute drive from the Hamilton Convention Centre, didn’t even get a photo op, or quick token interview with Jimmie on his way to, or from, the airport.
Now here is the big question; did the Spectator even know about these appearances? I don’t know. Could NASCAR been a little more proactive in getting more media coverage of these events? Certainly. I know, NASCAR isn’t in the business of keeping up with driver personal appearances, but they should have somebody in charge of promoting NASCAR and at least be aware of certain situations where a quick photo op/interview could be made, after all we just had two two-time Champions (and current Champ I might add) in our area within 3 months of each other and no one really was aware of it.
Anyway you slice it, the media coverage of NASCAR in Canada, or at least in Ontario, sucks and if NASCAR does not wake up and get proactive about it, they just might loose a pretty solid fan base in Canada.
Can anybody say, “Hello Speed Car Series“?
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