Streaming: Is It Good or Bad for Local Tracks?

Recently, Sandusky Speedway announced that Racing America will be streaming the 48th Annual Hy-Miler Nationals in July. Streaming brings the racing to new audiences, but how does it affect a track’s regular fans and the bottom line?

Live streaming of motorsports is nothing new, it’s been around for ten years but gained momentum during the pandemic and after Speed51 became Racing America and FloSports added to their content catalog. For FloSports, specifically the FloRacing division, the addition of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Chili Bowl Nationals, CARS Tour and recently the Snowball Derby have moved them to the forefront of streaming packages. FloSports added the NASCAR Weekly Series, Whelen Modifieds Series, ARCA East & West and much more asphalt racing content in recent years to join the full High Limit Sprint Car Series and USAC Schedules.

The Good

The good of bringing a streaming service to your local track is the added notoriety for your track, the exposure for your drivers and their sponsors is an enormous win for everyone involved. Streaming brings new audiences to and builds a name for the local track, making them destination tracks for racers and fans alike. The track’s sponsors get featured on television, the track’s announcer gets his or her shot at calling a race on TV and the ad reads for the track sponsors that normally are only heard by those in attendance are now broadcasted to a much larger audience.

The Bad

Streaming has a potential to take in-person fans away from the track, especially when the weather forecast is questionable, unseasonably hot or cold or the drive is too long. While the positives are there, the downside is a loss in potential ticket sales, and the big hit comes in terms of lost concession and souvenir sales. As one race fan put it “The beer is alot cheaper at home and the seats are alot more comfortable”. Streaming viewers don’t buy food and drinks from the concession stand, beer from the beer barn or souvenirs from the vendors at the track, which helps to feed the bottom line of every track’s finances. Many streamers sell their own ads to finance the streams, the track has no control of what is being advertised during their event streams or how many commercial breaks will occur.

The Truth

The truth is if streaming was generating good amounts of money for local tracks, every track would be streaming their events. Streaming does take away from the grandstand crowd, but it exposes the track, drivers and all of the sponsors to a broader audience, something that can’t be measured in ticket sales or web clicks. In the case of FloRacing, streaming an event at Lorain Raceway Park brings in potential views from anyone with a FloSports subscription, many of those fans tune in to see ARCA Regional races or High Limit Sprint Car races and now are seeing Lorain Raceway Park and it’s sponsors along with the drivers and their sponsors. In some cases streaming a race costs the track or sanctioning body and in other cases the broadcaster pays the track to stream their races, making up for some of the lost ticket revenue. In today’s age, streaming can boost a track’s reputation, bring more racers to the track and more fans to the track for years to come, but it can also hurt the crowd today and with so many race tracks running on small budgets, the wait might just be too long.

In 2025, the number of races being streamed live will increase, as has been the case since the beginning, as more tracks and series are jumping on board with streaming services. It will also become more crowded as TrackTV, which streams the ASA STARS National Tour, ASA Midwest Tour, ASA Southern Super Series along with a plethora of CRA sanctioned races, the Big 8 Late Model Series, the Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway and much more joins the ranks of readily available streaming apps. The TrackTV App will be available on iPhone, Apple TV, Android, Android TV, and FireTV.

The Cost

Streaming services aren’t free, as many know from the various streaming platforms available, each one offering something we want to see but none offering everything we want. NASCAR is moving to streaming service for five Cup Series races in 2025. Amazon Prime will become the home of the Cup Series beginning on Memorial Day weekend and stretching through the June 22nd race at Pocono Raceway. Many households already have a subscription to Amazon Prime, taking advantage of the fast shipping and other discounts offered with an Amazon Prime membership. Max (formerly HBO Max) will also stream five races beginning at the end of June through the Brickyard 400, but those races will also be broadcast on the cable network TNT, included in most basic cable packages. Prime (the first half of the season excluding the Clash, Daytona 500 and All Star Race) and Max will also be the exclusive home of Cup Series Practice and Qualifying. When it comes to motorsports streaming services, the cost to catch racing rises. At $299 for an annual subscription the TrackTV subscription is certainly a great value (tickets alone to attend each of the 12 races in person at the average ticket price of $25 would cost $300). FloSports carries an annual subscription fee of $159 or $39.99 per month on their new monthly plan, which would cost $479.88 over the course of the 12 month annual subscription time. Racing America carries a $109.99 annual subscription fee and offers major races on a Pay Per View basis at an additional cost.

Streaming is the latest tool available for race tracks as they continue to adapt to new technology and work to stay relevant in a world where everything is instant. Entertainment is on-demand at home, something that doesn’t happen at the race track. Lengthy cleanups, weather delays and other factors can slow a racing program down, all factors out of the hands of promoters. The successful promoters find ways to make both worlds work, optimizing their show for the fans in attendance and the fans at home, keeping the entertainment going even through a long delay.