Season TV-Ratings, Versus 16% up

[SoCalPVguy]

Quote Ross Perot, about 1989...

"If you've got a nickle in your pocket and you find a dime, you've doubled your money all right - But you still don't have enough to buy coffee !!!"

Apropos to the Versus ratings. This isn't even a blip on potential major sponsor's radar.

[Enjun Pullr]

You mean whuppin' Comcast with a voodoo stick won't help? ;}

[Jag_Warrior]

By the way, we appear to have similar affinities for road cars. What's the genesis of your screen name?

Jaguar has been my favorite marque since I was a teenager - though I dearly hate the styling of the new ones. The other part was a "gift" from an (ex)girlfriend who claimed that I had some sort of personality defect revolving around "confrontational aggression" (whatever the hell that is). She was a psychology major in college and had this annoying habit of trying to analyze people. But it seemed a catchy moniker, so I adopted it about 12 years ago on various message boards. Kept the name... dumped the girl. It all worked out for the best.

[Enjun Pullr]

"confrontational aggression"...that's rich, I think we all need that printed on our chatroom membership cards. Maybe a TOS requirement? ;}

Funny parallel about the Jag styling to ICS: fans of the traditional form and function dropped like flies. We love the cars they could no longer find people to buy. So they changed.

For the worse? Well, they're not Delta Wings...but they sure couldn't stay the same. At least they have a different product to show the world for 2011.

[Jag_Warrior]

"confrontational aggression"...that's rich, I think we all need that printed on our chatroom membership cards. Maybe a TOS requirement? ;}

Funny parallel about the Jag styling to ICS: fans of the traditional form and function dropped like flies. We love the cars they could no longer find people to buy. So they changed.

For the worse? Well, they're not Delta Wings...but they sure couldn't stay the same. At least they have a different product to show the world for 2011.

Yes, I've finally reached the point in my life where what I like is no longer cool/hip. My XK8 is a 2005. Because of my issues with the new styling, it's probably the latest Jag I'll ever have. Jaguar styling, sort of like life itself, seems to have finally passed me by. Oh well...

I was hoping that they'd produce this:


I would likely buy that. But several people have referred to it as a "monstrosity". To me, the new ones look like Volvos... really nice Volvos and I like Volvos. But a Volvo is not a Jaguar. But judging by sales, many people don't agree with my objections.

As for the new Indy car, I liked this from the first time I saw it several years ago. And much like the Jaguar RD concept, I seemed to be alone in that boat.

[Enjun Pullr]

That's Ashmore's draft from a few years ago, I think it was about '05 but would have to look it up. I like it, it would be similar to the transition step of a turbo in the current chassis.

A dart with no airbox and different wings, with the wheel protection added, gets you to the same place. Then add a new chassis to race with them when finances permit. Allow the old sleds with V8's too. Instant variables in shape, sound and performance.

[Hoop-98]

Quote Ross Perot, about 1989...

"If you've got a nickle in your pocket and you find a dime, you've doubled your money all right - But you still don't have enough to buy coffee !!!"

Apropos to the Versus ratings. This isn't even a blip on potential major sponsor's radar.

I think if you have a nickel in your pocket and find a dime you have tripled your money, not enough for coffee so go look for a quarter

[EagleEye]

That's Ashmore's draft from a few years ago, I think it was about '05 but would have to look it up. I like it, it would be similar to the transition step of a turbo in the current chassis.

A dart with no airbox and different wings, with the wheel protection added, gets you to the same place. Then add a new chassis to race with them when finances permit. Allow the old sleds with V8's too. Instant variables in shape, sound and performance.

I'll do my best to answer. The IBJ used to post the JJ numbers, but they do not any more. Not a good sign, and I thought I read they do not go not track that low....

The Ashmore design was presented to IRL and Champcars teams near the end of the 2003 season. I actually was in a meeting with Bruce in Australia, when he was presenting this. There were some good ideas with this. I recall the Menard group (engines and tech) were involved, but then I can not recall all the details.

[Enjun Pullr]

Very cool EE, you've been hanging out with the bigs! Mr. Ashmore was kind enough to speak at length on the phone one day, and sounds like a great chap. You lap in good circles.

Jag, if you look at the first BAT renderings, the lineage is suggested. I was enthusiastic when that group surfaced, hoped the history with Ressler would earn them a fair shot. No idea if they got one.

So Eagle, the topic is chassis torsional stiffness. Let me know if that's a subject you can shed some light on, and if so it will make for a new thread.

[MDS]

Raw numbers by themselves are useless. You really need to see a demographic breakdown before making any judgments about the value of the league usefulness and attractiveness to advertisers, although from what I've heard about the demos they're not that good either.

Honestly, my best guess is that in order to get to a point where the teams have enough sponsorship to choose the drivers they want and have young driver development programs we'd probably have to see ratings consistently in the 1.1 range for races a 4.5 or more for the 500 and have at least one or two other events get close to the 2.0 mark with strong attendance at events across the board. The demos would need to be fairly strong, I think you'd need to have about 55 percent of your demo in the 18-49 bracket, with 15 to 20 percent in the under 18 demo.

Unless NBC gets behind the league during the offseason, put more races on broadcast and promote ICS races we're not going to get there. In order to be a viable sport you have to have a network and ESPN working for you.

We lost at least 200,000 fans in the move from ESPN/ABC to ABC/Versus, and still haven't gotten them back.