How Buying A Ticket To A Nascar Race Is About To Change Forever

For the past decade it seems that when it comes to the fans, all of NASCAR’s attention has been on getting eyeballs on screens. It’s almost like all they cared about was viewership, the TV ratings.

It started as almost a natural progression given the interest in growing the sport. After all, most weekends hundreds of thousands of fans attended NASCAR races selling out grandstands. For some races like the Daytona 500, or the Bristol night race, a ticket was nearly impossible to get. Not only were some races sold out years in advance, but families even left their coveted tickets to such events to other family members in their will.

Seriously.

Then came the Great Recession of 2008. Suddenly disposable income was scarce, people worried more about keeping a roof over their heads than going to a NASCAR race. In person attendance at all sporting events dropped. It wasn’t long before tracks began to “renovate” which was a fancy term for taking out seats. Buried among the new fan-friendly amenities, the sparkling new concourses, cafes, and such, was the fact that entire sections of grandstands were removed. Seating capacity was reduced.

Many tracks in need of upgrades became shiny new showplaces; Daytona International Speedway for example became known as a ‘Motorsports Stadium’ after its ‘Daytona Rising ‘project. And that motorsports stadium gave a great view of the track, especially since a long row of grandstands that once lined the backstretch were gone.

During that recession NASCAR continued to work hard on increasing its TV viewership. Meanwhile shots of empty stands filled the screens.

In the last few years however, the sport has seen a resurgence. New fans are not only tuning in, but also coming back to the tracks. A sellout for a race weekend is no longer a rarity as those new fans attend a race, many for the first time. And NASCAR is working harder than ever on getting butts in the seats at tracks. They have focused on the fan experience at tracks, added live entertainment, more well-known celebrities, pre-race concerts.

On Tuesday, NASCAR announced a partnership with SeatGeek, a technology company that not only sells tickets to events, but they hope will help continue to transform the live experience for the fans. Increasingly those fans are becoming younger and younger, just what NASCAR wants to attract. And it all starts with those fans buying a ticket.

“There's this expectation for a fan, especially a younger fan and a Gen Z fan to have a better purchasing experience, a more elevated purchasing experience,” Jeff Ianello, EVP of client partnerships at SeatGeek said. “To support brands like NASCAR, get their tickets in more places, that really is what's driving their site.

“It's a combination, right? Our technology allows the fans to look at the screen and have a fuller fan experience, track fan experience than they would've had in the past. “

The partnership really began as an experiment of sorts. The company signed on as the preferred ticket exchange of this years Daytona 500.

This years Daytona 500 was a sellout, by the way. It was that ‘test’ that showed NASCAR, and SeatGeek that a full partnership would be beneficial.

“We drove nearly 29 X gross ticket sales, more than more than the previous year, based on the amount of traffic we got” Ianello said. “And also, the introduction of a new customer with that Gen Z customer.”

That is just the sort of audience NASCAR wants to attract. And attracting fans, both young and old, isn’t something new for SeatGeek. They have partnerships in the NFL, NBA, the English Premier League and with many of the theaters on Broadway in New York.

“We’ve been able to create this deep connection with the Gen Z audience,” Ianello said. “We're sponsoring hundreds of their influencers every single month. We are investing in areas that they want to be in and that they're passionate about. It’s the first time really, we believe ever that ticketing has been cool.”

Much of that coolness comes isn’t about selling a ticket to a sporting event; it’s about enhancing the fan experience once at the event. For SeatGeek it was the Daytona 500 experience that convinced them to go all in on the sport.

“We think the fan base that NASCAR has is extremely special,” Ianello said. “The brand and what we're trying to do and where we connect with our fan base, which is in this area of passion, if you think of passion and why our fan base SeatGeek and you think about the passion of NASCAR fans that go to the track and that watch on TV, that to us was a real driving force in connecting it.”

This new partnership will help NASCAR not only sell tickets but using SeatGeek technology fans will have access to a proprietary app that will give them more than just a ticket to a race. It will enhance the at-track experience for the fan to the benefit of both NASCAR, and SeatGeek.

“We're not looking for a transactional relationship with our client base,” Ianello said. “We’re looking for those new consumers to come on and really love and enjoy it. And our belief is that by investing in NASCAR and showing that fan base that we are part of that sport, and we believe in them, we will get them to use SeatGeek more in the future as well, whether it be for other NASCAR events or everywhere else.

“As far as the macro trends in sports. I mean, you definitely see ebb and flows and, you know, our belief is that the correct leadership is in place and that NASCAR is set up for success, not only now, but in the future.”

If that success continues, NASCAR might once again see a time when there are not only eyes on TV screens, but fans filling the grandstands at the track enjoying an experience that NASCAR hopes will gain the sport a fan for life.