NASCAR Chicago Street Race puts city back on national TV stage

Chicago Tribune

2 days ago

The annual NASCAR Chicago Street Race is upon us, and the forecast calls for a 50% chance of thunderstorms and 100% chance of flooding the airwaves with shots of The Bean, the beach, skyscrapers and deep-dish pizza.
But as the street race enters its third and possibly final run through Grant Park this July Fourth weekend, it may be time to take stock of a hard to quantify but potentially invaluable benefit: a seemingly endless loop through the Loop on national TV.
Beyond tens of thousands of expected attendees, Chicago's telegenic lakefront and skyline will once again serve as a live backdrop to race cars careening around an urban circuit for millions of viewers during the better part of Saturday and Sunday afternoon, creating one giant commercial for the city.
By the end of the weekend, tiny Balbo Drive, which is at the center of the pop-up street course, may be as famous as Mr. Beef, the setting for the hit TV series 'The Bear.'
'When the NASCAR event goes well, and hopefully the weather will hold up, it gives the city a huge amount of attention, and that is very, very hard to replace,' said Tim Calkins, a marketing professor at Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. 'The city doesn't have enough money to ever spend on advertising to generate that type of reach.'
Chicago is set to host the street race on a 12-turn, 2.2-mile course through Grant Park, down DuSable Lake Shore Drive and up Michigan Avenue. The Xfinity Series Loop 110, which features mostly younger up-and-coming NASCAR drivers, will be broadcast Saturday at 3:30 p.m. on the CW Network and local affiliate WGN-TV. The Grant Park 165 Cup Series race will air Sunday at 1 p.m. on cable channel TNT.
While the street race navigated everything from Canadian wildfire haze to record rainfall during its first two years, it proved to be a very successful TV event for previous host network NBC.
In 2023, the inaugural Cup Series street race averaged nearly 4.8 million viewers despite a torrential rain delay. Last year, the Grant Park 165, broken up by nearly two hours of programming filler during a steady summer rain, averaged 3.87 million viewers, according to Nielsen data.
TNT is in the first season of a new seven-year rights agreement with NASCAR, carrying a five race 'in-season challenge' that began last weekend with the Quaker State 400 from Atlanta. The Chicago Street Race on Sunday is the second and biggest stop on the network's NASCAR tour.
The cable network, which last hosted the NASCAR Cup Series in 2014, averaged 1.6 million viewers for its return covering Saturday night's wreck-filled race in Atlanta, which included a massive 23-car pileup and a 25-minute rain delay.
Navigating Chicago's streets may make for an even more unpredictable race. Last week, the city shut down Balbo and Columbus Drive earlier than planned to repair a massive pavement buckle caused by the recent heat wave.
To cover the Chicago event, TNT began setting up Monday in Grant Park, bringing in a tech crew of 260 people, along with a 20-person production staff and 10 announcers, working out of six mobile units and an office/trailer. A broadcast studio will be located next to the start/finish line at Buckingham Fountain.
TNT will employ 50 cameras around the track to capture the race and environs, including 10 robotic cameras, six in-car cameras, and a helicopter, drone and Goodyear Blimp for aerial shots of the most unique setting for any NASCAR race.
'These guys are going to be on the track, and they're going to navigate this very, very, very narrow racetrack,' said Shannon Spake, a NASCAR broadcast veteran who hosts the pre-race and post-race coverage for TNT. 'But this is the weekend for the city of Chicago to shine.'
Early forecasts, however, predict the city might once again not be shining during Sunday's race, with a 50% chance of afternoon thunderstorms.
If that happens, it will fall upon Spake and her colleagues to try to keep the audience tuned in during any delays, a challenging task at best, as Chicago Street Race viewers in 2023 and 2024 can attest.
'Rain fills are like jumping out of an airplane without a parachute,' Spake said. 'Sometimes there's no commercial breaks, you don't know who's coming up to the desk. It's very much like free falling, but it's so much fun.'
Meanwhile, the CW, which is also new to the Chicago Street Race, is hoping for a ratings boost from Saturday's Xfinity Series broadcast, rain or shine.
The CW Network began carrying NASCAR's 33-race Xfinity Series this year, the first of a seven-year agreement. The Loop 110 will air in Chicago on Nexstar Media-owned WGN-TV, which reclaimed its CW affiliation last year after a nearly decade-long hiatus.
'This is certainly a race that pops on the schedule,' said Brad Schwartz, a media veteran who was named president of entertainment for the CW network in November 2022, one month after it was acquired by Nexstar, the nation's largest local TV station ownership group. 'And so I would expect to see one of the highest ratings.'
While NBC also carried the Loop 110, most Xfinity Series races last year aired on the network's USA cable channel. Ratings are up this year, with 14 of 16 Xfinity races reaching more than 1 million viewers, according to the CW Network.
Launched in 2006, the CW has long aspired to be the fifth major broadcast network, banking initially on young adult scripted dramas like 'Gossip Girl' to build its audience. Under Nexstar, the CW has been beefing up its sports programming with everything from LIV Golf and ACC college football to WWE wrestling and PBA Bowling.
Sports now represent 40% of the CW's programming schedule, Schwartz said.
'In the past two years, we've gone from zero hours of sports to 500 hours of sports (per year),' Schwartz said. 'We've gone from zero viewers ever watching sports on the CW to now we've had over 40 million people watching sports on the CW.'
WGN-TV, which was an inaugural affiliate of the CW Network when it launched in 2006, has seen strong ratings for the Xfinity Series this year. Seeking to leverage the hometown connection, it is heavily promoting the Chicago Street Race this week, including on-air driver interviews, promotions and a perfunctory Chicago hot dog taste test.
While it is the first year for both TNT and the CW to carry the Chicago Street Race, there is some question as to whether it will be the last. This year's race completes an inaugural three-year agreement with NASCAR. The deal, struck during former Mayor Lori Lightfoot's administration, includes a two-year renewal option.
DePaul partners with Spire Motorsports ahead of NASCAR Chicago Street RaceNASCAR is reportedly in negotiations to hold a street race in San Diego next year, which may be in addition to Chicago, or perhaps will replace the Chicago one.
Mayor Brandon Johnson didn't answer directly when asked Tuesday if he wants the NASCAR race to continue beyond this weekend, saying 'it's about having conversations to make sure we're getting the most out of this experience.'
Johnson also nodded to the rain that has plagued recent editions of the Chicago Street Race. 'First of all, we're just hoping this year there's good weather,' he said at a City Hall news conference. 'It looks like Saturday we're going to be OK. Sunday is a little iffy, a little cloudy.'
Last year, the street race generated $128 million in total economic impact and drew 53,036 unique visitors, according to a study commissioned by Choose Chicago, the city's tourism arm.
The nationally televised Cup Series race also generated $43.6 million in media value for Chicago, according to a companion report.
If the city loses the street race, filling the marketing void won't be easy, Calkins said.
'The only way you replace this event is with another big event,' Calkins said. 'And big events aren't easy to come by, and they can be very expensive and complicated for a city to put on.'