Amazon's NASCAR broadcasts are already putting Fox's efforts to shame
Amazon Prime is already setting the standard for NASCAR broadcasts. Hopefully Fox is taking notes.
Sunday's Cup Series race at Nashville — won by Ryan Blaney — was the second Amazon race of the season after the internet behemoth made its NASCAR broadcasting debut at the Coca-Cola 600. So far, its two telecasts have been sharp, professional, devoid of nonsense and informative. Simply put, it's the type of coverage that NASCAR fans deserve.
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Look, complaining about TV coverage is rote at this point. Fans of every sport can easily nitpick broadcasts and there are significant subsets of every fanbase that thinks broadcasters are biased against their favorite team.
But NASCAR fans have been dealt a tough hand in recent years. As Fox is in its third decade of covering NASCAR, it's felt all too often like the network is mailing it in.
Nearly 25 years ago, Fox was in the same position Amazon is in. The network's first NASCAR Cup Series race was the fateful 2001 Daytona 500. Fox's entry into the NASCAR world was a pivot point for the sanctioning body. It had officially gone mainstream.
The early Fox years were glorious. Especially compared to other broadcasts. Fox set the standard for what NASCAR coverage should be, even if you weren't a fan of 'Digger' and the embedded camera on the apron in the corners of racetracks across the country.
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But something has changed in recent years. We're not the only ones who have noticed, either. NBC's coverage has put Fox's to shame since the network took over the second half of the season from ESPN and Fox hasn't upped its game. Kevin Harvick is an insightful analyst. But he can't overcome the hokeyness that permeates Fox's broadcasts.
To be fair, Amazon isn't starting from scratch. Like Fox, the streamer acquired NFL rights before it jumped into NASCAR. And its booth of Adam Alexander, Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Steve Letarte have plenty of experience calling races. Alexander has been a main Xfinity Series play-by-play voice for years, and Junior and Letarte form the best analyst pairing in NASCAR from their years at NBC. The two worked together as driver and crew chief at Hendrick Motorsports and their chemistry is apparent on screen.
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But Amazon is nailing the production details that Fox isn't. The broadcast is all about the race and doesn't feature myriad cutaways to children watching in the grandstands. The camera shots follow what the booth is talking about. The graphics and picture quality are markedly better. There are no full-screen commercial breaks during green flag racing. And Amazon hasn't gone to commercial with less than 10 laps to go.
It's been a breath of fresh air for the NASCAR fans who have been able to watch. It's no secret that NASCAR's audience skews older than most other professional sports and the viewership gains that NASCAR saw in the 18-49 demographic during the 600 came at the vast expense of those 50 and over.
But it's also no secret that streaming is the new cable and how we'll consume most of our sports content in the near future. NASCAR was smart to add Amazon to the mix with its new media rights deal. Trading fewer younger viewers for more older viewers is the right play, especially as Formula 1 is the trendy motorsport among those not eligible for Medicare.
Ideally, Amazon will continue to build off how good its first two race broadcasts were and Fox, NBC and TNT — back in the NASCAR game this year — will aspire to meet Amazon's standard.
But we won't blame you if you're pessimistic about that ideal world ever happening. We're all worn down by the past decade of Fox's NASCAR broadcasts.
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