SPORTS AND ATHLETIC FACILITIES

[L'burgnative]

I don't follow NASCAR either so maybe I'm about to ask a dumb question about the seating too.   Is 40K (Super Speedway) and 30K (fairgrounds) big enough?  Doesn't most of these NASCAR tracks have +100k seats around them?

Edited June 25, 2021 by L'burgnative

[titanhog]

1 hour ago, L'burgnative said:

I don't follow NASCAR either so maybe I'm about to ask a dumb question about the seating too.   Is 40K (Super Speedway) and 30K (fairgrounds) big enough?  Doesn't most of these NASCAR tracks have +100k seats around them?

From what I understand, NASCAR live racing doesn’t bring in the fans like it did 10-20 years ago.  Not to say they don’t still have huge crowds…but it seems they’re wanting to go more of the small tracks with 30-40k fans.  Fairgrounds Speedway is probably 100% what they really want to add to their schedule compared to a Superspeedway like the one in Gladeville / Smyrna.   More road courses and small tracks with less Superspeedway races.  The Superspeedway races takes it further and further away from its "moonshiners running from the law” origins. 

[L'burgnative]

^ Bristol Motor Speedway is a small track and it holds well over 100K.

[titanhog]

34 minutes ago, L'burgnative said:

^ Bristol Motor Speedway is a small track and it holds well over 100K.

Since the early 2000s…attendance has been shrinking.  At one time, Dover’s track in Delaware seated 135,000…but is now down to about 50k.  I’m not sure what Bristol’s attendance is now…but I have a feeling they’ll be shrinking down the seating soon.  That is part of the reason NASCAR is looking at more “intimate” tracks like the Fairgrounds…plus being that it’s historic, may be reason #1.  They really want more short tracks and road courses, from what I’ve read.  I’m sure they’d love to pack Bristol’s 100k+ stands…but things are not trending that way.

[nashvylle]

3 hours ago, titanhog said:

Since the early 2000s…attendance has been shrinking.  At one time, Dover’s track in Delaware seated 135,000…but is now down to about 50k.  I’m not sure what Bristol’s attendance is now…but I have a feeling they’ll be shrinking down the seating soon.  That is part of the reason NASCAR is looking at more “intimate” tracks like the Fairgrounds…plus being that it’s historic, may be reason #1.  They really want more short tracks and road courses, from what I’ve read.  I’m sure they’d love to pack Bristol’s 100k+ stands…but things are not trending that way.

Plus Fairgrounds isn’t a two hour drive to the middle of nowhere. 
 

even if Bristol was still having 100k attendance, browns creek and flea market facilities prohibit fairgrounds stadium from having more than 30k seats. 

[titanhog]

1 hour ago, nashvylle said:

Plus Fairgrounds isn’t a two hour drive to the middle of nowhere. 
 

even if Bristol was still having 100k attendance, browns creek and flea market facilities prohibit fairgrounds stadium from having more than 30k seats. 

I think if they ever needed to, they could possibly squeeze another 10k+ stands in there if they’re creative (they’d have to maybe do without some of those buildings they show in the last turn.)  I’m guessing they could even find a way to build stands over the creek somehow…but that would be very expensive.

 

Edited June 27, 2021 by titanhog

[PruneTracy]

The thing to remember is that stadiums everywhere are reducing capacity in favor of premium seating options. (To take the local-ish example, Neyland Stadium is down 7,000 seats from its early-aughties high and will probably lose another 2,000 to 3,000 with the north end zone video board and west club area additions in 2022.) NASCAR has been reducing grandstand seating but in many cases replacing it with RV parking and other party deck-style options. Having both sat in grandstands and camped in an RV for race weekends I'll take the RV any day of the week.

[titanhog]

6 hours ago, PruneTracy said:

The thing to remember is that stadiums everywhere are reducing capacity in favor of premium seating options. (To take the local-ish example, Neyland Stadium is down 7,000 seats from its early-aughties high and will probably lose another 2,000 to 3,000 with the north end zone video board and west club area additions in 2022.) NASCAR has been reducing grandstand seating but in many cases replacing it with RV parking and other party deck-style options. Having both sat in grandstands and camped in an RV for race weekends I'll take the RV any day of the week.

I noticed RV’s were parked right up against the fence on the back stretch at the Superspeedway.

[smeagolsfree]

15 hours ago, L'burgnative said:

^ Bristol Motor Speedway is a small track and it holds well over 100K.

It seats 162,000.

[titanhog]

5 hours ago, smeagolsfree said:

It seats 162,000.

They used to sell out every year with a waiting list.  But in just 2019, their spring race only had about 40k…and even their summer race had just 94k.  Will be interesting to see the numbers after Covid is over.

[PruneTracy]

13 hours ago, titanhog said:

I noticed RV’s were parked right up against the fence on the back stretch at the Superspeedway.

Most tracks have gone to RV parking right outside the track where it's feasible. SMI took out the backstretch grandstands at their superspeedways and installed RV parking instead (except Texas where the seats were built into a hillside, but these are usually tarped over anyway). Daytona and Talladega did as well. Iowa Speedway, one of the few where this was originally designed into the track, has tiered RV parking.

What I was getting at earlier is that the trend is towards more varied options for viewing, not just in NASCAR but all spectator sports. Sitting on metal bleachers or plastic chairs in direct sunlight in a midsummer afternoon in the South is not real fun in a vacuum and much less so when you and everyone around you are some combination of hot, drunk, smelly and/or sweaty. Even though NASCAR has the vortex it's not going to make that comfortable. So you end up seeing the same trends at other stadiums applied to tracks, namely the option to either view the race in a different setting or get up and move around over the course of the race/weekend.

• Where baseball stadiums are going to 360-degree concourses, tracks are consolidating grandstand seating to one area (typically the frontstretch) to make concessions and other services easier to provide and more accessible.
• Party decks and other terraced gathering spots are replicated by RV parking (although some tracks like Charlotte have actual party decks).
• Big-ass video screens so you don't have to have a direct line of sight to the action to keep up with it.
• Club and other premium seating.

This is where superspeedways (and road courses, for that matter) are always going to have an advantage, short tracks like Bristol are limited in their seating options as other sports' stadiums are. You can't park 500 RVs around Bristol. But with the size of the tracks, plus the length of a race and particularly a full weekend with support races NASCAR could take advantage of viewing modes other sports wouldn't have.

• Mid- to high-rise hotels, STRs, and/or condos around the track that cater to race fans and visitors. Texas is an extant example. There is surely a market for this even as second homes or as investments (in the STR case). Put a nice balcony on it and you don't even have to leave your room.
• Larger party decks that could offer more varied entertainment options. In Nashville for example you could have live music (maybe not under a green flag, but still).
• Entertainment/mixed-use districts. These are being built around many (suburban) stadiums but with the intention of having patrons exit to the stadium during the game. With racetracks however the action could be visible from the district itself. Think Fifth + Broadway but on one of the turns or the backstretch.

[markhollin]

NHL Stadium Series coming to Nissan Stadium on Sat. Feb. 26, 2022 when the Predators will host the Tampa Bay Lightning!  Announced just a few minutes ago by Commissioner Gary Bettman at State of the NHL Address.  

More at NHL.com here:

https://media.nhl.com/public/news/15150


More at Nashville Post here:

https://www.nashvillepost.com/sports/predators-to-host-outdoor-game-with-2022-stadium-series/article_47fcdf12-d890-11eb-8566-d3c02cdeee4a.html


More at NBJ here:

https://www.bizjournals.com/nashville/news/2021/06/29/predators-host-nhl-stadium-series-game.html

[titanhog]

2 hours ago, markhollin said:

NHL Stadium Series coming to Nissan Stadium on Sat. Feb. 26, 2022 when the Predators will host the Tampa Bay Lightning!  Announced just a few minutes ago by Commissioner Gary Bettman at State of the NHL Address.  More details forthcoming.

Feb 26….could be 10 degrees…or 80 degrees. 

[Bos2Nash]

On 6/21/2021 at 9:46 AM, nashvylle said:

It's great that this event was a huge success, but this photo to me makes the shorter track at The Fairgrounds seem much more appealing. I could see myself getting bored with the much larger tracks, and it being so far away. 

I attended the Xfinity race on Saturday and was really impressed with the whole facility. The fan zone setup was compact and easy to move around. Movement in and out of the track was easy. We were able to see action all over the track too. There were a lot of moves made going into turn 3 off the backstretch and while you can't hear the cars (mind you my ears were ringing for two days after the race haha) it was awesome to see the action all the way around!

On 6/27/2021 at 7:38 PM, titanhog said:

I noticed RV’s were parked right up against the fence on the back stretch at the Superspeedway.

I was a bit concerned with the small(ish) grandstands on the frontstretch, but the ability to have the multiple viewing setups will be a good thing for Nascar at their rural tracks. The small tracks like Bristol, Martinsville, Fairgrounds will be less realistic, but having these opportunities as PruneTracy mentioned will be good for the sport. Having every spectator sit in the hot air on metal benches isn't ideal for everyone.

Also Nashville was well represented in the Xfinity race as Hendersonville native, Josh Berry (racing for Dale Earnhardt Jr.), raced his way from 22nd starting position up to 3rd only to get trapped a lap down to the leader and race his way back up to a 4th place finish!

Here are some photos/videos from saturday at the track (please excuse my excitement in the background haha). 

This is from the Cup Series practice prior to the Xfinity race

[titanhog]

^^I’ve never seen a race in person…but it looks pretty fun.  Cars definitely look like they’re going WAY faster in person than they do on TV.

[Bos2Nash]

17 hours ago, titanhog said:

^^I’ve never seen a race in person…but it looks pretty fun.  Cars definitely look like they’re going WAY faster in person than they do on TV.

This was my first race in 20+ years. Justifying the tickets is my hardest internal argument. But the vibrations in your feet when the cars rumble by, the sheer volume of them and the smells (god i love those smells) or burning rubber and gas. As a fan, you just can't beat it. 

[Bark At The Sun]

Barrier and fencing along north side of KVB Bridge for Indy Car Race.   There was also some milling and smoothing of the asphalt on the east side approach.

[titanhog]

3 hours ago, Bark At The Sun said:

Barrier and fencing along north side of KVB Bridge for Indy Car Race.   There was also some milling and smoothing of the asphalt on the east side approach.

Can we have them go around the round a bout where Stix is?  Maybe an accidental crash.  Poles Down!  Poles Down!! 

[Bos2Nash]

3 hours ago, Bark At The Sun said:

Very interesting to see the gutter left exposed. I know they don't have a huge slope on them, but at the high rates of speed these cars will be travelling I wonder if it would "pull" cars into the wall if they touch it. It's hard enough riding your bike in those gutters, let alone running 150 to 180 mph in them. 

According to the Post (yesterday) road closures are not expected until August 5th (phew!)

[PruneTracy]

9 minutes ago, Bos2Nash said:

Very interesting to see the gutter left exposed. I know they don't have a huge slope on them, but at the high rates of speed these cars will be travelling I wonder if it would "pull" cars into the wall if they touch it. It's hard enough riding your bike in those gutters, let alone running 150 to 180 mph in them.

Probably either 1) Metro made them leave the bike lanes open or 2) they had drainage concerns (either with putting the wall in the gutter, obstructing storm flow, or expecting storm flow through the wall while maintaining acceptable spread into the travel lanes / racetrack). Or the roadway isn't wide enough for two track widths on the bridge but this seems unlikely.

[Sean blackdog]

Today this evening from Instagram. 
 

^^Update fixed spelling  

 

Edited July 23, 2021 by Sean blackdog

[MLBrumby]

What's a "Grandatand"? 

[smeagolsfree]

I suppose these are the Grandstands.

[titanhog]

2 hours ago, MLBrumby said:

What's a "Grandatand"? 

You have to say it with a thick Italian accent and it makes perfect sense. 

[markhollin]

Views of security fencing along portions of Nashville Grand Prix route: