The new year is upon the\nmotorsports industry and indications are favorable going into the next season.\nThis month we will review the trends from last year and how they will keep that\nmomentum going forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This year started with uncertainty\nover racing schedules and whether fans would be allowed to watch races in\nperson. Over the next few months, testing protocols and vaccine initiatives\nwere established with drivers and teams taking part of public awareness\ncampaigns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Postponements occurred and\nevents were cancelled or moved to alternate venues as certain regions flared up\nand limited foreign visitors. The result\nwas a different calender with non-traditional competition formats.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Flexibility was key.\nMotorsports and its partners responded based on lessons learned over the\nprevious twelve months. Sponsorship and broadcast contracts were fulfilled and\nfinancial obligations honored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the middle of the year,\ntracks began removing restrictions. Thus,\nthe second half of the season seemed closer to normal by most standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The overall results from a\nscheduling perspective have been viewed as positive. All dates and venues were fair game as they\nexperimented and invoked change. \nTraditionalists were uneasy as established markets and dates were no\nlonger assured. As the metrics rolled in\nfor attendance and ratings, it was clear changes had positive impacts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cost initiatives also kept\nmoving forward. Long a barrier to entry\nand hurdle to getting into the winners circles, officials recognized they had\nto do something. They gathered the\nstakeholders and made bold moves. The result were spec chassis and\ninterchangeable parts. Indications from\ntesting are that the competitive balance will be restored and financial playing\nfield leveled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
There is change in team\nownership not seen in many years. New\nentities view business opportunities in motorsports on par with other\nprofessional sports. The availability of\nfinancial capital, stability of rules packages and existing owners seeking exit\ntransitions as prices are rising.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The new breed of owners is\nembracing non-traditional media opportunities on and off the track. Viewed as digital partnerships with\nentertainment celebrities and they look to solid generate revenue numbers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sports betting is bringing new\nengagement. The establishment of fantasy\nsports leagues and its growth over the last three decades has been the primary\ncatalyst. Legalization and the expansion\nof gambling in the last two years is phenomenal. Casinos are locating sports\nbooks at tracks and mobile devices bring betting to the grandstands. These companies are signing sponsorship\nagreements throughout the industry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Media companies continue to\ndelve deeper into sports. Rights holders\nspend higher fees on their contracts even renewing deals earlier and extending\nterms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Viewership platforms are diverging\nwith on-demand and streaming driving expansion. \nThe development of content by non-traditional players is brilliant. Netflix\u2019s \u201cDrive to Survive\u201d is the primary\ndriver behind the incredible rise of Formula One worldwide popularity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The industry behind the sport\nis healthy. Shutdowns, supply shortages\nand rising prices are part of the storyline. Trade shows led by SEMA and PRI gave companies\nthe occasion to meet with their customer base. \nCautious optimism was the underlying theme.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The outlook is bright. Motorsports, faced the challenges and\nadapted. That\u2019s what racers do best. \nThis along with solid economic fundamentals will make next season\ncompetitive on and off the track.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The new year is upon the motorsports industry and indications are favorable going into the next season. This month we will review the trends from last year and how they will keep that momentum going forward. This year started with uncertainty over racing schedules and whether fans would be allowed to watch races in person. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":884,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/businessofspeed.speedwaysonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/businessofspeed.speedwaysonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/businessofspeed.speedwaysonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/businessofspeed.speedwaysonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/businessofspeed.speedwaysonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=883"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/businessofspeed.speedwaysonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":885,"href":"http:\/\/businessofspeed.speedwaysonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/883\/revisions\/885"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/businessofspeed.speedwaysonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/884"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/businessofspeed.speedwaysonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=883"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/businessofspeed.speedwaysonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=883"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/businessofspeed.speedwaysonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=883"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}