Ppv

[vande07]

Personnally, I've only ever purchased 2 PPV events. They were worth the expense IMO and here's why:

THere is no limit to the # of people that get to watch for that price. I can watch alone for $35, or I can invite people over and it still only costs me $35.

As far as it being overpriced? Sometimes some are (those with poor streaming quality), but as someone who sits in the stands every weekend, I don't think someone that watches from home should pay less than what I do. They have a choice, spend hte $$$ and attend in person, spend the $$$ and watch on their own TV, or not watch. It's really as simple as that.

I remember back in the late 80's / early 90's, my friends and I would spend $90+ to get PPV of boxing (and tickets to watch in person were $45 unless you were ringside). We'd divide up the cost and it we ended up spending $6-9 each. Today, those PPV's are in teh $40 range and tickets to be there are $150 or more now. Problem is they are selling even LESS PPV buys than they ever have, they lowered their price because they have competition (WWE, UFC) that is basically the same type of entertainment.

As of today, you can watch a PPV of a Mod Race, LM race or Sprint race (3 distinctly different fanbases IMO), so the providers aren't fighting over the same viewers. If a LM race isn't available, I'd say 95% of those fans aren't going to purchase a mod race or sprint race instead and vice versa. If it were the opposite and those fans would buy the others if the one they really wanted to watch wasn't available, prices might decrease (likely not though as I don't see anyone getting rich streaming races online, at best most are probably breaking even and that's with sponsorship help).

[W2Racing09]

Personnally, I've only ever purchased 2 PPV events. They were worth the expense IMO and here's why:

THere is no limit to the # of people that get to watch for that price. I can watch alone for $35, or I can invite people over and it still only costs me $35.

As far as it being overpriced? Sometimes some are (those with poor streaming quality), but as someone who sits in the stands every weekend, I don't think someone that watches from home should pay less than what I do. They have a choice, spend hte $$$ and attend in person, spend the $$$ and watch on their own TV, or not watch. It's really as simple as that.

I remember back in the late 80's / early 90's, my friends and I would spend $90+ to get PPV of boxing (and tickets to watch in person were $45 unless you were ringside). We'd divide up the cost and it we ended up spending $6-9 each. Today, those PPV's are in teh $40 range and tickets to be there are $150 or more now. Problem is they are selling even LESS PPV buys than they ever have, they lowered their price because they have competition (WWE, UFC) that is basically the same type of entertainment.

As of today, you can watch a PPV of a Mod Race, LM race or Sprint race (3 distinctly different fanbases IMO), so the providers aren't fighting over the same viewers. If a LM race isn't available, I'd say 95% of those fans aren't going to purchase a mod race or sprint race instead and vice versa. If it were the opposite and those fans would buy the others if the one they really wanted to watch wasn't available, prices might decrease (likely not though as I don't see anyone getting rich streaming races online, at best most are probably breaking even and that's with sponsorship help).

I can't see the logic that PPV buyers should pay less than being at the track. The experieince is nowhere near comparable. If the PPV was free and I was in range of the track I would still go and pay to get in at the track... That is how much better the experience of being there is. The argument that you can have people over is good aside from the fact that I have very few friends that are fans of dirt racing. I work in the city, and spend most of my time in the city where most people don't even know there are dirt tracks in the entire state. If I buy a PPV it is usually myself, and my wife might watch if she is not busy.

My wife pointed out one thing with the PPV that could improve it tremendously. The problem is I'm not sure what kind of problems it creates. The biggest problem for me is that I don't get to watch who I want. If Lanigan and Clanton are fighting for the lead on lap 10 I really don't care, I want to see my favorite driver (Josh Richards). There has to be a way for the camera to be far enough out and not zoomed in so that you can see the entire track in the picture and you can choose who you want to watch. I would much prefer that even if i didn't get to see all of the detail or read the sponsors on the side of the car. If I could watch whoever I wanted I would feel like I was missing a lot less.

Thanks,
Jeff.

[LMPunk]

The first one I bought was the Lucas race at Macon last year just to try it out, and it went well enough that I bought a couple more (Firecracker & World Saturday), mainly because the races I was planning on that weekend were rained out or I was stuck at home for other reasons. Pretty handy deal.

[Highside Hustler25]

Have never bought a pay per view and don't see doing it any time soon. With a subscription to DoD, I can watch the video the following morning before going to work. A 6-7 hour wait is not that big of a deal to me. To me, watching the race on TV is not even close to being there. I want the sound, the smell, and the feel of actually being there that a TV can do no justice.
I do see a lot of valid reasons some guys have given. Multiple admission prices for kids, being unable to attend a race because of distance etc.

[vande07]

I can't see the logic that PPV buyers should pay less than being at the track. The experieince is nowhere near comparable. If the PPV was free and I was in range of the track I would still go and pay to get in at the track... That is how much better the experience of being there is. The argument that you can have people over is good aside from the fact that I have very few friends that are fans of dirt racing. I work in the city, and spend most of my time in the city where most people don't even know there are dirt tracks in the entire state. If I buy a PPV it is usually myself, and my wife might watch if she is not busy.

My wife pointed out one thing with the PPV that could improve it tremendously. The problem is I'm not sure what kind of problems it creates. The biggest problem for me is that I don't get to watch who I want. If Lanigan and Clanton are fighting for the lead on lap 10 I really don't care, I want to see my favorite driver (Josh Richards). There has to be a way for the camera to be far enough out and not zoomed in so that you can see the entire track in the picture and you can choose who you want to watch. I would much prefer that even if i didn't get to see all of the detail or read the sponsors on the side of the car. If I could watch whoever I wanted I would feel like I was missing a lot less.

Thanks,
Jeff.

I completely agree that the experience of being there can't be matched, but from a pure BUSINESS perspective, the price has to be the same for PPV as it does to sit in the stands as:

(1) - the company doing the PPV gets a portion and the racetrack gets a portion.

(2) currently, there is no way to "black out" streaming, so a guy that lives a block away from the racetrack can say "I'm tired, it's gonna be 35 degrees tonight, and I don't want to get sick, I'll just stay home and get the PPV (the track still gets some $$$ from the guy, but with no PPV available, if he was a "die hard", he'd have paid the price and sat in the stands.

(3) Racetracks are having enough issues with attendance as is, why make PPV cheaper than a grandstand ticket? So people can stay home and eat their own groceries, drink their own beer, and expect the track to raise the purse and make better fan amenities for the times they do attend in person?

I also agree that yes, you don't get to watch necessarily the car you want to watch when you rent a PPV, but would you rather watch no racecars at all?? If I need my racing fix and I can't get to a track, I'll fork the $$$ over to watch on TV (and hopefully eventually my smartphone or tablet).

[Big Daddy 37]

Some of you seem to think these PPV's are done with a giant ESPN like production crew & truck.

They are put on by a few very hard working Late Model fans, that drove across the country in a minivan, to try and bring a fun race product to us die hard rubes at home.

Don't like the price?? Don't buy it..... Pretty simple!

Hats off to each of those said Late Model fans, trying their hardest to bring the rest of us great PPV's.

[W2Racing09]

Some of you seem to think these PPV's are done with a giant ESPN like production crew & truck.

They are put on by a few very hard working Late Model fans, that drove across the country in a minivan, to try and bring a fun race product to us die hard rubes at home.

Don't like the price?? Don't buy it..... Pretty simple!

Hats off to each of those said Late Model fans, trying their hardest to bring the rest of us great PPV's.

I don't buy it, but this thread is discussing how many people do buy them. I said I don't very often and gave the reason why. I'm not demanding that they lower the price, I'm simply saying that I won't be a regular customer until they do. If they never do, I won't shed a tear -- I promise. I hit 40-50 races every year so I'm not lacking for entertainment.

Thanks,
Jeff.

[MRM]

Thanks for all the input. I was wondering how many people buy these and how many a year a person buys. I don't buy any of them myself, so I was really wondering. I'm glad something like this is available.

[CarolinaDirt]

I have bought several and enjoyed both the professionalism of the broadcast and getting to go see a track I otherwise would have never been able to visit . Great product for the money .

[MotoMatt]

I buy 5-10 a year and will more as finances allow. Living in Iowa we have some good racing, but none within an hours drive and with a young family I can't make that work. It's a great way to see races and tracks I wouldn't get to. My one wishlist item is the stream quality, for the price I think it should always be HD quality, it isn't. But I can get over it. The only thing that I will complain to the provider about is if I pay full price($30+) and all they do is follow the leader with one camera and stream the track announcer. XSAN(doesn't cover much latemodel stuff) doe this, so I don't buy them anymore. Speed Shift and DonD don't do this, or don't often, so I am pretty happy with them. My opinion is it's a lot better than HGTV and I get to drink my beer and eat my food on my couch!

[Kwd1253]

I know these PPV races are pretty successful since the folks that put them on continue to do so year after year. But I was wondering how many of these a year the average fans buys in a season. With as many as there now available, a fan could spend a small fortune if they bought all of them. Same goes if a person bought a week's worth like this week or last week.

If you read all the posts, you different reasoning.. It all depend your location, quality of shows that week, car count vs a good quality ppv race. Personally I only order a hand full over last two years. Those races where dream, show me 100, world 100, Knoxville nationals, DTWC because I couldn't afford to go. It was very worth paying the ppv prices for them shows. Had family and friends over,BBQ, few beers go with it. But I skip most ppvs because I rather goto a race that weekend or do what ever then watch the highlights on dod next day.

[turn4crew25]

I bought Eastbay and Volusia this year. $230 so far this year. The ppvs are great if you can afford them. Ill prob buy 5 or 6 more depending on whats going on that weekend. I buy the bigger shows like the dream the world dtwc knoxville. if my local track gets rained out i might but more. I have a lot of friends who are into racing. Invite them over and split the cost. Make a party out of it.

[W2Racing09]

If i had a bunch of friends that were into racing it would certainly become a better deal. Unfortunately the area I live in is new to me (only been here for less than two years) and most of my friends I've met through work (in Baltimore) and they are more interested in things like music, football and hockey than racing.

Back when I was in ND one of the local bars used to get the XSAN PPVs in the winter time and they would advertise it and get 50-60 people to show up and watch on a few 70" tvs. It was a pretty good time for February in North Dakota.

Thanks,
Jeff.