Motorsports Could Learn from Major League Baseball

This is the Statt Mann Baby. Time to Scatt a little bit.

I was having lunch this week when it came to me that the motorsports world could learn a lot from Major League Baseball right now.

This season baseball is implementing rules changes designed to shorten the games. So far, the rules are working.

Games that used to scratch the other side of four hours are now getting over in less than two-and-a-half hours. It’s too early to know the effect on television ratings and new, younger eyeballs and butts in the seats. But one Spring Training game on ESPN in February had the highest TV ratings in seven years.

NASCAR viewership through the first six races in 2023 were all down as much as 15 percent over last year. Now, we’re told that NASCAR and all other racing series want to tap into the Millennial and GEN Z demographics. But we’re told that those attention spans are 12 and eight seconds respectively.

You think an eight second attention can get into four hours of cars droning in circles?

But baseball is making the start. They’ve shortened the games from four to less than three hours. Motor racing should be thinking along the same lines. Heat races and shorter features would be a great start.

No matter who disagrees in the garage.

Peace.