Super Late Models

Berlin Raceway praises FansChoice.TV streams for keeping fans engaged

Track officials see live streaming as advertising a way to keep fans engaged …

by
Matt Weaver
February 25, 2019

FansChoice.TV has been very good for Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan.

Pavement short track racing and the practice of streaming races over the internet have endured a complicated history with each other over the past decade. On one hand, entities like Speed51.com and the Lucas Oil Racing app have made marquee events more accessible to a national audience than ever before.

Races like the Snowball Derby, Winchester 400, Oxford 250 and Little 500 can now be watched from anywhere around the globe. Touring divisions like the CARS Tour have an entire subscription streaming platform dedicated to air each race during the course of a season.

Speed51.com has a revenue sharing model that splits PPV buys between the company and race track. Many dirt subscription platforms have worked-out a similar model.

NASCAR’s FansChoice.TV platform offers no such agreement between tracks and the sanctioning body, with the league providing each track the option of airing races on the free over-the-top website as a form of advertising.

Berlin is one such track, and the platform has worked well for the track that has a semi-weekly Super Late Model, Modified and local division program. The track revealed on Tuesday that it attracts nearly 5,000 weekly viewers on average between at-track attendees and live streamers.

It’s something that track president Mike Bursley takes pride in.

“When we first decided three years ago to stream our events on FansChoice each week, we took criticism from some people saying, ‘it’s a bad idea and why would you let people watch your product for free on the internet?’ My response to them was typically ‘If they aren’t coming already, we might as well show them what they are missing and hope to get them here.’

“We live in a different world now with technology being so prominent, and we felt streaming our events with FansChoice was a good way to keep people engaged if they happen to be out of town or had a family event and couldn’t make it. Or if they made other plans with the significant other because weather was questionable, but secretly watch the FansChoice broadcast under the table while at dinner.”

The appeal for Bursley is that he wanted to keep people connected with his track whether they could make it on any given weekend or not.

Mission accomplished.

“We have seen an increase in both our front gate numbers as well as FansChoice streaming viewers and look forward to continuing this convenient offering to our amazing fanbase following,” Bursley said.

Motor Racing Network broadcaster Jeff Striegle owns both Super Lates and Modifieds that competes at the track, and finds the streams valuable for when he’s on the road.

“Without FansChoice, I can’t see or experience what’s happening,” Striegle said. “FansChoice allows us to reach even more people. It allows us to get our brand out. Recognize our sponsors. And connect with other race organizations nationwide. When I’m traveling, I often speak to people who follow our team on FansChoice regardless of what state they may be from…

“Obviously, I love FansChoice TV because it allows me to virtually be at every race, but another key is what it means to our sponsors. We reach more people in more areas and hear more comments simply because they watch FansChoice.”

Berlin opens the 2019 season on April 20 with a card that features Super Late Models, Super Stocks, Modifieds, Sportsman and Four-Cyliders.

That event will be available on FansChoice for those unable to attend in person.

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Matt Weaver

Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.

1 Comment

Roger Williams

March 2, 2019 at 2:48 pm

Crystal Motor Speedway and Racesontheweb.com have been pioneers of the free live broadcast since 2003. What is is being praised as keeping fans engaged has been a huge help in increasing attendance during the economically slow years. I am not surprised to see this doing the same for Berlin. Kudos!