NASCAR Track Tries to Hide Declining Attendance by Widening the Seats

Don't worry, I'm not going to turn this post into a Kunstler-esque screed putting down NASCAR fans as if they are solely responsible for dragging America down into the abyss these days. The fact is I really don't care what floats your boat as far as entertainment goes. I have my own guilty pleasures and at one time in my life was spending a couple of thousand dollars a year as an NFL season ticket holder. As long as your entertainment doesn't begin to fog your brain to the point where you might actually consider voting for the likes of Newt Gingrich or Donald Trump, I say knock yourself out.

Still, I couldn't help but find this story from ESPN amusing:

Dover International Speedway in Delaware is hoping to make race fans' experience a little more comfortable by widening seats in the track's outdoor grandstands.

The speedway announced Thursday that the process of increasing seats from 18 inches to 22 inches will start next year and will be complete by 2014.

Denis McGlynn, president and CEO of Dover Motorsports, says the widening comes in response to fans' suggestions. The change will reduce the capacity of the speedway from 140,000 to 113,000.

I could start making all kinds of tired, overused jokes about fat, lazy ass Americans here, but will refrain from doing so. Instead, I'll just point out the audacity of Dover Motorsports President Denis McGlynn trying to pass off the fact that he is shrinking his available product base by 27,000 and trying to pass it off as if he gives a shit whether the more bovine attendees at his auto races are able to wedge themselves into the seats or not. Fact is, if Dover Motorsports could still sell 140,000 tickets to their auto race, they would, and wider fan posteriors be damned.


Bonus: My personal favorite auto racing song