Here is a rundown of what got me thinking…
The United States and China ended the 2024 Summer Olympics tied on 40 gold medals, but the United States finished with 126 total medals, 37 more than China, which I guess is a tiebreaker in an unofficial competition that does not exist. There is no prize or honor for most gold medals or most medals. We make it. Anyway, which would you rather your country have, 50 gold medals but no silver and no bronze medals or 30 gold medals, 30 silver medals and 30 bronze medals? Marinate on that one for a little. Elsewhere, the United States swept the traditional basketball gold medals, the U.S. women’s soccer team is golden again, U.S. track and field had its best Olympics in 40 years. This is all about the Olympics because we should talk about the Olympics and it is hard not to talk about the Olympics. Which brings us to American motorsports and its relationship with the Olympics, especially the next one coming up.
Take Three Weeks Off Now
Remember a few weeks ago when I wrote it is a good thing that motorsports took a break during the Olympics and the major series in the United States should not compete against the television behemoth even if future broadcast partners of the series have no ties to broadcasting the Olympics? I am doubling down on that.
IndyCar, NASCAR and IMSA must take three weeks off in 2028 and avoid going against the Los Angeles Olympics at all cost.
This year's games in Paris were at a much more favorable time for the American audience. After the last Summer Olympics was held in Tokyo, 13 hours ahead of the Eastern Time Zone, Paris was only six hours ahead. It meant some sports were on at odd times and you had to be committed if you wanted to watch handball, volleyball, water polo or archery, but a great deal of the events occurred at a reasonable hour. The headline events all occurred in the middle of the afternoon. It wasn't perfect, but it still drew monster numbers.
NBC's viewership was up 77% from the Tokyo games. The time difference played a big role in that, but every day, from about 2:00 p.m. Eastern through the end of the prime time coverage at 11:00 p.m. Eastern, more than 31 million people tuned into the Olympics. And half of that coverage is taped stuff. Nothing from 8:00 p.m. to 11:00 p.m. was live. It was all taped. Everyone knew who won. You may have even watched it live. Yet, 31 million people tuned in. The 2016 Summer Olympics from Rio de Janeiro averaged 27.5 million viewers a night for NBC and Rio is only an hour ahead of the U.S. east coast.
If Paris drew larger viewership than the most recent Olympics in a U.S. friendly time zone, what do you think it will be like when the games are held in Los Angeles?
Even if on the west coast, it will be the most prime spot for viewership, and it would be best if IndyCar, NASCAR and even IMSA threw in the towel now and decided to take a three-week break.
There is no point in competing against something that will draw over 30 million viewers, which could be 40 million viewers when it is held on American soil in four year's time. There is no prize for best-in-class. Two million viewers is not drawing anywhere the sponsorship dollars when there is something out there getting 15 times larger an audience on a daily basis for three weeks. There will be a vacuum, but you will not be drawing anyone new. Yes, there are fan bases that will be there no matter what watching the races, but it is not selling to your largest possible audience. A great number will get lost in the Olympic fever and you are not attracting anyone new. There might be a rumble from people that are tired from the Olympics, but they aren't going to tune into motorsports instead as some kind of counter viewership. There is no boom from being the other show in town.
The best decision would be to take three weeks off, even if NASCAR is on Turner and IndyCar is on Fox or some other broadcaster. There is no competing with what the 2028 Summer Olympics will be. Three weeks is a long time, but there is no way to win.
The opening weekend is massive. The middle weekend is massive. The final Sunday is the one time when there is a window. Come the final Sunday, the final hours leading to the closing ceremony is filled with only a handful of events, but some are high profile. If the women's basketball tournament is decided that afternoon, the number will be absurd, especially if Caitlin Clark is on the U.S. roster and on the verge of her first gold medal. There could also be the chance the United States is playing for gold in volleyball or water polo or who knows what sport that has enraptured the general public in less than two weeks and who is now insistent the U.S. must win a gold medal even if 99% of the viewers didn't know the rules to the sport three weeks prior.
There is nothing American motorsports can put out between July 14 and July 30, 2028 that will draw a lick of attention. Kyle Larson could do IndyCar-NASCAR doubles for three consecutive weeks, sweep both races all three times and it would still fall on deaf ears to the attention of no one in this country. There is no reason to get lost due to the party. Take the time off even if it is more than you took now.
IndyCar takes three-week breaks all the time. It will be easy for it to adjust. It will just need to fill some of the three-week breaks that already exist and maybe push one race into the football season in September. IndyCar is naturally Olympic-flexible. NASCAR is a little tougher. It has taken two weeks off the last two Olympics, but in 2028 the Olympics portion of the season will fall during the Amazon/Turner Sports portion of the calendar, not the NBC portion.
Amazon and Turner have no incentive to take time off for NBC's Olympic coverage... except it may have the incentive of having actual living, breathing human beings watch its races and instead of going against an Anthony Edwards-led men's basketball team or a Sophia Smith-led women's soccer team, it might be best to take a few weeks off and come back when the cauldron has been extinguished.
NASCAR could race a little later into November. It wasn't long ago the season ended the Sunday before Thanksgiving. In recent years, it has ended at least two Sundays before Thanksgiving. There is a week or two right there. Doubleheader weekends could return. It could start the season earlier, but the NFL playoffs and Super Bowl make that kind of complicated. NASCAR could stick to the two weeks off. Again, that final Sunday of the Olympics isn't that busy, but it will be busy enough.
IMSA has no excuse for not taking three weeks off and entirely avoiding the Olympics. I don't understand why Road America was the middle weekend this year. Starting next weekend, IMSA has only three races over the nine weekends following the Olympics. It had more than enough room to hold off running at Road America until the Olympics were over. A live race on Peacock with a tape-delayed 6:00 p.m. broadcast on CNBC seems a little ridiculous when it could probably get a nice live window next week on USA that could lead into the NASCAR coverage from Michigan. But what do I know?
I know that racing in four years during the middle of the first Summer Olympics in the United States in 32 years is a boneheaded decision if any series decides to do it. You are free to race but don't be upset when no one tunes in. As hard as you may look for a silver-lining, it is awfully hard to find when people are tuning in to see who wins gold.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about some of the Summer Olympics, but did you know...
Austin Dillon won the NASCAR Cup race from Richmond. Ty Majeski won the Truck Series race, his second consecutive victory.
Kyle Larson won the 63rd Knoxville Nationals, his third time winning the event in the last four years.
Toprak Razgatlioglu swept the World Superbike races from Portimão, and Razgatlioglu has won 13 consecutive races. Yari Montella swept the World Supersport races.
Coming Up This Weekend
An IndyCar evening race from Gateway.
MotoGP will be in Austria.
NASCAR is in Michigan.
Supercars heads to Symmons Plains.
GT World Challenge America has a trip to Road America.
Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters visits the Nürburgring.
