One of the stories that has been floating around the Rally community in the US over the past six months or so has been that ESPN2 had signed on to broadcast the newly formed RallyCross series taking place this fall over three weekends at the New Jersey Motorsports Park. This was to be the launch of Rally in general and RallyCross in particular into the mainstream. Heck, RallyCross (in the form of Super Rally) was even added to the '10 XGames.
So what happened?
It's now almost November, no broadcast has ever been made of either of the first two RallyCross events and no news is forthcoming from Rally America, I mean, RallyCar about the situation which has left fans, competitors and sponsors wondering.
So lets recap the situation using Rally America, I mean, RallyCar's, own "News" page and then I'll throw in a little tidbit at the end...
8/9/10--Quoting directly from the news release entitled America's First RallyCross to Make History, it reads that the new RallyCross series "...will be televised on ESPN2. Details about format and broadcast dates to follow." This seems pretty cut and dry. RallyCross has a TV deal in place and is only finalizing details...
8/27/10--Quoting directly from the news release penned by Rally America, I mean RallyCar's, media partner World Rally Sport and entitled 10 Things to Know About RallyCar's US Rallycross, reads "RallyCar is working on finalizing the TV deal for US Rallycross events." Uh-oh...no mention of ESPN2 here, but Rally America, I mean, RallyCar would make up a story to one of its media partners, would it??
9/28/10--Then, just prior to the second RallyCross event at NJMP we get RallyCar's own press release, Top Drivers Coming to RallyCross #2, in which there is now no mention of ESPN2 and no mention of TV of any kind. But the saving grace here is that a full, nationwide championship with three West Coast events and three East Coast events is mentioned being in place for 2011. Yeah!! Maybe they just didn't bother to mention TV this time AND we've got this thing going NATIONWIDE now!!
10/2/10--In the Tanner Foust Takes the Win release from Rally Ameri...I mean RallyCar, we now have no mention of ESPN2, no mention of TV and no mention of any nationwide series....Uhhh....
10/12/10--RallyCar announces its Stage Rally schedule for 2011 but contains not a word of RallyCross...
10/13/10--Under the release entitled US Rallycross Exploding on International Stage, we have no mention of ESPN2, TV or the 2011 season and we have an announced reduction in ticket prices to $20 a car load, down from $13 a person on Saturday and $22 a person on Sunday...
Now let me be clear. I am in no way saying that there is not going to be a 2011 RallyCross season, nor am I saying that it won't be a Nationwide series. What I am saying is that there is NOT going to be any TV coverage on ESPN2 of any kind, and unless Rally Am...I mean RallyCar forks over a ton of coin to pay for the footage obtained by ESPN2 at the first event, I wouldn't anticipate ever seeing it anywhere.
I spoke today to a highly placed PR employee at ESPN today who has first hand knowledge of what actually occured and it was relayed to me as follows:
"...this was something that was talked about with RallyCar, but was never confirmed and definitely not announced. It was decided to not air the series..."
The source did/would not disclose the reasoning behind the decision but given the low car counts and shockingly uncompetitive distances between finishers I think we can safely assume that it did not make for compelling television...
Maybe this will change in the future but with ESPN getting burned by a roundly panned introduction of Super Rally at the XGames followed by a decision not to continue involvement in the series by ESPN2 after viewing the initial NJMP event, I find it unlikely that any major TV package will be forthcoming for 2011and many questions remain.
Is splitting your already low car count between East and West events a good idea at this point?
Most importantly--How much does the obvious failure of RallyCar (there, I said it the first time) to present reasonable and dependable expectations for its fans, racers and sponsors damage faith in their current announcements?
RallyCar flat out LIED to its public when it announced it had a TV deal in place with ESPN2 and has shown a decided lack of business acumen ever since. I've said it before when observing the downfall of another American motorsports series that I heavily criticized but PERCEPTION IS REALITY.
If sponsors, racers and fans begin questioning the truth of what you are announcing (and at this point they certainly should with RallyCar) then your series is on its way to a rapid fold whether you are NOW telling the truth or not. Being up front, honest and forthright is the ONLY way for a series, especially a small one, to succeed.
It's past time RallyCar (PLEASE go back to the Rally America name!! RallyCar is just plain dumb...someone should swallow their pride, admit their mistake and correct it) starts moving in this direction.
