Auto Club Speedway Demonstrates Utter Retardedness, Again...and Again...

[MattSRD28]

That's So. Cal. for you.

Simple: If you don't like the prices then don't go.

That's exactly why little to no train tickets were sold, and why this Feb's race will not be a sell out. It has almost nothing to do with the economy. To prove that point, the LA Clippers' last home game was on Jan. 20, a Wednesday, vs the 18-22 Chicago Bulls. Attendance was 16,794. The economy is tough, but the Clippers can still draw that many for a random Wednesday in January when the streets were flooded & the weather was terrible! There's no economic reason AT ALL why Auto Club Speedway can't be sold out for each & every race.

Here's another example of how not to price race tickets in this market. Currently the way to purchase the best "regular Joe" grandstand seats at ACS is by purchasing the "NASCAR Action Pack" which is admission to all races on the Fri, Sat, & Sun of both Cup race weekends. (Both weekends must be purchased.) So basically that's 6 days of admission to the track for whatever racing is on the track during those days, including Cup races. Cost per ticket: $330. If all you're interested is the Cup races, you still have to buy both weekends' races AND you won't get as good a seat, but you'll only have to fork out $210. 6 days for $330, or 2 days for $210.

Here's the problem with that. Cost of 6 days worth of admission to Disneyland - $214 per adult, less for kids. That offer is good year-round, and Annual Passes to Disneyland can run even cheaper than that. Which sounds like the better deal? 6 days at Disneyland, or 6 days at a race track watching racing most people describe as "boring" for $100+ more? SoCal has four other major theme park chains all within 2 hours drive of ACS, and all have cheaper admission than Disneyland's aforementioned deals, as well as year-round operations. SoCal also has numerous NBA, MLB, and NHL franchises with attractive championship sports offerings year round. Finally, let's not forget about Hollywood, and the fact that locals can take a day trip to a major Hollywood studio to watch tapings of their favorite TV shows for free! SoCal is NOT a market where NASCAR is the only game in town. Track management cannot afford to act like it is because if they do, the track will fail.

To further its mistakes, Auto Club Speedway does no marketing, offers exactly zero intelligent ticket package offerings, and basically expects its customers to this day to be satisfied with the absolute least in terms of fan comforts at the track. No amount of phony free parking touting can make up for that. In fact, most people in this market would GLADLY pay premium prices for premium service and premium experiences. Unfortunately, ACS expects us to pay premium prices for pathetic, almost non-existant service, and experiences that we'd like to forget, but likely never will be able to. Is it any surprise why the average sports fan living here would completely ignore NASCAR when it arrives twice a year?

Clearly Ms. Zucker & team have no clue how to manage their business in the highly competitive SoCal sports/entertainment market. Brian France @ the ISC board need to wake up about how poorly this track is being run and quick. Otherwise they risk a complete alienation of the fans here, and will lose any hope of ever bringing us, the fans, the liveblood of their business, back should they actually wake up one day and actually value our business.

 

[Fisha695]

Does ISC a Private (well non-Cali taxpayer funded) company really have anything to do with the train-service that is "owned" by the Taxpayers of Cali? OR is this just the Government "forcing" the speedway to take the blame for their own problems so people don't get upset with the Talking heads in the Government?

 

[MattSRD28]

ACS charters the Metrolink trains and resells the tickets for a (large) profit. Ergo, all Metrolink service to the track must be purchased from ACS itself.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that the real reason the service is suspended for the Feb race weekend is because the ticket sales were too far under estimates & the track had little to no chance of breaking even on the deal, even with $35 tickets.

 

[MattSRD28]

The latest example of FAIL:

Montoya Ticket package at Auto Club Speedway: Auto Club Speedway has teamed up with #42-Juan Pablo Montoya for a special ticket package that will surely give Southern California race fans something to smile about. Fans that purchase the JPM Formula Smiles Foundation Ticket Package for only $142 will smile knowing that $42 from each ticket package will be donated to Montoya's Formula Smiles Foundation benefitting the disadvantaged children of Montoya's native country of Colombia. In addition to the $42 donation to the Formula Smiles Foundation, the JPM Formula Smiles Foundation Ticket Package includes:

· Lower Grandstand Reserved Seat (rows 11 to 23) to the Auto Club 500 on Sunday, Feb. 21
· Exclusive Q&A Session with Juan Pablo Montoya prior the Auto Club 500 on Sunday, Feb. 21
· Pre-Race Pit Pass providing up close access to pre-race activities
· Commemorative gift and Parking Pass

The JPM Formula Smiles Foundation Ticket Package expires on Monday, Feb. 15, or while supplies last. For more information on the JPM Formula Smiles Foundation Ticket Package, visit autoclubspeedway.com/JuanPablo.

As always, fans experiencing Auto Club Speedway can also take advantage of free parking, bring in their own food, or partake in the unbelievable menu items on site as well as other cost-savings opportunities while enjoying a full day of entertainment and fun at a fantastic family value. Formula Smiles Foundation is a nonprofit organization incorporated in the United States, under status 501 c3, by Colombian racecar driver Juan Pablo Montoya and his wife Connie Freydell, which aims to improve, through sports, the quality of life of Colombian children in vulnerable situations.(Auto Club Speedway)(2-1-2010)

That's right, now YOU can buy a really crappy seat for ONLY $100, and hopefully you'll feel a little better about that by also making a $42 charitable donation!

I'm not the only one wondering why a Parking Pass is a included perk when the track lists "free parking" as a perk to all fans, am I?

This track...it's an unending source of astonishment. Just when I think they've failed in every way possible, they find a new one.

 

[Fisha695]

TThat's right, now YOU can buy a really crappy seat for ONLY $100, and hopefully you'll feel a little better about that by also making a $42 charitable donation!

No you get a crappy seat ticket for about $25
Pit-Pass's usually are around $50 for most tracks (that brings total up to $75)
Driver Q&A's are usually $5-$10 tickets
Commemorative gift is usually like a diecast or shirt which range from $10-$20

I'm not the only one wondering why a Parking Pass is a included perk when the track lists "free parking" as a perk to all fans, am I?

As per the tracks website
"Every vehicle entering Auto Club Speedway property on Sunday NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race days must have a parking pass. Passes are limited and will be distributed by the ticket office when tickets are purchased based on availability."

Basically that means that if you buy your ticket before those passes run out, or you buy a ticket package that comes with those passes that you are guaranteed to park in the parking lot by the track. If you don't get one of those passes you have to park somewhere else and walk/take a bus/etc... A lot of tracks with limited parking have similar things.

 

[Janitor Dave]

MAN, I'm glad Martinsville Speedway doesn't pull this crap.

 

[dalejrgamer]

Regardless, point remains:

LET'S GO METEOR *clap, clap, clap-clap-clap*

 

[MattSRD28]

No you get a crappy seat ticket for about $25
Pit-Pass's usually are around $50 for most tracks (that brings total up to $75)
Driver Q&A's are usually $5-$10 tickets
Commemorative gift is usually like a diecast or shirt which range from $10-$20

Here's an idea - offer $25 seats for $25. Offer the pit pass for $50. Offer the Montoya Q&A for $10. Offer the commemorative gift for $10. Betcha a lot more of the $25 race tickets would sell! Why force people to spend money on crap they may not want, especially when your track has an attendance problem?

By the way, seats in the Rows 11-25 section are $75. By your numbers, those tickets are $50 overpriced. Any wonder why they aren't selling that great?

"Every vehicle entering Auto Club Speedway property on Sunday NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race days must have a parking pass. Passes are limited and will be distributed by the ticket office when tickets are purchased based on availability."

Basically that means that if you buy your ticket before those passes run out, or you buy a ticket package that comes with those passes that you are guaranteed to park in the parking lot by the track. If you don't get one of those passes you have to park somewhere else and walk/take a bus/etc... A lot of tracks with limited parking have similar things.

I'm guessing you've never been to Auto Club Speedway. ALL parking is "by the track." I know this isn't true at every racetrack, but at ACS, it is.

The real function of the pass is to ensure a bunch of tailgate squatters who don't have tickets to race do not fill up the spaces since they're all free. That's a totally legit reason to have a parking pass, but it doesn't forgive misleading the public into thinking that the parking pass adds some value to the ticket package like it's being touted. The parking pass is worthless since all parking is free, and yet the pass is mentioned in the package just like a stadium that charges for parking would mention a parking pass. It's not false advertising but it is a false drumming up of the value of the ticket package. In Latin, I believe that is called failus maximus.

So not only are people being forced to buy crap they may not want, they're being mislead as to the value of the package. Don't forget, this comes from the track who brought you the $330 "good" seats, the $35 commuter train ride to the track, and a track whose President just recently totally contradicted herself on the "great" value of the free parking when talking about how convenient the $35 train was.

I'd be rooting for the meteor, but that area already has TWO NASCAR Cup Series track grave sites (Riverside and Ontario). I don't want to see a third, especially when the problem is not the track itself, but the absolutely idiotic way the track is being run & managed.

 

[Janitor Dave]

I'd be rooting for the meteor, but that area already has TWO NASCAR Cup Series track grave sites (Riverside and Ontario). I don't want to see a third, especially when the problem is not the track itself, but the absolutely idiotic way the track is being run & managed.

LOL, the way you're making it sound, that's how the track is going to end up soon.

 

[3fan]

Money, Money, Money. That's all people care about any more. Its no longer about the fans just how much money can be made by manipulating them. What a shame.

 

[DanAsher26]

Money, Money, Money. That's all people care about any more. Its no longer about the fans just how much money can be made by manipulating them. What a shame.

+1. So True.

 

[Surrender95]

the reson people dont buy tickets is most likely a combo of the boring racing and the insane money they have to spend.thank god i live near richmond.