The UPoR has a front-page article out today on the still-sluggish demand for NASCAR tickets. Some highlights:

• Admission revenue at Charlotte-based Speedway Motorsports Inc. fell 11?percent over the past year, to $116?million. That’s the lowest it has been since 1998, not adjusted for inflation.

• International Speedway Corp., the country’s largest track operator and owner of Daytona’s famous speedway, lost 6?percent of its admission revenue, slipping to $136.1?million.

• Dover Motorsports, based in Delaware, lost nearly a quarter of its admissions revenue for its two NASCAR race weekends. At $10.4?million, it’s about one-third of what it was in 2005.

While ticket prices have held steady over the past few years, all three companies have blamed the economy for their misfortunes.

“Our core fan was hurt pretty hard by the economy,” said Charles Talbert, ISC’s senior director of investor and corporate communications. “We want to make it appealing when they come back, by engaging them and letting them know what to expect.”

There’s more to it than that. Sure the weak economy certainly is part of the problem, but even when we’re fully recovered from the Great Recession, things won’t be anywhere near as good as they were five or seven years ago. The basic issues: NASCAR’s core demographic — white, rural, working-class males — is shrinking portion of the population. NASCAR’s support is also literally dying off, as it’s having a hard time attracting younger viewers. And racing is probably the sport where watching on TV offers the greatest advantage compared to being there in person. To what degree NASCAR and track owners can address these challenges remains to be seen.

Bonus thought: Which, of course, gets us to Bruton Smith and his attempt to shakedown Concord, Cabarrus County etc. for (more) money. It’s an odd attempt really. The basics: Thanks to a building boom over the past 15 years or so, there are simply too many ovals in existence. Smith’s Speedway Motorsports Inc. controls eight tracks that host a total of 12 Sprint Cup races: Atlanta, Bristol (2 races), Charlotte (2), Kentucky, Las Vegas, New Hampshire (2), Sonoma, and Texas (2). Note in particular that Las Vegas has only one race. It’s not a secret that Smith would like to hold two races in Sin City. To do would involve moving a race from one of the other SMI tracks. The focus has traditionally been on New Hampshire as the source, but nothing has happened.

The key here really is anger. Recall the whole thing that got Smith ticked at Concord back in 2007 were people objecting to his plans for a drag strip at CMS. So he made a not very believable threat to move the entire track and the locals caved. Now he’s mad about SMI not getting all the money that was promised him in 2007. Or that he thinks was promised him in 2007. The issue is before the courts. He’s also upset about the property tax valuation on CMS.

None of that may have much influence on whether to move a race date from Charlotte to Las Vegas. SMI’s property taxes are a fixed cost — SMI is on the hook for the same amount whether it has one race or two (plus the All-Star race) at CMS. The same may or may not be true with the incentives — it would depend upon the specific wording. That said, I’m guessing that that also is pretty much fixed.

So really it comes down to where SMI can make the most additional money: with a second date in Vegas or a second (October) date in Charlotte. Or from the second New Hampshire date.

Bonus thought II: It wouldn’t surprise me if in another 10 years, SMI and ISC simply abandoned some of their existing tracks. CMS might actually be vulnerable, simply because of the value of the land the racetrack sits on.