It was announced today that the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will be televised on the Canadian TSN sports channel. This is great news for teams, as it guarantees them cross country coverage on one of the most watched channels in Canada.
press release after the break
TSN will be the home of the newly-formed NASCAR Canadian Tire Series, which is scheduled to launch in May 2007. Under a new multi-year exclusive broadcast agreement, TSN will televise 12 one-hour broadcasts, which will include race coverage, driver interviews and features.
The announcement complements TSN’s extensive NASCAR broadcast package. With an expanded schedule for the 2007 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series of 28 races, up from 21 races last season, TSN also recently announced the acquisition of TV rights to all 35 NASCAR Busch Series races, including the inaugural Montreal race.
“As NASCAR’s popularity north of the border continues to grow, TSN has enjoyed increased NASCAR audiences, which have more than doubled in the past 10 years,” said Phil King, President, TSN. “The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series offers TSN the opportunity to showcase and support Canadian drivers and Canadian racing as part of the network’s all-encompassing NASCAR coverage.”
The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series was announced in September 2006, following the acquisition of certain assets of the CASCAR Super Series. The NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will stage events nationally with a schedule of 12 races (May-October) throughout Canada. Many of the former CASCAR drivers and teams are anticipated to compete in the Series.
“This is a very important announcement for NASCAR Canadian Tire Series. Canadian racing fans will have the broadest offering of NASCAR programming including the NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series, NASCAR Busch Series, and the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series,” said Robbie Weiss, Managing Director, NASCAR International. “We are excited to continue this great partnership with TSN and bring the best of Canadian racing to a broader audience.”
TSN’s broadcast schedule of the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series will be announced following confirmation of the race schedule.
NASCAR is the No. 1 televised motorsport series on television in Canada. TSN recorded record ratings for its coverage of the 2006 NASCAR NEXTEL Cup Series with a national average audience of 332,000 viewers, up 15 per cent from 2005 and more than double the audience in 1996 (150,000). The 2006 Daytona 500 was the most watched motorsport race in TSN history with a national audience of 568,000 viewers.
NASCAR has a strong fan base in Canada with 5.8 million fans, representing one out of four Canadian adults. NASCAR has a long and celebrated history in Canada, having held sanctioned events in many different NASCAR divisions dating back to the 1950s. In 2007, NASCAR will continue to support Canadian motorsports with three main initiatives: a first-ever NASCAR Busch Series race at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series at circuits throughout Canada, and the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series races in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.
NASCAR Canada supports the continued growth of the NASCAR fan base and further extends the popular NASCAR brand in Canada through sponsorship and licensing opportunities, marketing initiatives and multi-platform media programming.
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