feature-image
feature-image

Parting ways with NASCAR post the 2006 season, NBC returned to the iconic ovals with a nine-year-long contract in 2015. The new arrangement allowed NBC to take over the race broadcasts after Fox Sports completed the coverage of the ongoing season’s first 16 races. In recent years, fans and drivers alike had resented Fox Sports’ subpar coverage, often lashing out at the media giant. 

Terrell Owens holding Dude Wipes XL

This season, too, was no different as Fox Sports was constantly under fire for its erratic and ad-riddled coverage, leading to fans waiting for NBC to take over the broadcast. Once the savior of fans, a recent streaming error has NBC joining Fox in the ‘embarrassing broadcast club’.

Watch What’s Trending Now!

ADVERTISEMENT

What caused NBC to join Fox Sports’ embarrassed ranks?

Broadcasting NASCAR races for more than two decades, Fox Sports accumulated 13 Emmy Awards for its entertaining race coverage. Going by the reactions on social media, Fox’s recent race coverage left fans discontent owing to sudden cutaway and ad-plagued telecasts. Mike Joy’s comical gaffe at Sonoma further riled up fans, who even called out Fox Sports for its cartoon graphics of drivers.

NBC too joined in, taking a shot at Fox Sports’ for its distasteful graphics choice. All that said, NBC has now drawn the ire of fans for a recent streaming error. 

ADVERTISEMENT

Not everyone has the luxury of watching a race’s live telecast. For them, replays serve as a major source of entertainment. Following the conclusion of the Crayon 301 Cup Series race, one fan revealed a significant error in NBC’s Crayon 301 race replay on Reddit.

ADVERTISEMENT

Unable to catch up with the race happenings, the Reddit user fired up the NBC Sports app, expecting to stream the replay. To his dismay, the replay page description revealed Martin Truex Jr as the race winner, ruining the suspense factor. Deeply saddened by the spoiler, the fan posted a photo of the same on Reddit writing,

“Trying to watch the replay and this is the first thing that pops up on the NBC Sports app. Thanks for the spoiler NBC. Just genius.” 

ADVERTISEMENT

Watch This Story: Kyle Busch Makes Bold Comments About His Chances At The Regular Season Championship

The post soon caught traction, and other Redditors joined in on the discussion expressing their displeasure.

ADVERTISEMENT

After Fox, NBC draws the ire of fans

Responding to the post, other fans quickly filled up the Reddit threads, putting forth their own views on NBC’s “spoiler-gate.” One fan wrote, “Sports app/websites don’t understand the concept of spoilers and it pi**es me off so much.”

ADVERTISEMENT

Iterating how the same issue cropped up post the Sonoma event, another fan commented, “same thing happened to me with ESPN. it was the sonoma race”. 

Thanks alot NBC.
by u/KyleKruse in NASCAR

I’ve learned to blur my eyes [eyes emoji] or avert them so I don’t have the race spoiled. And also I won’t check certain notifications I get until after I’ve watched the race. Fox does this, too. Not just NBC.”

ADVERTISEMENT

“NBC only hires the worst engineers to build their apps.”

“I had to stop following all NBC Sports socials for this exact reason. They literally post about stuff as it happens – wrecks, lead changes, winner…at least Fox gave a window of time before posting (or maybe I just didn’t follow as much, I just never felt spoiled if I didn’t catch a fox race live).”

Reada More: Martin Truex Jr Get’s Emotional As After Failing To Fulfill His Father’s Dream for 19 Years, He Finally Managed To Prove Him Right

ADVERTISEMENT

What are your views on NBC’s spoiler-gate? Let us know in the comments.

Share this with a friend:

Link Copied!

ADVERTISEMENT

ADVERTISEMENT

Written by

author-image

Naman Neeraj

244 Articles

Naman Neeraj is a NASCAR Author at EssentiallySports. This Motorsports buff has completed his undergrad in English Literature and has now set out to make a name for himself in the journalism field. Although he is new to the scene, he has been following motorsports for over a decade. Apart from NASCAR, he also gravitates towards other motorsports, like Formula 1 and MotoGP. Being an avid fan of Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports, he believes the #9 driver has a lot more to achieve in his career, including multiple championships. When he is not cheering for NASCAR's most popular driver or when he is not busy penning down his thoughts about the stock car racing series, he can be found sketching and exploring the lure of the open roads with his motorcycle.

Know more

Edited by

editor-image

Nischal Kandpal

ADVERTISEMENT