Until now, East Coast fans either needed to stay up past midnight or record West Coast Supercross rounds to watch the following day.
With the announcement of the 2024 calendar, NBC Sports and Feld Entertainment also announced new start times for the West Coast rounds so that all heat races and features will air in prime time slots on the Eastern Seaboard and trackside reporter Will Christien couldn’t be happier.
“Most importantly for me now as a West Coaster (is) West Coast races used to mean that an East Coast fan was sometimes watching until 1 a.m. or they would have to watch delayed next day,” Christien said in the annual media kick-off press conference. “Now NBC and Feld moved those West Coast races into these TV windows to what is now going to be prime time on the East Coast to about 8 p.m. starts.
The change means not only more sleep for fans in the Easter time zone, but consistent times will contribute to a larger audience since fans no longer have to search television guides to determine when the nighttime program is ready to kick off.
“Not only are our hardcore fans going to enjoy that because they get more comfortable viewing windows, but of course new eyeballs which is what we know is going to absolutely grow the sport,” Christien continued.
Changes are a regular part of any sport. Series and networks are constantly looking for a better way to do things and the Monster Energy Supercross series has their share. Long time analyst and Pro Motocross play-by-play commentator Jason Weigand will join Leigh Diffey in the booth on occasion in 2024, but he is far from being a stranger to the crew. That familiarity with the enter broadcast crew is important.
As documented, Diffey has already developed a strong relationship with Ricky Carmichael and James Stewart, but that chemistry resonates to the field and into the Race Day Live booth, which provides pre-race coverage.
“We have to look at what that means to the fan and that’s where the broadcast is going comes in,” Christien said. “The package that we have now and where this is going – to watch all of this unfold here in the 2024 season is unbelievable.
“As everyone knows, we’re now live on Peacock for all 31 races, so all the fans know exactly where to go, but we’ve also got these amazing TV windows to work with as well – the USA Network and the big NBC Network, we’ve got four live windows for Supercross (on NBC proper), four live windows for Pro Motorcross (on NBC). We’ve got next day and same day delays across both networks, we’ve got encores across both networks.”
The new prime time windows begin Saturday, January 6, 2024 as the Supercross season kicks off with opening ceremonies scheduled to commence at 7:30 p.m. ET from Angel Stadium in Anaheim, California.
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