VOL. 54 ISSUE 49 DECEMBER 12, 2017 P61
your phone and you can stream
flat track, or you can stream
some of the Junior NASCAR or
IMSA races. So we had infra-
structure, we had our own broad-
cast trailer, we were quite experi-
enced at shooting for streaming,
which is not TV but nonetheless,
we had the bones of it. The deal
we came to with NBC was very
interesting. NBC said, "We trust
your NASCAR parent, because
we do business with them, so if
NASCAR Media group is involved
we might be able to talk about a
deal." Then we spoke to NAS-
CAR Media in Charlotte, and they
said, "Sure, we'd love to help you
out." So we took our streaming
setup, we basically gave it some
muscle, and worked it out over
the winter.
So you provide the cameras,
not them?
We provide all the cameras and
the trailer, and we shoot the show
with NASCAR's supervision. We
then send the show up to Char-
lotte, and they turn it into a one-
hour TV show with all the graphics,
the voiceovers, and so on. We
present the finished show to NBC
who trusts it because it's come
BY ALAN CATHCART
PHOTOGRAPHY BY AMA PRO RACING
R I G H T I N G T H E S H I P
Tell me about your televi-
sion deal?
We did not have a television
deal this time a year ago. Pro flat
track hadn't been on TV since
the early 1980s—it had disap-
peared from view, it had gone.
So, we entered into a dialog with
NBC, who have a very aggres-
sive, fast moving, dedicated
sports channel called NBCSN.
I knew about it because it has
the rights to English soccer! So
I'd seen how they'd promoted
a sport that had basically never
succeeded in America, and
they'd made it succeed. I real-
ized these people know how to
promote sport—not just broad-
cast it, promote it. So, we got
into a dialog with NBC, and they
said, "Okay, we've had a look
W
e continue our interview with American Flat Track
CEO Michael Lock who was instrumental in helping
breathe new life into AMA flat track racing. In part
two of our two-part interview with Lock, Lock and Alan Cathcart
discuss getting AFT on television, Harley-Davidson, some new
metal that might be lining up on the start line next year, and the
chances of flat track growing to other parts of the world.
Click here to read part one of our interview with Lock.
at your sport, looks kind of fun,
a little hokey but still fun. What
do you propose?" "Well, we'd
like to show our sport on your
channel." "Yes, of course you
would. But how is that going to
happen—because if we're go-
ing to come to your races and
bring six cameras and a trailer
and stuff, we're going to be
charging you a couple of million
dollars a year." Okay, that wasn't
going to happen but here's the
thing, Jim France made some
very clever decisions about five
years ago when he pushed to
set up a broadcast arm called
FansChoice.TV, which is a live
streaming of a number of differ-
ent properties within the NAS-
CAR empire. So wherever you
are in the world, you can pick up
