Daytona 500 to be trampled by Super Bowl

UPDATE Plans to expand the NFL's regular season could very well wind up putting the Super Bowl on the weekend that's also the traditional date for NASCAR's premiere event, the Daytona 500, based on comments from NFL commissioner Roger Goodell. Speaking Friday in a meeting with Associated Press Sports Editors before this weekend's draft in New York City, Goodell outlined a scenario for the extended regular season that would push the Super Bowl back to President's Day weekend. It would have two preseason games in August, down from the current four. That would be followed by an open week on Labor Day weekend, followed by the opening week of the regular season. “We have not found a saturation point for pro football, which is a good thing," Goodell said. “I don't want to be around if we do." NASCAR's position on an expanded NFL regular-season and a possible conflict with the Daytona 500 hasn't changed. “We're aware of the proposal and are watching to see what happens," NASCAR spokesman Ramsey Poston said. Charlotte Observer

03/27/09 Since 1971, the Daytona 500 has been scheduled for the Sunday prior to the third Monday in February (Feb. 14-20), which has recently been two weeks following the National Football League’s Super Bowl.

But the date of the Super Bowl could change. NFL owners talked earlier this week about adding one or two weeks to their regular-season schedule, which, depending on the number of preseason games, could make the entire length of the season up to two weeks longer. That would result in the Super Bowl scheduled on the traditional date of the Daytona 500.

The NFL won’t change its schedule, most likely, until its 2011 season, meaning the first potential conflict wouldn’t come until 2012 at the earliest.

NASCAR and Fox Sports officials are in a wait-and-see mode before commenting on what NASCAR would do, but it seems likely that the date for the Daytona 500 would have to change.

“I don’t think I can make a definitive answer to [changing the date], but I would have a hard time today seeing how that would work for everybody – working for the media partners, working for the sponsors that we share and quite frankly, working for the fan and the consumer base," said Roger VanDerSnick, senior vice president for marketing and business operations for DIS parent company International Speedway Corp.

“I understand the NASCAR base pretty well, and there’s a fair amount of overlap. So why make that an issue when I think we’ve got several options so that it wouldn’t be?"

There already have been discussions as far as what date in February would work, depending on what the NFL does.

“We have our charts and our spreadsheets, and we’re confident that we can come up with a solution that will work for everybody," VanDerSnick said. “The good news is the NFL schedules, as I understand it, are tied into their collective bargaining agreements as well as their broadcast contracts. … The timeline is more urgent for them in terms of [finalizing a date], and we’ll just sync up with that." Scenedaily.com