LOS ANGELES, May 10 (UPI) -- NASCAR has replaced the NBA as one of the United States' top-rated TV sports events, the New York Post reported Monday.
Since NASCAR started airing on Fox and NBC, weekly races have drawn audiences more than twice as large as the ones watching regular NBA games, said The Post.
"NASCAR is a television game," said Fox Sports Executive Vice President Bill Brown. "The cars are bright, marked with logos and easily identifiable and the drivers are so accessible - people can relate to them."
NASCAR's rise to the top of the ratings chart began in 2001 when the auto racing organization signed a $2.8 billion deal with Fox and NBC, the newspaper noted. Since then, the ratings for NASCAR have climbed steadily past the NBA.
Fox's half of the deal cost the network about $1.6 billion and runs through 2008. NBC's cost $1.2 billion and expires in 2006.
