It’s been a bumpy ride for Indy Racing League in its inaugural season on the Versus cable channel.
Pre-
and post-race coverage has certainly been better than it was with the ESPN family. But that coverage along with those IRL
specials that ran early in the season on Versus have done little to bolster the series’ TV ratings.
And
earlier this month, IMS Productions lost its president, Charlie Morgan, who after two years with IMS, left to return to radio
as market manager of Emmis Communications Corp.’s Indianapolis radio cluster.
Last Friday (Sept. 18), the
Indy Racing League in Motegi, Japan—which aired on Versus—earned a national TV rating of .14, which means 165,000
households tuned in, according to New York-based Nielsen Media Research. A 10:30 p.m. start time likely didn’t help.
In the Indianapolis market, the Motegi race earned a .7 rating, meaning about 7,500 TV households watched. Both numbers are
below the season’s average.
The series fared a bit better in August. The Aug. 23 race at Infineon Raceway
earned a .25 rating nationally (281,000 households) and 1.21 in the Indianapolis market (13,000 TV households). The green
flag on the race dropped at 5 p.m. The Aug. 29 IRL race in Chicagoland earned a .24 national rating (271,000 TV households)
and 1.13 in the Indianapolis market (13,000 TV households). That telecast began at 9 p.m.
Now Versus announced
it will be airing some NASCAR fare. That has to make open-wheel fans scratch their heads. It could mean Versus officials are
merely trying to build their motorsports portfolio as they’ve so stated. Or it could mean they’re taking their
eye off the ball.
One race left this season, Oct. 10 in Miami. Green flag drops at 4 p.m. Stay tuned.
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Welcome to The Score, your place for hard-hitting sports business news, fast-breaking updates and fuel-injected debate. Buckle up. I'm your host, Anthony Schoettle, IBJ sports reporter.
Indy Racing League TV ratings skidding toward season's end
September 25, 2009
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RKW's comments read like a modern "Chicken Little". As a Raintree resident for many years, "Yes, I'm ready for this." Matter of fact, I welcome The Farm because it's a development that compliments our town, brings new and desirable shopping & dining closer (specialty grocer, upscale shops, micro brew pub, etc), offers upscale condos for empty nesters who want to stay in Zionsville, is being planned and constructed by local, well-reputed firms and, of course, provides desirable non property tax benefits. We all knew the Pittman's were going to develop their property sooner than later. That one of the Pittman's will continue to live on the property helps assure The Farm will be everything promised. This also sets a standard for other developers as to the quality of future developments - which should keep an ugly Walmart at bay for decades. As we've no meglomaniac mayor, I seriously doubt Zionsville would ever aspire to over-priced statues or subsidized retail rents. And we already have a very nice public theater, the Zionsville Performing Arts Center, that meets our cultural needs quite nicely.
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Do we add (or subtract) these from the bounty we recieve from RTWFL, Daylight Savings Time, corporate tax giveaways, and the crack job IEDC is doing?? Or is Mike going to blame these on Mitch?
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Who makes Tater Tots? They would be a good sponsor, because $3 Million for the alleged "Greatest Spectacle In Racing" is taters. Tiny, tiny taters. But at least they are making up something of the losses accumulated over the years in this dying sport. Buttock in seat is certainly not doing it, nor eyeball on TV, as evidenced by the lack of both.
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We loved lakehouse and think the Arbor Village would be a great location. It is less than 2 miles from over 1000 rooftops in the 225,000 to over 1 million range. Many people could use the great fishers trail system to bike or walk there. Just an idea Scotty -- but maybe something closer to 3 Wiseman would good. The only microbrew in area is Ram (boring)
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True, it's an ESPN production, but ESPN is just another name for ABC Sports, or what used to be ABC Sports since ABC Sports no longer exists as a name. ESPN=ABC Sports= ESPN. ESPN is, according to Forbes "the world's most valuable media property" worth $40 billion. Despite that, they fired 400 people this week.
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When Barnhart talks about "radical", he means radical as in "buh-bye Indy Cars".
There is a reason why Danica's third year in the new contract is an option-out deal.
The IRL needs to tighten up the season. I know they won't dump the Japan race, but 3 weeks between Chicago and Japan is crazy and another 3 weeks until Homestead kills any momentum they had going.
Gotta love the "doom and gloomers" like Sporty McAllister. Go watch NASCAR.
And remember...real race cars don't have fenders!
Open-wheel fans hate the farce and fraud that is the 'league'.
Why didn't talkin' Terry have some spin for this update? :lol:
Where has Fred AbomiNation been? Boxing up his office? How long can that take?
Write an entry about what will happen when the 'league' finally, deservedly, keels over and dies. That glorious day can't possibly come too soon.
ps - this new format is annoying.
I predict the ratings slide will stop now with this awesome good news! I can't wait till the new car specs are announced.
I also can't wait for my new favorite driver Nelson Piquet jr. to drive in the IRL. He got shafted at Renault and is completely innocent.
Second - this is just GRATE news for the EARL. Jeebus H on a Pogostick can things get much worser? This is the equivalent of a Lifetime Movie Netowrk rerun movie at 3am. Its So nice to see the MindyCar folks moving forward with such GRATE success. LOL.
3. Mindcarz suck and no one cares. You think you got sponsor problems now? You think any CCWS but Haas will comeback next year? 33 is just a number. Too bad indy will never see it again.
Thanks again Tony, for saving Open Wheel Racing in America. :finger:
2 years ago Honda extended there contract with the IRL for 5 years thru 2013...
now they seem to have re-re-upped for 2 years thru 2012
mix that with the fact there are re-leaseing the same engines they have already leased to the teams for millions..
they (honda) are doing zero development on detuned underpowered motors and making a mint..
correct me if I'm wrong but are they the only ones actually Making money in AOWR?
I agree that the ratings for Montegi are two fold. Time of day and more importantly loss of Direct Tv. I am sure that the impasse will break soon. I am thinking VS. decided that they were a little to big for their britches. Give them a couple of years, and they may be able to hold the sat and catv systems hostage.
I do not think the NHRA worried that NASCAR has content on Speed. If the NASCAR were to cut into the IRL programming, then there is an issue. But there is plenty of programming time to go around.
So where are all those haters who were sure Danica was going to jump to NASCAR etc....? I guess they are hiding as they did with other infamous predictions like Barnhart to be fired, cart to bury the IRL etc.... I hope you guys do not make a career out of predictions.
You're right. Honda is making money on the IRL - cash money.
First of all, Helio was acquitted, so you are incorrect in referring to him as a "tax cheat". Helio is a great personality, great with fans and very engaging, even if you and others don't appreciate his talent. I seriously doubt that many males could eclipse his talent both on the track and/or the dance floor.
Lastly, his personality could attract new fans if the IRL "lack of brains" trust had a clue about how to market their drivers. They are still caught up in the "sport of open wheel racing" rather than what fans really follow, the personalities. One would think they would have learned that lesson years ago from what Indy Car used to have in terms of personalities and what nascar has accomplished on the backs of their personalities (drivers).
or the fact that the IRL has averaged .24 on versus
face it.....folks simply aren't watching.....and being on a backwater station elimenates any chance of a casual viewer stumblin' on to a race a race and staying awhile
the series is as good as dead with .24 ratings...... and there is absolutlely no reason to think they will get any better any time soon
The IRL: No one knows, and no one cares. :lol:
I bet few people downtown could answer those questions about NASCAR. Now you may get some better responses on the southside.
Even fewer could name who is in the NHRA, with the exception of Ashley Force.
How much longer you gonna beat that dead horse? Ok, we got it! U'r startin' to sound lak one of da whiner's you don't like, 'cept u'r on the odder side of da broken record.
O, an I changd da spellin' so's yu wuld git it..mmmmmkay? INSERT SMILEY FACE WIF BIG OL' GRIN HERE
2. The online feed was garbage. The video was at least a couple of minutes ahead of the audio...yes, the VIDEO was ahead of the audio. It was terrible to watch, and the racing not much better.
There, got a couple of gripes out of the way. I'll continue watching the IndyCar races, and attending 2 or 3 a year, but I am becomming an impatient fan. Not having Vs. on DirecTV and both sides blaming each other achieves nothing, and I don't believe either of them. GET THE DEAL DONE & SHUT UP!
Cheers all, missed you.
The IRL: Take i out back and shoot it. please.
c?rt/owrs/ccws was the wide open cars and wide open check books and it failed miserably several times. It is a formula that no longer works. The most popular American Series, NASCAR, shows us what works. Cookie cutter cars with pre packaged drivers. Fast food racing if you will. Even the pre eminent world series F1 is reigning in costs and with it putting the brakes on free wheeling design.
We will never agree, but contrary to your opinion, TG is not the anti christ.
And to say CART's sponsors shelling out $20+ million every year is a bad thing is retarded it's proof that millions of people actually watched CART! Sponsors spend money on sports people watch not niche sports like the IRL. Just Sports Int. is quoting the sponsorship model for the IRL in 2010 as $650,000 for a primary sponsor, thats less than travel costs for three races. Wait a go IRL!
I never said high dollar sponsors are bad, they are good. But as we found out, they were not willing to prop up cart et al. They bailed even though cart supposedly had everything going for it. cart as a business model failed. They went away from everything that made OW racing so big in the 70's and 80's. Their last season, did they have an American driver? Was there an oval left? TG started out with a good idea. An oval heavy, American based series to give young up and comers a chance. Unfortunatley he moved away from that. Granted we still have many more ovals than cart did. We have many more American drivers than cart did. And the IRL has brought up a lot of American talent that would have been overlooked by cart. Would I like them go back to the original "vision" sure, but I do not own or control. All I can do is hope they do.
Really? Can you back that up?
you probably believe everything Mitch Daniels tells you too.
2007, Carts last full season they had 14 races. And they had 0 ovals. The IRL has 17 races this year, with 10 being ovals.
2007, Carts last season, they had two American Drivers. IRL has 8 who raced the majority of this season and more who had part time rides.
Some of the American drivers who have come up through the IRL: Tony Stewart, Sam Hornish, Marco Andretti, Danica Patrick, Sara Fisher. TS and Sam both tried cart and were rejected. Didn't bring any cash. Honorable mention goes to Jeff Gordon who tried cart, was rebuffed and went to NASCAR. Where would NASCAR be without one of their greatest drivers?
Reading comprehension is fundamental in life. Read what is written, not what you want it to say. I never said they tried cart teams, I said they were overlooked. Please pay attention.
That said, I beleive most race fans know the story of Jeff Gordon hanging around the garages at Indy and being ignored as many American drivers were at the time.
"Back then, Gordon attended Mayâ??s traditional festivities and dreamed of driving in the 500. But when he couldnâ??t land a ride in IndyCars, Gordon switched to stock cars and found a home."
http://sports.yahoo.com/nascar/news?slug=ap-nascar-gordon&prov=ap&type=lgns
And still the haters hate. Do yourselves a favor, find a hobby, something that is not as self destructive as hating.
The gratest thing about TONey GOerge's Indycar Razing League is that it gave Milka Duno and PJ Cheeseon the chance to have their likenesses placed on the Borg-Warmer Trophy next to AJ and Rick.
DaHooey admitted he was a hater. One of the only haters on here honest enough to admit to it.
DaHooey,
How many Americans were running in cart/owrs/ccws in its last season? Better chance of an American winning the IRL then an American had in winning cart et al. That was the point of the IRL, give Americans a chance to make it in open wheel, preserve oval racing, and reduce costs. It has done all of the above.
So can I catalog those predictions with all of the other grand predictions of the haters? Barnhart to be fired, IRL to end any of a number of years starting in 2003 (earliest year I remember for that prediction) to 2012, Indy 500 to become NASCAR race, Marco to NASCAR, Danica to NASCAR, Danica to F1, Danica to NHRA (sorry, made up the last one, but would not surprise me if a hater had it out there) France to buy IMS, Wheeler to buy IMS, etc....
I am sure like the Weekly World News or the Enquirer, eventually one of your predictions will be right and you will crow for years how smart you are. I mean even a blind squirrel finds a nut once in a while, but a predition percentage of 5% is not really very good.
And get off the "TG funded it" argument. In the early years, cart had high dollar sponsors and owners that put 10 times the money into the series than the IRL had. Face it, it was carts failure of a business plan.
Keep up the predictions, it will give us all a good laugh next year when you gys cut and paste the same predictions, but change the 2010 to 2011.
By the way, for an unpopular sport, it has 64 comments and rising on this post. more than all posts Anthony has done on other topics. Pretty good for being so unpopular.
I am not this "spineless worm" you refer to. I am also not a "johhny come lately" here. I have been posting here since the begining of this blog. By the way, did you mean the blog was dying or the post? I think Anthony would take exception to the term "dying blog". Especially since you haters have posted 68 comments and counting about a subject that you do not care about.
You asked, someone had to answer:
American Series Champions (IRL):
Hornish 3
Lazier 2
Calkins 1
Stewart 1
Ray 1
American Winning Drivers (IRL):
Buddy Lazier 7
Buzz Calkins 1
Scott Sharp 6
Jim Guthrie 1
Tony Stewart 2
John Paul Jr 1
Billy Boat 1
Eddie Cheever 5
Mark Dismore 2
Greg Ray 3
Robbie Buhl 1
Sam Hornish 19
Jacques Lazier 1
Al Unser Jr 2
Jeff Ward 1
Bryan Herta 2
Alex Barron 1
Buddy Rice 3
Marco Andretti 1
Ryan Hunter-Reay 1
Danica Patrick 1
Graham Rahal 1
Lots of American drivers until the return of the guys that were responsible for this whole mess in the first place with their greed, namely Penske, Ganassi, and Andretti. Those were the CART leaders that thought they were more important than Indy. Had they been smart enough to include TG in their planning, the split likely would never have happened. Then after refusing to race at Indy, they thought they were so good, they could succeed without Indy. Well, we saw how well that boneheaded decision worked out. So, who is really responsible for the train wreck we're left with? These guys, much more so than TG's decision.
Wait, Brett will post soon about all these drivers being loosers....sigh
They say no one cares. Just whom are they trying to prove it to? Their own egos or the hundreds of thousands of fans world-wide that would like to see something salvaged out of the mess we're left with rather than nothing as the hatemongers would prefer. TG being out isn't enough, now is it? See, it really wasn't about him in the first place was it boys???
By the way, Hooey, I believe you're the one that said Hornish had no talent. Just like Dixon, I guess. Nevermind all his victories with Panther or being a Penske driver. Nah, you know it all. Forget about all the 'Mericans that tried so hard. Yeah, granted, there were many that should NEVER have been there, but that's always been the history of Indy, some that should NOT be there.
If you guys don't care, then don't care, and just shut up!
I am assuming you are new here and to the sport. In'95 TG had control over IMS and that was it. cart told him they were cutting the month of May to two weeks because they were tired of the cost of a month (or more likely diminishing Indy so TG had less control over the sport).
So no, the train wreck was carts. TG jumped off before it hit the wall which it did three separate times.
Tony George invented the Safer barrier, saving thousands of lives.
Tony George is a self made man.
Tony George could cure cancer, AIDS and H1N1 if only someone would ask him.
Tony George is my hero.
Signed,
Mindyman (I am Mindy.... Hey!!!)
Brett,
Follow what I say, do not post what you think I say. TG did not invent OW, but he has kept it alive. It would have died under cart.
TG was deeply involved in the SAFER Barrier that has saved lives. He even gave up his rights to it so that it would be cheaper to install so more tracks could carry it.
"Tony George, Indianapolis Motor Speedway president and CEO, was given the inaugural Pioneering and Innovation Award at the Autosport Awards held Dec. 5 in London. George was recognized for his leadership in the development of the Steel and Foam Energy Reduction (SAFER) Barrier.
The SAFER Barrier, under development by the Indy Racing League and the University of Nebraska-Lincolnâ??s Midwest Roadside Safety. This is the fourth major award that has been presented to honor George and the SAFER Barrier development team. The SAFER Barrier also received the Louis Schwitzer Award, SEMA Motorsports Engineering Award and GM Racing Pioneer Award in 2002."
http://www.aftermarketnews.com/Item/33652/ims_president_tony_george_presented_first_autosport_pioneering_and_innovation_award.aspx
You really destroy your other arguments by being so blatantly wrong.
In the future you haters should be more concerned with providing facts to support your statements and less about trying to insult other posters on here....Oh right, you have no facts to support your arguments.
Conjecture, wishful thinking, and flat-out false.
The foul, stinking, steaming heap that Lord Anton the dense has foisted upon the public is not racing. It's a shoddy imitation, just like his imitation fi-hunnerd, and everything else about him. A cheap veneer trying to hide the fact that there's no substance or merit.
Damb, kid, you're effin daft. :lol:
code = hf6db
Simple logic, which I would expect even you could follow.
Cart has money, drivers, tracks, sponsors. In less than 15 years it and its offspring have been in bankruptcy twice and the whole series is gone. TG had less to do with that then bad management practice and greed. Most business folks will tell you that. cart et al... died on its own. Plain and simple. Fact are facts.