The IndyCar Series race Saturday in Newton, Iowa, was a sellout, and the racing on the track was good. Now IndyCar officials
need to figure out if races at small venues like Iowa Speedway pack enough of a financial punch to put the series in the black.
The track in Iowa only seats 30,000, but the fan showing at Saturday night’s race was a lot better than the 13,000
that showed up a week earlier to watch the IndyCar race in Milwaukee.
And IndyCar officials have to be smiling about Marco Andretti’s victory. Nothing against Will Power, Scott Dixon and
Dario Franchitti, but series officials have to be excited about a little more competition at the top.
Besides, Andretti is everything the series needs; American, young, good-looking and articulate. Not to mention the weight
his last name carries in not just racing circles, but larger sporting circles.
Financially speaking, though, the Iowa race wasn’t a huge win for IndyCar.
Series CEO Randy Bernard said if the race in Milwaukee the week before had sold out and had a title sponsor, the event still
would only manage a very small profit. Since Milwaukee has about 8,000 more seats than Iowa, we can deduce that Iowa will
never be a big moneymaker for the open-wheel series.
But it’s easy to see the 7/8ths of a mile bull ring at Iowa makes for good television. There are few better race venues
to watch for passing and lead changes.
Still, from a financial standpoint, venues like Iowa may give Bernard one of his most troubling dilemmas.
There are a lot of issues Bernard must consider to make this series profitable. Chief among those may be which markets to
stay in, which ones to abandon and which new markets to try to penetrate. It’s a small vs. large market challenge familiar
to many sports, including NASCAR.
Sources close to the series said it lost $22 million in 2009 and close to $15 million in 2010. The markets the series races
in will have everything to do with when and if the series turns a profit. And with the Hulman & Co. board of directors
increasingly eager to stop the financial bleeding, Bernard could be looking to make a move.
The overnight TV rating for the Iowa race was up 35 percent from the same race a year earlier. Still, the .35 rating (400,000
households nationwide), must come up if the series is going to make a run at long-term profitability. The markets Bernard
decides to pursue could have everything to do with those TV numbers.
The decisions for Bernard won’t be easy as long-time venues may have to be jettisoned for new ones that might be more
lucrative. Those new markets are no doubt a gamble. We’re about to see what kind of gambler Bernard is.
It’s looking increasingly like Milwaukee is out. Races in markets such as Sao Paolo, Brazil; Long Beach, Calif.; and
Edmonton, Canada, are definitely in since they turn a dependable profit.
Only time will tell on new markets such as Baltimore and Las Vegas.
None of these markets alone will make the series profitable. But a carefully built portfolio of races with action like fans
in Iowa enjoyed Saturday should create a growing fan base, and over time build the type of TV audience the open-wheel series
must have to start steering out of the red.
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I don't know what the solution is, but if as a (self described) more than casual race fan I have a hard time following the schedule, your true casual fan has got to be very difficult to catch.
If the Indycar keeps a couple of small tracks, and encourages them to add seats and keeps its strong bigger tracks, that would be the best of both worlds.
Milwaukee was lost when the former promoter screwed the City, IRL and NASCAR out of money. They poisoned the well, and unfortunately one of the oldest tracks will probably be turned into a horse track.
I will be curious to see how Baltimore comes along. there seems to be a lot of interest from sponsors which should translate into fans.
TV ratings are rising which is good, but they need to rise faster. The Centenial of Indy gave a bump, and created a lot of interest, now Indycar must capitalize on it and on the new engines and cars for next year. Getting the aero packages introduced correctly will also be critical. Exciting times ahead.
Indy needs to find a way to reach as many viewers as possible and the best way to do that is to air on an easily accessible network as well as up its marketing.
By the way, Iowa Speedway may be getting my business next year. That was an awesome race.
Add Irwindale in California or maybe try a traditional NASCAR track like Charlotte... Is St. Louis still runable?
The racing is super exciting, unforatuntely no one seems to be watching due to Versus...
Are the 'sources close to the series' who are willing to open that private company's finances to you (the ones who claim 'a $22 million loss in 2009 and close to $15 million in 2010') the same sources who spouted off about $500 million to $750 million losses since 1996? The same sources who, according to Tony George (then the man in charge), '...do not know what they are talking about?'
As someone who actually attended the Iowa race and talked to the people in charge, the impression I got seemed much more, uh, optimistic. Their active, ongoing negotiations with Indy Car seem to ensure a mutually beneficial long term future for the event.
Randy Bernard himself claims the series could well have been profitable this season but he talked the corporate parents into additional expenditure for promotion related items.
Would it kill you to strive for more of a balanced point of view from time to time? Your kind has been obsessed with running the same negative tripe by readers since 1995. Most of you who write these days are admittedly too young to fully understand or grasp the scope, history and importance of the role IMS plays in the sport (and for that matter the city of Indianapolis) in a general sense.
I sort of understand the pathological need your generation seems to have for digging up dirt. That approach, however, has really gotten tired. If the sport got 'unified' in 2008 and then Tony George got swept out after that, why all the thinly disguised agenda mongering that is actually just the same old pointless criticism? Are you not going to be happy unless it crumbles completely?
These sorts of columns make an otherwise reputable publication look fairly ridiculous. The predictable litany of barely literate hate speech by a handful of youthful enthusiasts that is certain to follow also damage the credibility of this space. Anyone with a brain comprehends that.
Last year, the Iowa race pulled a 0.2, the second lowest rating for the .1rl all year.
So, how does a 35% increase of 0.2 = 0.35?
I must be dumb or something, because my math skills just can't make those numbers work.
Anthony, please let us know if those #s are from Nielsen, or some other source.
Because either Sister Mari Noel was lying to me on how to do simple percentages, or your info is wrong. And I'd hate to think I was lied to by a Nun...
Thanks.
Bob Jenkins is a boob...he starts the broadcast with an apology about the "sellout" because it might not look like a sellout, but galldangit it really is a sellout.
GET RID OF HIM. If you want the series to be taken seriously, unload Bob IMMEDIATELY. And Brian Barnhart too. They are both bums....did you see how quick CAUTION LIGHTS came on at Milwaukee and IOWA? Why not at Indy?
Oh...., you realize at this rate of growth it'll be well into Michelle Bachmann's 2nd term as President before IRL will be sniffing 0.5 or higher, right? Party on Garth....
And as far as Anthony repeating the same thing over and over, that is very 'ripe' coming from the guy that has repeated the same crappy arguments over and over for the last 10 years.
You may consider yourself a race fan. But you have a long way to go to exhibit any sense of class as a human being.
This is a free country and this is a blog with comments Anthony certainly can write as he chooses.
Get over yourself. You do nothing to help the series with comments like these.
You ssir hould be embarrassed, but we all know you are incapable of such.
Are you sure the current Indycar sponsor Izod would want to make the series the kings of nowhere?
I'm not putting down Iowa, or the other "nowhere" areas you speak...but is that what Izod or even Versus wants to see?
I'm get the feeling they would like to hit some major markets. You know density of target markets where actual buyers of Izod reside and large numbers of viewers can be built.
Think about it. Despite what disciple thinks of "street festivals" maybe it is Izod and Versus helping push Randy B in those directions to get some real return on their investments.
Disciple may blah, blah, blah on about hitting segment targets, but you can be pretty sure those key market segments are some of those cities that are looking at putting on street events.
Houston and Fort Lauderdale ring any bells?
Sure it is easy to blame previous CART teams when you have a defender agenda...but what would even defender/disciple say if Randy told him some of the series directions is coming at the behest of the sponsors and other partners.
The speedway is in a world of hurt so financing the track rentals like Milwaukee and New Hampshire are break even adventures at the very most. Even Randy hisownself admitted even 30,000 fans at $40 per ticket can't cut the mustard of the IRL's hefty $1.5Million per race sanction fee.
SO, advertising is out and so is expansion to more oval tracks. And forget the heritage of oval racing altoghether anyway...NO one want s to drive 4 hours to see a race of ugly cars who are on track for 1 hour 45 minutes and 1/3 of that is under caution. Get real, AOW is done.
As for Carter's comments: He raises a point. But how good can it be for IZOD to have races in South America and Japan, and talks of China now, when in reality their brand is bought and worn here stateside. At least is think that is so. The glamour, big city, bright lights, F1-style image of IndyCar racing is long gone. It was short-lived and that is not a knock on CART. "Nowhere" is America, Iowa is America, and the evidence is in at least for one race on aa Saturday night in Newton, Iowa. I woudl think all the sponsors involved would be grateful. If the title sponsor doesn't like the Heartland and "Nowhere", which I find hard to believe, then perhaps a different title sponsor is ideal for the future.
The IndyCar Series should be predominantly ovals with aa couple novelty road courses thrown in. To that end, I think Tandy Bernard is on to something reagrding Road America. I'll add in Mid-Ohio. Two, Midwestern Mardi Gras race track.
IndyCar needs to get away from the F1-wannabee image. It just does not resonate anymore. People who love this sport and ones the series seeks, want to see hardcore, bad-a, fast on the gas wheel-to-wheel racing between mostly Americans and a few, hotshot foreigners who come here because they want to race at Indy.
The heck with apologies. Wouldn\'t believe anything they would have to say in any case.
Remember...IRL has been tossed out of 22 race tracks in 15 years, almost entirely oval ones.
How come the answer is ovals and Americans? IRL failed miserably at delivering that, which precipitated the current faux leEgue. How could anything Bob Jenkins is involved in be sexy? FIRE him. Perception needs to change for any progress to be made.
Another prediction that came true....
Clever try to spin it Iman. See how crafty you are?
Track president: Homestead-Miami Speedway "more profitable" without IndyCar Series
October 04, 2010|By Sarah Talalay, Sun Sentinel
Homestead-Miami Speedway gave the IndyCar Series a South Florida-style sendoff on Saturday with fireworks and flyovers, but the crowd was so sparse, it wasn't difficult to see why the track is not on the series 2011 schedule.
Speedway President Matthew Becherer said he wanted to keep IndyCar, but hosting the series â as the track has for the past decade â costs the speedway. He said when IndyCar chose to raise the sanctioning fee to host the series by 30 percent, the track couldn't justify the expense.
"Financially, it's an event that doesn't really make a lot of sense for us anyway and when they asked for an increased fee, it made even less sense," Becherer said. "From a business perspective, it's really not any sort of a hit we're going to have to worry about."
He added: "The impact of losing the IndyCar race is we'll be more profitable."
I'd link the source, but the spam filter wouldn't let me post it then.
Unlike your last comment.
But that is your game. Call everone youthful. Call everyone stuck in the past. Call everyone that disagrees lacking in insider contacts.
But, no meat on the bones. No offering to further the discussion.
Typical. Deflect and Deny.
Now, that is how a true disciple defends the indefensible. Sort of like the news reports out of Indy that try to blow past the real problems the series has. No series.
Despicable.
Philosophically, however, there is not much difference.
As the Indy Car Series continues its consistently upward growth, how many more years are the lot of you going to remain obsessed while portending doom that never quite seems to occur except in your crudely expressed deranged fantasies?
Seriously, do any of you have any idea how foolish you appear?
I am not suggesting an Iowa clone. But building one or two more similar tracks in the USA would be ideal. If the series had half a dozen such races each season, plus a couple breathtaking, barn-burner speedway spectactular's at Texas and Chicagoland, plus the two annual road adventures, the series would really have something appealing. IndyCars are built for sheer speed and nuts and guts racing. Showcase it.
Here's next year's schedule for ya:
Iowa
Iowa
Iowa
Iowa
Indy
Texas
Iowa x2
Iowa
Iowa
Iowa
Indy Road Course Double Header
Mid Ohio
Iowa
Season Finale at Iowa, run-what-cha brung day for $5M
Go back and check your facts. The Richmond sponsor, Sun Trust, dropped the race as sponsor. It wasn't dropped by the series.
The facts as the very well could be.
Once the track lost the SunTrust sponsorship, the IRL/Indycar had to drop the race.
I do not think SunTrust was tasked to operate the race. If another sponsor would have stepped forward, Richmond might have kept the race. I don't think SunTrust would have called the track and said drop the race, we no longer will sponsor it. Even if SunTrust was sponsoring the event through an agreement with the track.
I am pretty sure if the event itself was popular, the track would have contacted other potential sponsors or Randy Bernard and asked if Indycar could help arrange another sponsor. Both did not happen.
Now for part 2. Ask yourself why SunTrust dropped the sponsorship and why no one else sponsored it?
Do you think it had to do anything with the popularity of the series and that the bottom line dollars for cost of sponsorship no longer justified the expenditure?
Then the track could no longer pay the sanction fee, and Indycar could not line up another sponsor. Race is then cancelled and dropped from Indycar schedule.
Kind of a two-way thing. So Chief is right too in that the market was dropped due to a decision most likely based on lack of real (Keyword) 'paid' attendance. Were there too many SunTrust freebies that never turned into paid attendance and/or a bump in SunTrusts business?
If there was money to be made, someone would have put that race on the schedule.
They tell me that is how things work!
IndyCar is coming back, slowly but surely. And yet it has nothing to do with their irrelevant, uninformed opining. In their haste to share that stink, they make a silly face.
That's some gas in the tank, I don't care who you are.
I'm not sure of your age...but I doubt many of have us the time left in our lives!
But one thing is for certain...the guy owns no mirrors.
He stated that if the big $5 million payout to an outsider driver doesn't return better than a .3 rating he will quit on the spot.
Then he restated that if it didn't do a .8 he would still quit.
I wonder if he basing that on the Zap2It ratings Mr. Disciple hates so much???
Or, will that be based on .8 ratings in key market segments???
I'm sure Disciple and Indyman can clear that all up for us not in the know like those two.
Can't they?
And maybe then Mr. Disciple and Indyman can tell us what the real ratings are.
The facts will finally out!
I for one cannot wait!
Why believe a word that this joker says?
Randy Bernard has about as much credibility as Harold Camping. Both make wild proclamations, both are "surprised" and "shocked" when things don't quite happen as they predicted, and both are happy to make apologies, reset their targets and reassure their faithful that next time is 'it'.
By the way, best line in the whole article: "Bernard could be looking to make a move".
Yes, following the .8 or lower for Vegas.
In my last comment I missed a word too.
My one line should have read:
I wonder if he is basing that on the Zap2It ratings Mr. Disciple hates so much???
I'm sure that one missing word causes Mr. Disciple to discount the entire message.
It is too bad that we have no way to edit after we realize we fumble-fingered a comment.
Of course...Mr. Disciple seems to be big on discounting a lot of things. I've seen where he is reassuring the members of Indycar's popular fan forum that Randy will not be going anywhere.
I wonder if we should all remember that should things turn out that Randy does leave due to bad ratings...or whatever may transpire.
The lets all split hairs and act like school marms Carter M!
I hereby challenge you to a bet....
LOOK, 0.3 and 0.8 are easily attainable. That bet makes you look like a girlie-man.
Let's get right to it....YOU AIN'T a MAN unless you wager 1.5 ratings. So, stop being a baby and wager that....you'd be out of a job quick.
See, you ain't that tough bullrider dude, are you?