Wheldon races to Panther
We didn’t have to wait long to find out where Dan Wheldon would land. Just more than an hour after news broke that Dario Franchitti would be replacing him at Target Chip Ganassi Racing, Wheldon announced he will be driving…
Sports Business
Articles
Franchitti returns to IRL
Former Indianapolis 500 and Indy Racing League series champion Dario Franchitti is returning to the open-wheel circuit next year to drive for his former NASCAR boss Chip Ganassi.
Ganassi folded the NASCAR team that…
Indians hit 8-year attendance high
With the books just closed on the Indianapolis Indians’ 2008 season, the team’s front office is already looking forward to next season. And why not? This team is hot. Red hot. And I’m…
Goals for USA Track & Field: Raise money; don’t drop the baton
Doug Logan, new CEO of locally based USA Track & Field, knows the organization’s challenges reach beyond the disappointments
of dropped batons at last month’s Beijing Olympics. He wants to review the sport from top to bottom, and plans to announce
in the next few weeks formation of a task force that will look at everything from team training camps and the time of the
Olympic trials, to forming a series of events in the United States culminating in a series championship.
EYE ON THE PIE: What projects should public finance?
You name it, Rusty Knale will argue against it. We’re at the delicatessen. He buys the hot pastrami on rye. I’m going for the chopped liver on pumpernickel. “I’m wondering,” I say, “if the new Honda plant at Greensburg is going to do more for the people of Indiana than Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy.” “No,” he answers quickly. “Remember that Dean Martin song, ‘Memories are made of this’? How many people will the new Colts’ stadium hold?” “I hear…
Racing toward a new biz plan: Goals for USA Track & Field: Raise money; don’t drop the baton
Doug Logan’s heart sank as he watched the baton hit the ground on the final exchange of the women’s 400-meter relay. Earlier that same night at the Beijing Olympics, the U.S. men’s 400-meter relay team had done the exact same thing. Neither team would make it past the semifinal round. Logan, who has been CEO of locally based USA Track & Field since only mid-July, could hear the e-mail box in his Indianapolis office filling up all the way from…
SURF THIS: This Olympic year, NBC got it right-online and off
I already miss the Olympics. Perhaps due to my overactive patriotic gene, the overdeveloped sports fan gene, or the finetuned sucker-for-agood-story gene (or some combination of all three), I found the entire event strangely compelling. I’ve paid attention to the Olympics before, but this year it had some captivating affect on me that was altogether new. I found I could watch beach volleyball or fencing with equal enthusiasm. I watched handball matches (which was not at all the game I’d…
Commentary: Summer mega-events consume us
Just when I thought I could start getting to bed at a decent hour again after the 2008 Olympics were over, up pops the Democratic National Convention from Denver. I’m not a television watcher. About the only things I find worthwhile on the boob tube are sports, PBS, movies, and arts or cultural programs. The occasional exception might include a cooking show. Like many Americans, I found myself watching the Beijing games late into the night for most of two…
SPORTS: These football dreams give way to football reality
Ball State’s Nate Davis makes a run for the Heisman Trophy. Well, a guy can dream, can’t he? Truth is, all I’m hoping for at this juncture is that Peyton Manning is healthy for the season opener, Indiana (never look beyond the next play) gets past Western Kentucky, Purdue sends Joe Tiller into retirement on a winning note, Notre Dame rises above national scorn, and Davis becomes known outside the Midwest. In any case, I am definitely ready for some…
Smaller Indiana gives cultural events a boost: Web site’s bloggers share IndyFringe experiences
With a mere $11,000 to spend on marketing, IndyFringe Executive Director Pauline Moffat is always on the lookout for low- or no-cost promotional opportunities. So when Pat Coyle, founder of online community smallerindiana.com, approached her about a novel arrangement to spread the word, Moffat jumped at it. The deal was this: The Fringe would give two tickets to each of its festival shows to Smaller Indiana, which would hand them over to members who would write blogs about the performances…
IndyGo Colts shuttle a no-go
Congestion getting to the Indianapolis Colts games is as much a problem as congestion once fans are in the new Lucas Oil Stadium. It appears that traffic flow and parking are real issues…
USATF putting customers first
The USA Track & Field headquarters in downtown Indianapolis is taking a cue from Wendy’s restaurants. They’re staying open late.
USATF’s new CEO Doug Logan said this is the first step in creating a…
Fever pumps up attendance
The Indiana Fever re-start their season tonight with the hope of cranking up the team’s attendance even more than it has already elevated this year.
Through 13 homes games, the local WNBA team has…
Olympics hurt IRL TV ratings
Officials for the Indy Racing League are probably happy the Olympics happen only once every four years. This year’s games in Beijing, IRL officials said, have done a number on their TV viewership lately.
The IRL’s Aug. 24 race in Sonoma…
IRL revs effort to get in fans’ ears
Indy Racing League officials are unveiling a new communications system using Bluetooth technology that will beam audio messages straight into the wireless telephone earpieces of fans attending their races.
Fans at the track will…
Favre hot on Manning’s heels
Believe it or not, there are a few people who actually don’t know anything about Peyton Manning. They wouldn’t know him if they saw him drinking Gatorade, and they wouldn’t know him with or without a fake mustache. They wouldn’t…
Colts cuts not made on emotion
First and foremost Indianapolis Colts President Bill Polian is a businessman. And he’s one of the best in the National Football League. Don’t expect Polian to get too giddy over the extra bucks…
NBC wins, Oprah seeks Olympians
This year’s Summer Olympics turned out to be a winner for NBC. Through Saturday night, NBC was averaging a 16.2 rating—meaning about 27.7 million viewers tuned in for its prime time coverage. Nationally, 28 percent of households on average tuned…
IUPUI, Pacers negotiating deal
The IUPUI men’s basketball team appears headed across town to play home games at Conseco Fieldhouse. Officials for Pacers Sports & Entertainment said they would let IUPUI make any announcement.
University officials said an…
Wet spring, slow economy slice into area golf business
On a typical Saturday at Smock Golf Course on the city’s south side, visitors are treated to a symphony of thwacks, pings
and the occasional plunk. In good or bad economic times, it seems, people in Indiana and across the country have always played
golf. But these days, the sound of that symphony has waned. Nationwide, the number of rounds of golf played through the first
half of this year is down 2 percent from last year. In Central Indiana, the situation is worse.