All-purpose open-wheel (F1, IRL) racing thread

Seemed about the same to me, but I've never liked the main announcing team. There's never any intelligent discussion of strategy, tire choice, anything. It's like everything happens randomly. (NASCAR announcers are worse about this.)

By the way, the season opener reminded me of why I struggle to get into IndyCar. For the love of God, stop running into each other, and figure out how to clear the track on a street course without going into a multi-lap full course yellow every single time.

 

Also, curious to see ESPN's F1 coverage starting next weekend. I have one chief concern: they are taking the Sky coverage from England, but Sky shows the races without commercial interruption. That means either (a) ESPN goes commercial free, or (b) ESPN dumps to commercials in the middle of coverage with no warning, and no recap of what we missed when they return. (B) seems far more likely, but I don't think ESPN paid anything for the rights, so (A) may not be entirely out of the question.

Thankfully F1 is launching its own streaming service early this season. I'm all over that when it debuts.

 

I feel like it’s still status quo and crappy coverage.

Is any money actually changing hands?

Will NBC go out of its way to promote IndyCar to a dwindling audience of NASCAR fans? I’d say no.

 

Let’s say the series is unsustainable. Is that a world without an Indy 500? Nothing says any of this stuff - not the Kentucky Derby, MLB, or even the NFL - has to exist. Toys R Us is no more.

But it would be a hell of an economic and emotional blow to Indianapolis.

 

I've been pleased to see James Hinchcliffe on Honda commercials. Two things drive the popularity of particular sports: (1) Gambling; and (2) Personalities.

 

Yeah I had this same thought, followed by, "I'm surprised more car manufacturers don't do this more often."

Infiniti's celeb spokesdriver is Steph Curry. Makes no sense.

 

The problem with assessing a sport's health by its television ratings/revenue is two-fold: It fails to take into account other possible revenue streams and assumes television is the only way to remain self-sustaining. Based on how badly ABC has butchered open-wheel broadcasting for years, I'm guessing IndyCar won't shed much of a tear if someone else (NBC?) matches ABC's lack of commitment. Remember, IndyCar/IRL has never been in a "time buy" situation, unlike CART.

If anything, Nielsen ratings have never been less relevant, particularly as more and more people consume content from multiple sources. Technology is killing traditional media and the sports rights inflation bubble is unsustainable. Once advertisers figure out 30- and 60-second ad placements aren't the best use of their dollars, the whole thing is going to unravel.

Because IndyCar's mid-pack teams (anyone not named Penske, Ganassi or Andretti) have been doing this on the cheap for years, it may be better positioned to withstand any appreciable loss of media revenue better than NASCAR. Not only did IndyCar add multiple new teams in 2018, several new major sponsors have come onboard. All the talk in the NASCAR garage right now is how to control costs as sponsors and revenue continue to plummet. If Lowe's wants out, things are not grins and giggles in Daytona Beach.

As long as Honda and Chevrolet (and any future manufacturers) find return on investment in the engineering and technology advances they get from racing, if not actual automobile sales, then it behooves them -- and Firestone -- to continue to foot the bill for what's basically "real-life test sessions." Porsche, BMW and Cadillac's engineering guys said exactly that at Sebring this week as the foremost reason they're in IMSA, a sport that barely moves the TV needle and probably siphons off a minute fraction of the France family's billions.

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway ran 500-mile races for six decades before television rights were even a thing. If the average ticket price is $50 and 250,000 people show up, that's $12.5 million in revenue before you even consider concessions, parking, advertising/marketing revenue and miscellaneous. There's a good reason why the family that owns the track believes in the "antiquated notion" that broadcasting the race live in town may hurt their gate. That tells me they make more money from attendance than any "ratings clause" in the ABC contract.

Don't forget: Even though NASCAR's race is now a huge money-loser from a gate perspective, the track still benefits from the healthy cut it receives from NASCAR's TV deal. If IMS was really cash-starved, they'd eliminate the 400 long before they shuttered the track.

 

Just for fun, looked up the Verizon series sponsorship deal with IndyCar. According to the Indiana Business Journal, they pay $6 million in cash and another $4 in activation per year. Doesn't sound like much, but CEO Mark Miles thinks he can do better once the TV deal is firmed up.

Consider that Monster's deal with NASCAR is $20 million a year, for twice as many races as IndyCar. And that's $50 million a year less than the Nextel/Sprint contract. Ouch.