Q: Firestone’s contract with IndyCar Series as tire partner and supplier will expire after 2025, and I heard Pirelli will be a candidate to become the IndyCar tire supplier from 2026, as Mario Isola has said. When will be the announcement of IndyCar’s 2026-30 tire supplier?
Therius Oktavio
MP: I would look to 2025, unless IndyCar and Firestone execute an extension beforehand.
Q: I thought going hybrid was going to replace push to pass. Why have both?
Joe Mullins
MP: I’ve never heard or read about ERS replacing P2P. I’d ask the opposite question: Why not have both?
Q: I really enjoyed the Mid-Ohio race. Great display of strategy and on-track racing from both the 5 and the 10 teams. Very entertaining. I especially loved watching IndyCars fly through Mid-Ohio’s Turn 1. It made me wonder if it’s the fastest turn on the Indy road course calendar? Maybe Turn 1 at Road America is quicker? (Is The Kink at Road America really a turn?) What do you think?
Bert C. Reiser
MP: The Kink, for sure, and oh yes, it’s a turn.
Q: Which is the most accurate description:
1) Zak Brown is the modern day George Steinbrenner
2) Arrow McLaren’s constant drama is why we only have three daytime soap operas left
3) A different analogy I can’t think of?
Vincent Michael
MP: Interesting to see Arrow McLaren silence folks — me included, who weren’t impressed with some of the non-stop drama — by capturing the win and putting the turbulence to bed.
I’d go for 4): Zak Brown is the new Mr. McMahon, former WWF/WWE owner Vince McMahon whose biggest role was in his heel turn as Mr. McMahon, who wasn’t afraid to get in the ring and mix it up when he wasn’t pulling the strings from behind the scenes.
Q: Leading up to and following this year’s Indy 500, I read several articles, including the Indianapolis Star, that the IMS brass should do away with what they refer to as the “antiquated TV blackout policy.” A few are even suggesting it’s purely just greed on the part of the Speedway owners to keep it, so they can sell more tickets and, thus, pad their already-full wallets.
These same media types are suggesting that after a certain percentage of seats are sold, the blackout should be lifted. Some even suggest lifting the blackout regardless of the number of tickets sold leading up to the race. So, let’s say the blackout is lifted and let’s say it does have an effect on ticket sales. These same media pundits would then point out the “shocking” empty grandstand seats in the North and Northeast Vistas, making derogatory comments such as, “Indy just isn’t what it used to be” and “wasn’t it sad to see the Indy 500’s decline,” blah, blah, blah.
In fact, The Star and others jumped on the so-called “shocking and troubling” drop in TV ratings after the 2022 500. They and many others will take the same low road if attendance slips for any reason, including lifting the blackout. My point is, some will always find fault with the Speedway and the Indy 500. May I remind these naysayers what the packed stands and the lure of this great race mean to the Indiana economy? Any thoughts?
Gary, Crawfordsville, IN
MP: It’s definitely a nuanced topic that’s all about the big picture and the little picture. TV ratings continue to be the thing that powers the financial engines within the paddock as teams with traditional sponsorship deals use the audience size as the hook to sell companies on spending money to promote themselves on Indy cars. The bigger the rating/audience, the more profit for teams. Lift the blackout, and it’s safe to assume the Indy-area audience will go up and the average number will rise.
An increasing number of teams have business-to-business sponsorship arrangements which don’t rely on TV ratings, so it’s worth noting that not every IndyCar entry is reliant on big TV audiences.
But there’s a bigger item that’s being ignored in the lift-the-blackout conversation, and that’s how Penske Entertainment pays for the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, IndyCar, and the staff who run the track and the series. And that’s through selling tickets to live events, and parking, and food and drink concessions, and merchandise, and corporate hospitality, and vendor midway activations.
Penske Entertainment receives annual payments from its TV partners, which isn’t a giant figure. It also receives income from Chevy, Honda, NTT, Gainbridge and a few other official sponsors or partners, but as a whole, the entity that owns and operates IMS and the series isn’t known to be flush with overwhelming amounts of inbound payments in the same way a Formula 1, NFL, or NBA is flooded with annual revenue.
Put all that together, and it means Penske Entertainment, despite hosting the biggest single-day sporting event in the world, still needs IMS to be packed with paying fans to fill its bank account and, it hopes, to eventually get IndyCar to a point in the near future where it’s profitable. The Indy 500 has long been the financial engine that powers the series, and under Penske’s stewardship, he and his executive team have been working hard to take it out of the red and into the black.
That initiative takes a hit with every empty seat at the 500. The greater the sales and profits from the month of May, the bigger the benefit for IndyCar. Name all of the things IndyCar needs to do better, or to do more of, and it usually comes back to first needing more money to do those things. The best way to get there is to flood the Indy 500 with paying fans and paying vendors, and so on.
The last thing to consider is this: Once you start making attendance optional for a big regional event by making it newly and consistently available on TV, how many folks will start choosing to watch from the comfort of their couch?
I’m less concerned about the many diehards who would never consider missing the 500. My thoughts turn to the aging-out of IndyCar’s majority fan base of those who are 55 or older and the need to make new and much younger fans who don’t have a lifetime of history at IMS to fuel a first appearance or many returns. If going to the 500 to get the live 500 action isn’t a requirement, I’m not sure how that habit is formed.
I realize we’re talking percentages here; maybe the blackout only gets lifted after 80 percent or 90 percent of the tickets have been sold, but once you make attending a local institution like the Indy 500 an option by lifting the TV blackout, I just don’t see how you sustain the high attendance rate or help fund the track and series in the ways that are needed.
The Indy 500 is a pain to attend with 300,000-plus people funneling into a facility in the middle of a city with two-lane roads and a limited number of access points. Parking can be a hassle, it can be crazy hot and exhausting, and getting out of IMS can be a nightmare with traffic. It’s also the most amazing thing you’ll ever see. But take those hassles away through local TV, and I fear far too many people would start to choose to stay home.
If you’re reading this, you’re a diehard IndyCar fan. You aren’t the source of worry. It’s the other folks who know they have to go to see it live who I could see trading the hassle for the ease of their TV, and that hurts IMS and IndyCar’s financial health.