24 replies to this topic

[aportinga]

I don't give a rats ass what people think OW racing should or should not do in the States.... If they don't fix this ****, the series is NOT going anywhere. The "partner" is not worth a pile! Looks like NBC knows to stay away as well. Just when will OW get it's act together???

http://www.ibj.com/h...p?content=15652

The IRL’s ratings have been mostly static since entering the deal with ABC/ESPN in 2004. In 2006, the average viewer rating for 14 races, including the 500, was 0.97, according to New York-based Nielsen Media Co. Last year, the average was 0.94 for 17 races. A 1.0 rating equals about 1 million households nationwide.

Ratings for the Indianapolis 500 have hovered around 5 the last five years. It was 4.5 this year, and 4.3 last year when rain delayed the race. The series’ TV ratings, which so far this year are down a bit, don’t give the series much leverage in its extension negotiations.

“I don’t think it’s any secret that the [IRL] is a money-losing deal for ABC and ESPN,” said Jeffrey Cokin, a former NBC executive who now heads his own broadcast consulting firm, Connecticutbased Cokin Communications. “You can bet they’ll be trying to negotiate that price down.”

[rye&ginger]

Well, with the 'merger' hopefully there is some potential there. TV deal is important, but getting the events in order is a requirement first.

I wont watch a series that is not at least 50% road/street races. I like the ovals, but I dont love them either other than a few.

Indycar in the 90s was brilliant for having the variety of tracks, with very accessable in person events. That is what made the fan base.

[Go_Scotty_Go!]

IndyCar basically sux.

[MONTOYASPEED]

Originally posted by Go_Scotty_Go!
IndyCar basically sux.

I agree with you

[Nathan]

Texas and Indy are the only worthwhile events to watch.

[aportinga]

The really odd thing in all this is that the TV numbers after the merger are going down! Milwaukee garnished an .8 overnight in ratings which is more likely a .5-.6 when said and done.

PLENTY of people at the track which is good for the promoter but not for the series overall... They need a new partner and IMO they should PAY just like CART & CC did in order to control the quality.

[aportinga]

Originally posted by rye&ginger
Well, with the 'merger' hopefully there is some potential there. TV deal is important, but getting the events in order is a requirement first.

I wont watch a series that is not at least 50% road/street races. I like the ovals, but I dont love them either other than a few.

Indycar in the 90s was brilliant for having the variety of tracks, with very accessable in person events. That is what made the fan base.

I don't understand that however. The merger should really have nothing to do with it and if you look at current ratings this proves just that. If anything the fact that they are sliding downward – even after the buyout, gives the ball to any network to negotiate with. This is an issue which existed LONG before 08 and will continue to do so unless the series gets people with more management experience involved in making business critical decisions… They simply do not have the infrastructure for this – nor the so called manufacture summit this month, to make decisions (1) on their own and (2) logically….

Again – they HAVE to go to a time buy – at least temporarily… Even if that means going to SPEED. The current line up is killing them and will continue to do so until they get the proper infrastructure to deal with this issue – the most critical of all in my opinion.

[Locai]

The current ABC/ESPN coverage is abysmal. Always has been. They only care about Indy.

The announcers are horrendous (although it used to be even worse) and they jump around between ABC, ESPN, and ESPN2 so much that it's very difficult to figure out where or when the race is on.

I realize that ABC has had the Indy 500 for as long as I can remember, but enough is enough. They just don't care about the series at all.

I can't imagine that they won't approach FOX when the current contract is up. Put the 500 on the regular FOX channel and let them put the rest of the races on SPEED. ABC's Mickey Mouse coverage is doing them no good.

Before you know it, they'll be showing the races tape-delayed on ESPN Classic at 7:00am the next day.

[marchof73]

I turned the Texas race on late,and had to wait 8 minutes to find out the running order and lap number,the race was under yellow at the time--Pathetic reporting.I thought a rule of sports reporting was to keep the newly tuned in fan appraised of the score/running order.
Put the IRL on Speed and let Hobbs,Matchett and Varsha loose on it!
Ian

[ClubmanGT]

It's good on ESPN because that means we get it down here, but it would be much better if they played it across ESPN's Pacific feed. There was no coverage of the race after Indy down here, even though our country was going mental over Scott Dixon, and there are two Australians in the field.

[ColdHeart]

Originally posted by aportinga
[B]I don't give a rats ass what people think OW racing should or should not do in the States.... If they don't fix this ****, the series is NOT going anywhere. The "partner" is not worth a pile! Looks like NBC knows to stay away as well.

Did you even read the article you cited?

The differing demands could lead the IRL to shop its deal to other networks. Motorsports sources said NBC and Turner Broadcasting have interest in the openwheel series. NBC, sources said, would like to wrestle the Indianapolis 500 away from ABC, which has aired the race 44 consecutive years.

IMS/IRL has a contract with ABC/ESPN that runs through the end of next season and NBC is trying to get them out a year early.

[aportinga]

Originally posted by ColdHeart


Did you even read the article you cited?



IMS/IRL has a contract with ABC/ESPN that runs through the end of next season and NBC is trying to get them out a year early.

Yeah I did... Unless you think other networks want the series, they're not in good shape as far as actually getting paid. Thus there is no reason NOT to just buy time.

Of course you probably think NBC is triping over their mothers to sign this thing.

Any way you spin, They got a deal with ABC for cash... Years have passed, the ratings are consistantly down and now the network wants to negotiate for less cash. I think I read it pretty clearly.

[ColdHeart]

Originally posted by marchof73
I turned the Texas race on late,and had to wait 8 minutes to find out the running order and lap number,the race was under yellow at the time--Pathetic reporting.I thought a rule of sports reporting was to keep the newly tuned in fan appraised of the score/running order.
Put the IRL on Speed and let Hobbs,Matchett and Varsha loose on it!
Ian

Speed is only in 65 million US homes. ESPN and ESPN2 are in almost 90 million, ABC and the other 3 networks are in 112 million.

[ajcrean]

Originally posted by aportinga
The really odd thing in all this is that the TV numbers after the merger are going down!

Nothing odd about it, as far as I'm concerned: the numbers have been steadily declining ever since The Split. Simply merging the two Series hasn't helped as the millions who watched during the early nineties have long since tuned into NASCAR, among others, and don't show any sign of coming back. Added to which the merger would have alienated a number of the hard-core fans who don't watch anymore.

Sadly, I think that the merger came too late as I don't see the current IRL leadership getting things improved. Hope I'm wrong though...

[ColdHeart]

Originally posted by aportinga


Yeah I did... Unless you think other networks want the series, they're not in good shape as far as actually getting paid. Thus there is no reason NOT to just buy time.

Of course you probably think NBC is triping over their mothers to sign this thing.

Any way you spin, They got a deal with ABC for cash... Years have passed, the ratings are consistantly down and now the network wants to negotiate for less cash. I think I read it pretty clearly.

Except for the part where NBC and Turner are interested.

ABC/ESPN want to let the IRL go so they can concentrate on NASCAR. They are paying over $250 million a year for 17 races and the ratings have dropped 20% since their portion of the contract took effect. Yes, NASCAR's ratings are up slightly this year but some of that is due to the fact that they've only had one rain out this year against 3 last year. And that really doesn't matter to ABC/ESPN since their portion of the NASCAR deal doesn't start until later. Suffice to say they paid a ton, betting ratings would go up and they have gone down from their 2005 peak.

But nobody wants to admit they made a mistake so ABC is going to do all they can to increase the numbers for their NASCAR coverage to prove they didn't overpay. If that means they have to let the IRL go to concentrate on NASCAR, they will.

And for their part, NBC is feeling pretty smart. They walked away from NASCAR and wouldn't pay what Fox and ABC offered. Then they took Sunday Night Football and made it a ratings powerhouse.

They could pick up the IRL for low dollars and grow the property and that is what they intend to do.

[Go_Scotty_Go!]

Originally posted by ColdHeart


Except for the part where NBC and Turner are interested.

ABC/ESPN want to let the IRL go so they can concentrate on NASCAR. They are paying over $250 million a year for 17 races and the ratings have dropped 20% since their portion of the contract took effect. Yes, NASCAR's ratings are up slightly this year but some of that is due to the fact that they've only had one rain out this year against 3 last year. And that really doesn't matter to ABC/ESPN since their portion of the NASCAR deal doesn't start until later. Suffice to say they paid a ton, betting ratings would go up and they have gone down from their 2005 peak.

But nobody wants to admit they made a mistake so ABC is going to do all they can to increase the numbers for their NASCAR coverage to prove they didn't overpay. If that means they have to let the IRL go to concentrate on NASCAR, they will.

And for their part, NBC is feeling pretty smart. They walked away from NASCAR and wouldn't pay what Fox and ABC offered. Then they took Sunday Night Football and made it a ratings powerhouse.

They could pick up the IRL for low dollars and grow the property and that is what they intend to do.

This is almost as funny as McGuire's spin on why a single engine supplier in IndyCar is a good thing...



You guys are hilarious...

[tifosi]

Originally posted by aportinga


Yeah I did... Unless you think other networks want the series, they're not in good shape as far as actually getting paid. Thus there is no reason NOT to just buy time.

Of course you probably think NBC is triping over their mothers to sign this thing.

Any way you spin, They got a deal with ABC for cash... Years have passed, the ratings are consistantly down and now the network wants to negotiate for less cash. I think I read it pretty clearly.

We get it dude. Indy car sucks. Tony George is a friggin prick. OW racing in the US is totally dead.

Now go play in another sandbox. Or at least get some sort of life so you aren't constantly spending your life following a series you think sucks crap.

[aportinga]

Originally posted by tifosi


We get it dude. Indy car sucks. Tony George is a friggin prick. OW racing in the US is totally dead.

Now go play in another sandbox. Or at least get some sort of life so you aren't constantly spending your life following a series you think sucks crap.

I don't think it sucks crap - I have always commented well on the racing - especially on ovals. I think the management sucks crap and see no reason why more fans don't call them out.

You get nothing - I am going to 2 races (Mid Ohio & Chicago) this year. Highly doubt THAT would happen if I felt the series sucks. It will however in 1-2 years if management doesn't pull their collective heads from their ass - why can I not be pissed about that?

[Locai]

I have no idea how NBC would do with IndyCar, but ABC/ESPN have set the bar sufficiently low enough so that even QVC could do a better job.

[aportinga]

Originally posted by Locai
I have no idea how NBC would do with IndyCar, but ABC/ESPN have set the bar sufficiently low enough so that even QVC could do a better job.

This is very true. But it would have been prudent to step in long ago. I mean even the most die hard fans are pissed off.

[ColdHeart]

IMS/IRL couldn't get another network interested until they merged/acquired CC. They couldn't do that until Forsythe was tired of burning money and that didn't happen until this February.

If A, then B. If B, then C. Gotta go through all the steps.

[random]

Originally posted by ColdHeart
And for their part, NBC is feeling pretty smart. They walked away from NASCAR and wouldn't pay what Fox and ABC offered. Then they took Sunday Night Football and made it a ratings powerhouse.

They could pick up the IRL for low dollars and grow the property and that is what they intend to do.

If NBC agreed to televise most of the races on NBC broadcast, then IndyCar would be crazy not to jump at the deal.

I suspect NBC would want to shuffle a great many of the races off to their USA Network. That would not be a good deal for IndyCar. Sports fans go to the Networks, ESPN, or Speed for their auto racing. When racing fans are looking for racing, the USA Network is entirely off their radar.

[David M. Kane]

Coldheart:

$250 Million a year where did that figure come from? Seems high to me too for that kind of crap. I want MORE road races not less. Give me Elkhart Lake!

[random]

Originally posted by David M. Kane
$250 Million a year where did that figure come from? Seems high to me too for that kind of crap. I want MORE road races not less. Give me Elkhart Lake!

I can only surmise he was talking about Nascar. I don't think IndyCar has ever pulled in that much TV revenue.

[aportinga]

Originally posted by aportinga


I don't think it sucks crap - I have always commented well on the racing - especially on ovals. I think the management sucks crap and see no reason why more fans don't call them out.

You get nothing - I am going to 2 races (Mid Ohio & Chicago) this year. Highly doubt THAT would happen if I felt the series sucks. It will however in 1-2 years if management doesn't pull their collective heads from their ass - why can I not be pissed about that?

Well the new travel trailer we were gonna buy on Saturday is now a canceled deal... Free storage at the wifes families farm is under fire since the county is telling them they have to remove any and all commercial property not farm related from the property... It's a land grab and although having a large TT is not commercial I do not want to cause any additional problems for my wifes Grandfather who is very sick already.

Unfortunately this means Mid Ohio is off my list this year now. I just cannot justify $75 per month to store this thing.