IndyCar Race and TV Schedule Announced, Ratings up for 2008
This just in from the hardest working PR posse in the race business ...
The IndyCar television schedule is out and indicates I'll have to have gone up a tier on my Dish Network by April 5 when VERSUS (always in ALL CAPS!) hits the airwaves with IndyCar coverage for the first time.
What's another $10 per month, $120 per year? I'm sure the IRL super appreciates my investment. All you hear from them is "we love the fans!" They're always mentioning the fan love in every statement. Going on and on about how the fans are the most important thing. Oh, wait ... I'm sure that's what they're THINKING it if not saying it.
The league also said TV ratings were up in 2008, which is awesome news since TV ratings are the only way to make the ROI attractive to the kind of zillion-dollar sponsors the league needs to stay profitable.
The 2009 IndyCar schedule goes a little something like this:
April 5, Streets of St. Petersburg, VERSUS, 2-5 p.m.
April 19, Streets of Long Beach, VERSUS, 3:30-6:30 p.m.
April 26, Kansas Speedway, VERSUS, 4-7 p.m., pressdog trackside festival of note taking!
May 24, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, ABC, Noon-4:30 p.m.
May 31, The Milwaukee Mile, ABC, 3:30-6:00 p.m.
June 6, Texas Motor Speedway, VERSUS, 9 p.m. - Midnight
June 21, Iowa Speedway, ABC, 1-3:30 p.m., pressdog trackside festival of note taking!
June 27, Richmond International Raceway, VERSUS, 8-11 p.m.
July 5, Watkins Glen International, ABC, 1-3:30 p.m.
July 12, Streets of Toronto, ABC, 1-3:30 p.m.
July 26, Edmonton City Centre Airport, VERSUS, 5-8 p.m.
Aug. 1, Kentucky Speedway, VERSUS, 8-11 p.m.
Aug. 9, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, VERSUS, 1-4 p.m.
Aug. 23, Infineon Raceway, VERSUS, 5-8 p.m.
Aug. 29, Chicagoland Speedway, VERSUS, 9 p.m. - Midnight, pressdog trackside festival of note taking!
Sept. 6, The Raceway at Belle Isle Park, VERSUS, 3-6 p.m.
Sept. 19, Twin Ring Motegi, VERSUS, 9/18 10:30 p.m.-1:30 a.m.
Oct. 10, Homestead-Miami Speedway, VERSUS, 4-7 p.m.
Indy Racing League News Release:
The IndyCar Series enters 2009 with a new television package that will continue to feature long-term partner ABC while introducing VERSUS as the new cable television partner. VERSUS will open the season on April 5 and will air three consecutive races before ABC kicks off its five-race coverage, beginning May 24 with the 93rd Running of the Indianapolis 500.
ABC will air five races, produced by ESPN, within a seven-race period before VERSUS televises the final eight races, including the season-finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway, which has been moved up one day to a twilight race on Saturday, October 10.
Click it: Printable '09 schedule | Wallpaper
The entire 2009 IndyCar Series television package will be available in high-definition (HD) television.
Following races at St. Petersburg, Long Beach and Kansas on VERSUS, ABC will air five of the next seven races, including four that it carried last season.
ABC will air the Indianapolis 500 for the 45th consecutive season, followed by the races at The Milwaukee Mile, Iowa Speedway and Watkins Glen International. The network also will televise the IndyCar Series first visit to Toronto.
"We are very excited about engaging two broadcast partners beginning in 2009," said Terry Angstadt, president of the commercial division for the sanctioning Indy Racing League. "Having the season essentially broken into three segments - three races on VERSUS, five of the next seven races on ABC and then eight straight races on VERSUS - will give fans a consistent place to find the IndyCar Series all season."
"Having ABC kick off the summer portion of our schedule with five races in a compact time period beginning with the Indianapolis 500 should really build momentum as the season heads into the heart of the championship battle. Having that battle play out on VERSUS, with the additional programming opportunities that we have, will give fans comprehensive coverage of the championship run."
After the first season of the unification of open-wheel racing in 2008, the IndyCar Series enters the 2009 season with gains in viewership across all television partners including ABC/ESPN/ESPN2. For the 17 races on the IndyCar Series schedule last year, race viewership averaged 1.7 million across the three networks, which was a 21.4 percent increase over the 2007 season (1.4 million).
Separately, ABC averaged 2.7 million viewers for its seven IndyCar Series races, up 10.1 percent for the same number of races in 2007 (2.5 million); ESPN averaged 707,000 viewers for four races, up 27.2 percent compared to the five races run in the 2007 season (556,000). ESPN2 averaged 892,000 viewers for its five races in the 2008 season, which was a 53.5 percent increase over the 2007 average (581,000).
The IndyCar Series announced multi-year multimedia partnerships with ABC and VERSUS in August. The partnership with VERSUS calls for the network to televise at least 13 races per year for the next 10 years, with each telecast to last a minimum of three hours and include extended pre-race coverage. VERSUS also will air a one-hour preview show the day before each race that will feature qualification highlights and all of the relevant IndyCar Series stories of that weekend. Additionally, the network will feature extensive coverage of all the qualification days at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway leading up to the Indianapolis 500. The complete Month of May schedule will be announced shortly.
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Right there with ya, Pdog. I have to go up a tier, too. I'm wanting to find out who the broadcast team will be. I may just watch it streaming at Indycar.com. I found myself doing that this year so I wouldn't have to listen to Goodyear.
Posted by: AGRfan26 | October 01, 2008 at 08:19 PM