Rumored 2009 IC Schedule

Where the hell is Cleveland? We put three times the number of butts in the seats as Mid-Ohio (without Ho*da) giving away 15-20,000 tickets) and it was always the #1 or 2 TV audience every year. What is the thinking behind this??

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Originally Posted by MDS

The idea that Atlanta isn't a good sports town is just BS. I've lived here all my life, off and on, and we support teams and events, they just have to be good. This town supports winners. You can't just be the Hawks and play boring, sub .500 basketball and expect people to show up like they would in Oklahoma or Iowa where there is nothing else to do.

As for our events not drawing flies: The Le Petit Le Mans is an established success; Georgia Tech and UGA sell out every football game and Tech has a strong basketball following; The Atlanta Thrashers have higher than average attendance, except for last year; Before the face of the Falcons went to jail they were sold out for every home game; the Braves don't have attendance problems; even the NASCAR races draw more fans than 95 percent on of the ovals on the IRL schedule.

I know Atlanta would turn out for the right event if packaged well and in a central location. A street race around Centennial Park area would succeed if held at the right time of year, probably in early April or September, and marketed in the right way.

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from today's list of "Teams nobody cares about" from the Comcast homepage

10. Atlanta Thrashers

The Thrashers have the 22nd worst attendance in the NHL, a little over 15,000 per game. Actually, that's not too bad for Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Amis)

That's the trouble, Toymaker. In reality, you did NOT put three times the number of butts in the seats as Mid-Ohio. That's why, among all the different promoters that Cleveland has had, that IMG just gave the thing back to CART and said, "run it yourself." It lost $$$$.

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Originally Posted by indycool

Well, Ken, time will tell, but I'll try:

1. TG is committed to ovalcentricity and the draws at most of the ovals have been adequate and/or growing and/or stable. No, Homestead ain't. The others are. And other ovals are waiting in the wings per SMI's statements. So, I don't believe that's going to come anytime soon.

2. After the Denvers and San Joses and Ansans and Zhuhais and Vegases and the cancellation at Phoenix, I doubt that many cities are jumping at the chance to have a street race. I doubt that many promoters are around that will take the chance on a street race without the right deal and sponsors and that's a pretty hard sell.

3. Pook, who mushroomed street racing in his career at Dover and CART, ain't a factor. KK, who tub-thumped it further, doesn't now. And I disagree that cities are clamaoring for races.

4. Just IMO, but TG seems to have a preference for real race tracks as opposed to street races.

5. It is slowly and grudgingly coming out that these street races don't draw what people were told they were drawing and tracks were only building 20-25,000 seats max and a number of them had few GA viewing areas. Well, if you're in Iowa and fill 25,000 permanent seats without the expense of track construction, that isn't any different than what was being drawn at street races with the added expenses involved.

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http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Oth...76731-sun.html

Still speculation....is he ahead or behind? We don't know (I certainly don't).

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Originally Posted by Ken

http://www.torontosun.com/Sports/Oth...76731-sun.html

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Anyone else notice the part at the end about Surfers still being a non points race again next year. Does that make any since to anyone??

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Originally Posted by icehammer97

Anyone else notice the part at the end about Surfers still being a non points race again next year. Does that make any since to anyone??

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That point was about this year.

San Jose, Denver and Vegas were not good, Zhuhai Ansan's not a street course, and Phoenix problem remained an unknown. Long Beach, Surfers, Detroit, Sete Pete's were not bad. See, streets are not overly bad as described a couple of post above mine, it's just another case of things with a couple of good ones, and a couple of bad ones.

The schedule is likely to be released tomorrow, given the hints from recent articles, Nashville saying they will not continue to host a race, and the note at the end of today's Up to Speed feature on indycar.com.

Expect the expected.

Press teleconference announced for tomorrow with Barnhart and Angstadt.