IndyCar Staying on ABC/ESPN

[DBell]

According to Cavin, IndyCar has signed a deal with ABC/ESPN through 2018. More like an extension because it's the same deal as the one IndyCar has now. The 500 and 4 additional races and it's an exclusive deal. That just about coincides with the length of the Versus contract that's left, doesn't it?

So all the talk and predictions of NBC riding to the rescue of IndyCar can cease. What we have now is going to be what we have for a long while, assuming IndyCar can continue to survive at currant levels of marketing exposure.

IndyCar extends pact with ABC/ESPN | The Indianapolis Star | indystar.com

[nigelred5]

Well now isnt' that just peachy. No cross promotion of races, a screwed up television schedule on 2,3, sometimes 4 different channels from one week to the next no one can follow and a hodgepodge of a broadcast and production team with no consistency. Hopefully they will re-arrange the races ABC/ESPN covers to only be the races leading up to the 500, then switch to Versus and stay there. This tells me Comcast doesn't want to pony up any more to take the rest of the schedule to NBC sports. I'f heard the re-naming of Versus and Comcast sports stations is delayed...

I can't argue that the ratings aren't currently higher on ABC/ESPN than Versus(who the he!! picked that name for the channel anyway???), but who says they wouldn't be similar or improved if Everything was within one family of networks, and not spread across intense competitors. Long and short, they have made it clear noone is happy with the exposure they are getting from Versus and Comcast has already laid one hell of check out there for some pretty poor viewership numbers. 2018 is long time...

[Scotty G.]

Randy sure showed em' who's boss!

If the sport had anyone watching it, maybe networks would care about televising more then 1 race.

Its the Indy 500 and 16 Club Races.

[00steven]

This is horrible news for the future of American open wheel racing.

At best NBC Sports will gain stability in it's programming rescructure and maybe put a few races on NBC, but I doubt it.

[DBell]

This is horrible news for the future of American open wheel racing.

At best NBC Sports will gain stability in it's programming rescructure and maybe put a few races on NBC, but I doubt it.

It's an exclusive deal, so NBC can't show races on their network.

[NickFalzone]

The only silver lining in this is that, since the Comcast-NBC merger, it is possible that the VS audience/ratings will go up a bit. Along with that, the ABC/ESPN ratings have been decent this season... However, I find the ABC/ESPN broadcasts lacking, and no one is really watching the VS ones (which are quite well produced). I don't see this deal as a huge death blow to IndyCar, but I'll admit I had hoped/expected some kind of better deal to come out of this merger.. instead, more of the same.

[FIAT1]

Not good. Onother tv partner dominated by nascar. Indycar made a bad decision.

[Mark in Oshawa]

I think it is a bit more complicated and I suspect that Randy had his hands tied. This isn't a TV property people are killing themselves for...you dance with the girl that brings you when you are not drawing big ratings...

[ykiki]

The two things that hit me right away are these:

1. (obvious) Money. ABC is still paying so IndyCar signed up.

2. (not-so obvious) Randy Bernard attends the races, so he doesn't watch the broadcasts. I'm not sure if he's seen/understands how BAD the ABC coverage really is for the fans.

[NickFalzone]

The two things that hit me right away are these:

1. (obvious) Money. ABC is still paying so IndyCar signed up.

2. (not-so obvious) Randy Bernard attends the races, so he doesn't watch the broadcasts. I'm not sure if he's seen/understands how BAD the ABC coverage really is for the fans.

1. This is true and a good thing.

2. We don't know that. In fact, I vaguely recall a comment by him about the quality (or lack of) on certain broadcasts. Regardless, my guess is that his hands were tied. The fact that IndyCar is getting another tv contract with ABC/ESPN until 2018 may not be great, but it's a hell of a lot better than some other alternatives.. like NO broadcast partner contract and stuck on VS full-time except for Indy. This is middle of the road news, not a death knell, and not cause for great celebration.