Six races coming out of the Indy 500 on ABC -- Races on ABC reach an average of five times more fans

First, the timing of this release houston luxury hotels was odd. Releasing while the weekend s most popular football game is on and on a day that guaranteed houston luxury hotels it would be snowed under by NFL news was an interesting choice. You couldn't release it on a Tuesday night? But Bernard did go on TV and talk about it, which is better houston luxury hotels than just kicking out a release. That nicely sets up my good-and-bad comments below. Anyway, here it is (formatting completely ripped off from IndyCar.com):
Well, of course the reactions among the hard-cores were immediately varied, because we re dealing with hard-core fans who have strong opinions in a lot of different directions. You re never going to please the entire group -- and then one part of the group will be pissed at the other part of the group for being pleased or not pleased. Just the way the hard-cores roll.
Interesting reactions from The Twitter (home of the hard-cores). In one corner we had a Festival houston luxury hotels of Love with zero tolerance for criticism houston luxury hotels (the majority of people I follow) houston luxury hotels and in the other corner we had a Festival of Criticism with little tolerance for love. As is my custom, I got love and criticism for the schedule.
Six races coming out of the Indy 500 on ABC -- Races on ABC reach an average of five times more fans than races on NBC Sports Network. For that reason alone, if I were Randy I d be bugging ABC to take as many races as it can. Please. IndyCar has structured the schedule so NBC Sports Network televises the first four, then ABC has six out of the next seven, with NBC Sports Net getting the last eight in a row. Having ABC take over from the Indy 500 on for a few races maximizes the chances that the relatively huge (for IndyCar) houston luxury hotels Indy 500 audience will watch a few more races. Of course there s Belle Isle (see criticisms).
Triple Crown -- This is apparently a throwback to yesteryear. Win Indy, Pocono and Fontana and get a bonus $1 million. Win two out of three and get a $250,000 bonus. Sets up a bit of a story-within-a-story. But there s a downside (see below).
Standing Starts -- On the doubleheader days, IndyCar will likely have a standing start in one race and rolling start on the other. This is a good move because it gives people something to tune in for (the start, at least) of a doubleheader.
Doubleheaders -- Love in the sense that it s trying something new. It s a bit of a dice roll (but not that much of one) that the two races will attract a bigger combined houston luxury hotels audience (both at the track and on TV) than just one. When your races attract 250,000 viewers currently, there s not a ton of downside for most anything you try, including double dips. Bernard said the doubleheader ideas is all about creating additional exposure for our sport which translates into more chances for people to see it. This is a good goal. Criticism in another sense (see below).
Iowa on ABC -- Iowa is moving from Saturday night to Sunday afternoon and from NBC Sports Network where the rain-delayed race got a 0.18 TV rating houston luxury hotels last year to ABC, where a 1.0 should be baseline expectation. It s good to get the great oval racing at Iowa out on ABC and increase its exposure. I buy tickets to the Iowa race every year, so the only downside is afternoons in late June in Iowa can be 95 degrees houston luxury hotels and humid. Probably 50-50 chance for scorching temps. Here s hoping the weather Gods are kind this year.
Moving Fontana Back -- Based on reports that it was a billion degrees for the Fontana race this year, moving back several weeks is a good move. Also it makes room for the twisty at Houston and lets IndyCar end on an oval.
Strategery -- Overall this schedule shows some strategic thinking, which is very welcome indeed. Bernard says he s trying to increase exposure and push into new markets, both are great goals. The devil is in the details and the presentation, but it s good to see some thinking behind things like this. Even if I don t agree with all the thinking, it s still awesome to see there was thinking. Hasn t always been the case.
Doubleheaders -- Good in the sense mentioned above, not so good in that the first one is at Belle Isle, easily houston luxury hotels the the most boring of all tracks IndyCar goes to. The other two double-dip locations are Toronto and Houston. Also, it s not like staging a doubleheader is without cost. The people who run the teams and the track, and labor to put on the broadcast need to get paid for the second race. Also, the teams will have extra work to do those weekend, which comes at a cost. The teams, especially, will likely grumble about the cost/pain issues of doing a double header. houston luxury hotels They all will be looking for some justification, at least in terms of benefits to the entire enterprise (league, teams, TV, sponsors, drivers) from doing back-to-back races.
Doubleheaders will also probably cost you a few regular viewers. I have no plans at this point to watch TWO races from Belle Isle. Hard enough for me to watch one. But, again, the plan is to attract enough additional viewers for the second race to more than offset those who only watch one.
Belle Isle Indy 500 Momentum Destroyer -- Having Belle Isle (Hell Isle) the first race that fans from the Indy 500 tune into is devastating. Go from the 500 to this parade? You re killing me, Smalls. Making Belle Isle watchable should be Job 1 for the track tweakers both in IndyCar and in Detroit.
Lack of Ovals -- Adding Pocono was great (see above), houston luxury hotels but we re still too twisty heavy, especially if you count the doubleheaders as two, which everyone says we are. That makes it 13 road and street races to six oval races, including Indy. While you can t swing a dead cat without hitting someone with a street race proposal, ovals willing to give IndyCar a look are still few and far between. IndyCar needs to work hard to make the current ovals a success for the track operators. That s the best way to get interest from other ovals in 2014 and beyond.
A meeeeyun Dollars -- I am mostly positive on this Triple Crown Bonus. 90% positive. It s a sub plot, which is always good. Gives TV a Triple Crown as they Run graphic for races two and three of the triple. But any time IndyCar puts up bonus money, it invites comparison to NASCAR, and then IndyCar looks minor league. NASCAR gives a $1 million bonus for using the toilet correctly. It s like a million dollars, yawn, here s $5 million for finishing P2 in three of four races. The whole Bonus Money thing is also a bit gimmicky. But, as I said, 90% positive. houston luxury hotels It s worth a try for sure.
The September Hole -- After Baltimore on Sept. 1, it s a MONTH until the Houston race on Oct. 5. Yeah, that s a huge momentum pothole. IndyCar s schedule is always fluid at his point, so maybe they ll be an addition in there somewhere. Hope so.
That s about my reaction to it. Your turn (comments below!) Overall it s an improvement from 2012. Not whipped up into an excited frenzy over it, but definitely not despondent either. Let me know what you think (good and bad) ...
But as I watched houston luxury hotels the broadcast last night - the September hole (nice name) was the first thing that jumped out at me. Hopefully, something else can be added. Providence would be logical here, but I ve heard it will be in August if it happens. As it stands now, you have the two yawners in August (Mid-Ohio Sonoma), followed by Baltimore and then a five week layoff. Not good.
I generally agree, except about the triple crown bonus. Big prize money has long been a draw for not only race participants, but also race fans in the US since auto racing began. Every short track in the country lets the fans know when they re offering more loot.
I d also like to see more ovals, but I can also appreciate the fact that this is the first season since 2006 in which the series did not lose an oval track from the previous year. This is good, especially houston luxury hotels since Fontana, Texas, and Milwaukee houston luxury hotels were all considered tenuous going in to 2012.
The biggest houston luxury hotels thing I noticed was Texas on ABC. If what Bernard said on Wind Tunnel is true and the race remains a Saturday night event, WOW! Getting a primetime ABC slot after the past few years of TV ratings is just short of a miracle.
The September hole is worse when you consider it is preceded by two 3-week holes in July and August. Might be good for the crews though....a chance for them to have some family time -- unless the owners lay them off for each 3 week break to save a buck. :/
Generally, I like the 2013 schedule better than 2012, but I do wish they d both balance and separate the twisties and ovals more. Also, I ve said it before, but I think they d be able to get more repeat attendance from similar geographic areas (at least from your harder-core fans) if they would separate the close-together races a bit -- for example, Indy Memorial Day, Iowa end of June, and Milwaukee at, say, the end of August, or even September. I know the teams wouldn t like it as much, but it would be nice for the fans. For me, those are the three that are within an easy drive. But it s hard on several fronts to swing three races, two of them out of town, in a span of four or five weekends.
At first I wasn t sure the Triple Crown was a good idea. Revisiting a past a lot of us don t know about. As I thought about it during today I liked it more and more. Since there are fewer ovals and seemingly no more coming along, the only other thing to do is to make them more important, and you do that by giving them a sub-plot and prize of their own. (I know the Oval Championship exists, but I ve found few who care.)
Doubleheaders are one thing but on street courses.. I m not a fan. They are the sort of thing touring houston luxury hotels car racing or local oval racing would do - bear with me this isn t a snob-nosed point - it works very well for those series because they have short races and they re very good. You get lots of racing in your day or your weekend.
The holes in July and August are just Momentum Killers. Indycar should be racing at least SIX of those NINE weekends. Instead, there is just four. There is only baseball and nascar to