IndyCar CEO wants less conflict in schedule with NASCAR
INDIANAPOLIS – Hulman & Company chief executive officer Mark Miles said focusing on a schedule of "about 20 races" positioned between early February and Labor Day would be in IndyCar's best interest if the open wheel series is to build off what he called "nothing short of a fantastic year" in 2014.
Key in formulating that window was one principle that previous IndyCar executives have been less willing to acknowledge.
"Hopefully less and less conflicted scheduling with NASCAR," Miles told USA TODAY Sports during a preseason media event at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Tuesday.
And for that matter, Miles said, less conflicting scheduling with the NFL and college football, television ratings juggernauts that dominate fall viewership once their seasons commence in August, also would be beneficial to the open-wheel series.
IndyCar contested an 18-race schedule – fleshed out by three doubleheaders - last season and was set for a 17-race slate in 2015 before the March 8 opener in Brasilia, Brazil, was cancelled by promoter and broadcaster Band TV because of political sniping between the national and local governments.
The season will now commence on March 29 in St. Petersburg, Fla.. It will feature one doubleheader and conclude at Sonoma, Calif., on Aug. 30.
Miles said a seven-month season, with likely international events in February and North American venues filling out the schedule thereafter would be optimal for the series.
"The point I would make about the schedule, obviously it's focused on television, among other things," Miles said. "We know from looking at past years that whatever our rating is pre-Labor Day, it goes down by 30 percent after. That's been true year over year over year. By the way, if you look at NASCAR's ratings during the Chase, they go down compared to the pre-Labor day part of it. So to us, it's just a given. And to us we don't want to be scheduled against college football and NFL football. So, it's calling a spade a spade. We think there's a better window for us."
Drivers agreed on the need to market the sport but were split on the schedule window and volume.
"I would like to see us going on until the end of October or November," veteran series champion and Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan said. "I don't know. It's hard to say if it's good or bad. But to us, more races is always good. But my preference, I would like to see us going further, not ending on Labor Day and not doing anything for six months."
Ryan Hunter-Reay, the 2012 series champion and defending Indy 500 winner agreed. Well, mostly.
"The week after the Super Bowl? That's starting pretty early," he said of Miles' proposed start date, which is three weeks before NASCAR's Daytona 500. "It really depends on if it's the best thing for the series, financially, and where it puts us, does it put us in a position to better market our sport? That would be the main thing. I don't think we necessarily need 20 races. … But disappearing for such a long offseason is also not a good deal. So there's rights and wrongs to both sides of it.
"I'm open to trying some new things. The bottom line is being able to put this series in a position where it's able to market itself."
That prospect has apparently improved.
Miles cited a 25 percent yearlong increase in series television ratings – 55 percent on ABC over three weekends in May preceding the Indianapolis 500. That coincides with last year's inaugural Grand Prix of Indianapolis. Miles said average viewership crested at a million per race. Social media metrics improved slightly he said, from a "pretty low base" but fan engagement through digital and social media was "much, much improved."
Miles said IndyCar can "capture [fan] attention and grow back the base" without trying to wrest another sport's market share. He said series officials hope to "reverse an aging trend and get younger.
"Evolutionarily, it will evolve younger and in some ways the [title sponsor] Verizon relationship will be a real key to that as more and more content gets delivered on companion devices," he said. "Almost by definition that's younger."
Miles said the series is discussing changes to its current television package with ABC, ESPN and NBC Sports Network to press for continuity – noting the benefit of ABC handling the entire month of May and the reticence of competing networks to cross-promote – and the feasibility to "change the current exclusivities, where ABC has broadcast exclusivity, and NBC Sports Network was cable exclusivity."
NBC Sports Network will replace ESPN as broadcaster of the final 20 races of the Sprint Cup season.
"If each could have both, you could imagine ESPN, for example, possibly being a player for us, and you can imagine NBC as opposed to just NBC Sports Network taking some races," he said. "That is harder. That is not consistent with our current agreements. There are ideas like that that at some level are being discussed for a next set of improvements."
Follow James on Twitter @brantjames