IndyCar betting Fox Sports can generate interest away from 16th and Georgetown Road

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There’s truly never been a need to promote the Indianapolis 500 as it remains the greatest race in the world, located conveniently right here in our local community.

It will always be the crown jewel of the NTT IndyCar Series schedule and remains the gold standard.

However, away from the Cathedral of Motorsports, better known as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, it’s a different story and is quite the challenge in terms of vying for motorsports dollars from racing fans who have numerous options. 

Be it small ovals, street courses or traditional road courses, IndyCar showcases a variety of disciplines to choose from, and with the 2025 season opener upon us in sunny St. Petersburg on March 3, there are several reasons for optimism as they head to the green flag with a new network television partner.

With Fox Sports outbidding NBC Sports for the television rights to the NTT IndyCar Series, many feel their guarantee to air every race this year on its national network platform would be just what is needed to propel ratings and raise the profile of the series as well.

After all, they’ve been part of the NFL TV boom for decades and helped place the successful NASCAR brand both on to Wall Street and Main Street simultaneously.

That said, such a partnership with Penske Entertainment would on the surface appear to be a slam dunk, but with a number of other options on your television, life away from the aforementioned Indy 500 is not an easy road, and in reality it will take everything Fox Sports has to make races on Sunday afternoons in Alabama, Oregon, Tennessee and Ohio become even more appealing to viewers than they have been historically.

Motorsports is definitely feeling the pinch that accompanies how Americans now receive their entertainment content, and while marquee events such as the Daytona 500 and the Indy 500 will continue to be solid investments for the Fox portfolio, life away from those races certainly can be tough at times as demonstrated in recent years.

Despite the enormous capital that Roger Penske has allocated to the NTT IndyCar Series, the road to financial viability remains a rocky one, which amazes a racing junkie like myself who has said for years that the product continues to display spirited competition along with unparalleled fan accessibility at every venue their cars line up at.

While the Fox contract will certainly be a boon for the teams who need more national television exposure for their respective sponsors, it also has the same challenges that NBC Sports experienced, especially in terms of connecting with the coveted younger demographic. 

IndyCar doesn’t need senior citizens like me to raise their profile away from the house Tony Hulman built, and while the great racing it produces each weekend speaks for itself, it still hasn’t quite lassoed the constant eyeballs it needs to remain both relevant and viable. 

Just as it was at NBC, there’s a boatload of talented people at Fox Sports, and l look forward to their efforts with great optimism. But the fact is they aren’t playing with house money on this one, and it needs to work for everyone involved.

Fox won’t find better partners than Roger Penske and Bud Denker who have done wonders at Iowa, Milwaukee, and soon to be Long Beach and Nashville. The gazillion dollar question is can both Fox and Penske Entertainment come together to improve the series?

Creating momentum before and after the Indy 500 is the key and it’s not an easy task.  Getting young people interested is of paramount importance instead of keeping diehards like yours truly content.

It won’t be easy, but it’s not impossible either. The decision to go with Fox Sports was Penske’s and he didn’t become the financial mogul he is by making mistakes, so Iā€™ll simply say welcome to Fox and sit back as they embark on a new era, one that’s hopefully filled with great racing. Let’s drop the green and let the product speak for itself.

Danny Bridges, who salutes the great job NBC did and is willing to do a curmudgeon report at the races for Fox Sports free of charge, can be reached at 317-370-8447 or at bridgeshd@aol.com.

Danny Bridges
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