Versus Indycar promos

[luke]

Tony George went to a hockey game and became part of the TV broadcast.

VERSUS used its telecast of the NHL All-Star Game on Jan. 25 to begin promotion of its inaugural season of IndyCar Series and Firestone Indy Lights coverage - a full 10 weeks before the schedule kicks off on the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla. On-air spots were complemented by commentators effusing about the addition of the series during breaks in the action as a camera honed in on the Indy Racing League CEO.

http://www.facebook.com/video/video.php?v=50717856127
http://www.facebook.com/video/video...oid=46749785854

^^ links to the promos

They need all the promotion they can get to try and lure in more fans. Not saying its going to make a difference but its good to see something is atleast starting to be done and they care.

[madman16]

I know much has been said of Versus taking over the coverage this season and i am a little concerned what that means for me in Australia. I have not heard whether we still get it or not.

I'm not 100% privvie on the deal but i'm told it's not a big a network with less coverage but atleast they are trying i guess. It's about new fans not the ones they already have

[cptkablamo]

I believe it should still appear on ESPN as I read somewhere that they kept the rights for international broadcasts for this end of the world

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by madman16

I know much has been said of Versus taking over the coverage this season and i am a little concerned what that means for me in Australia. I have not heard whether we still get it or not.

ESPN International retained the international rights. You'll have the same announcer team of Larry Rice and Gary Lee.

I'm not 100% privvie on the deal but i'm told it's not a big a network with less coverage but atleast they are trying i guess. It's about new fans not the ones they already have

Yes, obviously. But it was the best deal they were offered. ABC only wanted to carry Indy because it's the only race the masses care about and they made money on. No one in the U.S. cares about any racing not named NASCAR as far as mainstream appeal. So the IRL made a deal where ABC got Indy and 4 other races (Milwaukee, Iowa, Watkins Glen, and Toronto) and the remaining races would be carried on Versus. And all of ABC's races will be on ABC, no races will be on ESPN.

[madman16]

Thanks guys. As long as i still get my Indy fix i will be happy.

Flyin Ryan: you're not trying to say that Americans don't know other stuff exists are you

[Flyin Ryan]

Tried to revise my post and it went over the 10-minute mark.

Anyway, Versus is owned by a cable company that is trying to create a sports channel rival to ESPN. They're most widely known for carrying the National Hockey League, the smallest of the "Big Four" sports of football, baseball, basketball, and ice hockey. Versus pushes the NHL to the moon as its their top property and its coverage is easily better than what they would've gotten on ESPN otherwise. They also have regular World Extreme Cagefighting coverage (2nd-largest MMA promotion in North America, I know it gets them decent numbers), some college football, Tour de France every summer. I know they've tried to get the Thursday night NFL games a couple years ago where they were going to overpay just to get the programming but the NFL decided to keep the games and put them on their own network. They also tried to get baseball and I think threatened ESPN a little because without baseball, ESPN programming would die in the summer months from when the NBA ended til the NFL began, but MLB decided to stick with ESPN.

There's obvious upsides and downsides. Better and more expanded coverage will be a treat to the fans. There will be live qualifying coverage, a 30-minute pre-race, a 30-minute post-race, they'll carry all the Indy Lights races, and talk of perhaps having a midweek show discussing Indycar. Plus, it won't be treated like an afterthought where coverage was cut into all the time like it was at ESPN. ESPN only really cared about Indy. As far as getting new fans into the sport, yes, I think that will hurt a bit. But I don't they really had a choice on the matter.

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by madman16

Thanks guys. As long as i still get my Indy fix i will be happy.

Flyin Ryan: you're not trying to say that Americans don't know other stuff exists are you

Not at all. They know other racing exists, they're just not fans of it or care about it.

[DanicaFan]

I heard that the IRL lost DirecTV as its series sponsor due to the league having the races shown on Versus which is owned by Comcast and Comcast is one of DirecTV's competitors. So they dont think they should have their logo blasted all over a direct competitor's channel. That makes sense and I cant blame them.

It's not good news for the IRL. Im telling you, I was never crazy about this switch to Versus but I was willing to give it a try but this just may have sealed the deal for me not liking it all.

[mountainstar]

No it certainly says something when you go from the #1 sports network to #4, #7 or #10(whatever versus is in the rankings). I heard sponsors were not too pleased with the move.

tony george said at some sports business forum late last year the irl has never cleared a profit and by 2013 wouldn't be around if it didn't. All I see is it getting worse not better. This tv deal just helps it get worse.

[Flyin Ryan]

Originally Posted by mountainstar

No it certainly says something when you go from the #1 sports network to #4, #7 or #10(whatever versus is in the rankings).

That NASCAR is #1 and nothing else matters.