The "international series"

[lizardfolk]

Ok... so I'm a little confused about this "international series" business. From a few sources it says the Miles condensed the schedule to make room for international series outside of the states because logistically throwing in oversea races in the middle of the year is a bad idea in general.

So Miles wants to expand in South America before the American middle block and go into Asia/Pacific Rim after... yet another article says that any and all international races will be non-points races mean to just give the teams something to do over the winter...

So is IndyCar planning on racing literally all year round?... or are they planning on having a few international races be a part of the actual schedule after a year or two of non-points running? I'm a little confused.

[skypigeon]

To be honest, I think they are too

Sounds more like tossing an idea up in the air to judge reactions than an actual plan, doesn't it?

[sherold]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/109365

They have not made a decision (at least publicly) on how it will be structured and its impact on the regular season. Sounds like Miles is being smart about it and getting buy-in and suggestions from the teams before diving into a chosen format.

[steal your face]

There will never be a winter - international series. They can barely run the one they have now.
I wouldn't worry about it.

[Grizzlor]

The plan is that any international events held Jan, Feb, March would be part of the championship. Any events held at the end of the year though would not be.

[Z28]

I may be wrong but this international adventure comes from the BCG study and Miles likes following that. Now we're going to see where that leads the series.

As an academic theory I'm sure it looks like a great idea as described in the opening post. I don't see it planned as more than 6 events, yes keep the crews working but the travel makes more than that into a chore. Beyond that they don't need to be point paying races because their purpose should be to be money making races. Offsetting the fact that out of country races draw little attention from US media by having them pay Hulman Racing far more money than US races would bring in. It works really well if they find two events in a given region within a week of two of each other so the freight travel could be combined and make it more economical for the two promoters.


Where I see it being a huge miscalculation is what promoters will be willing to pay any price to bring an INDYCAR event to another country. Yes there are numerous racetracks around the world that are capable and maybe interested, but the question is how would they make any money? INDYCAR doesn't bring along the same level of sponsorship that F-1 does, it doesn't provide a worldwide TV audience nor a driver lineup of stars known around the world so I can't imagine ti would sell as many tickets. How does a promoter make his money back? If BCG didn't include that in their report, they should have.

[FTHurley]

It's not a direct "because" relationship. Here's how I think they're related (the condensed scheduled and a hypothetical international or winter series).

1.) They're condensing the schedule because right now there's only a market for so many IndyCar races per year, and big gaps CRUSH momentum, and they haven't a prayer going up against football and NASCAR's Chase together, and so it makes sense to take the races they have and try to run them without any gaps of more than a weekend off here and there, and be done by the time football is starting.

2.) That does present other problems, like what to do with the now-massive offseason during which (even more) people can forget the series exists. They can start earlier - as early as late January, really - but they run into the same problem of only being able to financially justify so many IndyCar races based in the mareketplace right now. If the condensed schedule can actually amplify things and build momentum - and who knows - then in a couple of years they can grow the schedule on the front end, but for now, 16-18 weekends is about it.

3.) But what if a few foreign venues are willing to write some good sized checks to bring IndyCar over during that offseason? Maybe three events, ideally in some vaguely similar chunk of the globe, across which the teams and series could all turn a modest profit while also getting a chance to turn some laps without it counting for points? Nobody has to fund their entire budget or anything; just let everyone make a little extra money, keep the crews employed over the winter, and give hard-core fans something to DVR in December and January. And if venues comes and go, and it's not the most stable of series, no big deal, since it's not the actual IndyCar series, which is happily chugging along on its 16-18 weekends from March to September in North America.

So no, I don't think the lack of an international series means the condensed schedule was pointless, because I don't think it was a direct "A because then B" relationship.

Of course, I'm also presently all of this in the most optimistic light. I'm not saying any of this will actually work. I just think it's what they're hoping will work. It's a little bit of a chicken and egg problem. I think you could find three international venues that would be interested in December and January races. But first you need the condensed schedule and network-heavy front end of the schedule to actually work, and help maintain momentum in the ratings. And that's tough to do with a 37-month offseason (approximately).

[Richard Kimble]

''winter series''


Euphemism for blowing smoke......

[ramberg]

I guess my concern is that December/January races still conflict with the NFL, don't they??

[jkeener24]

I guess my concern is that December/January races still conflict with the NFL, don't they??

Not in the overseas markets that they would theoretically be running in. I don't think they're terribly worried about US TV viewership for these.

[Grizzlor]

I guess my concern is that December/January races still conflict with the NFL, don't they??

Not if they're run in the middle of the night. As Z28 said, this is being proposed to get a pay check to the owners, which in turn could keep many crew members employed longer. There are some sponsors who appreciate the markets they may go to. GoDaddy would have stayed on in some fashion with Hinch had the Brazil race been on the schedule.

Look if it doesn't work, it doesn't work, but you have to try new things. IndyCar unfortunately has the luxury of doing so, whereas NASCAR would never contemplate such a "risk." At this point, most of what IndyCar does is no-risk. What I would say is that Mark Miles' condensed schedule is NOT in order to do an international series. It's clearly to avoid football season.

[lizardfolk]

Thanks for the responses guys. I guess this clears it up. For the record... I don't think any of this is going to happen either but I just wanted to know what's the series was actually thinking. If it does happen I'll be all for it obviously :P

[ramberg]

wow, I would think that US viewership is more imprtant than that. Hmm...

Not in the overseas markets that they would theoretically be running in. I don't think they're terribly worried about US TV viewership for these.

[jkeener24]

wow, I would think that US viewership is more imprtant than that. Hmm...

I mean, they know what the ratings have been for the regular season races. I'd assume less people will tune in to non-points races. My guess is the money they'd make from sanctioning or international TV would be the primary goal. They're not going to run them if they don't make money and I don't think there's a chance in hell that a US TV audience will make them any money.

[Grizzlor]

Well, I doubt they can even tape delay the races until Sunday afternoons if they wanted, because NASCAR will likely be on NBCSN. Again, that's something people forget when grrrring at Mile's schedule. Had it extended past Labor Day, he would be stuck picking dates around the NASCAR TV Schedule. The race teams largely want this international expansion, and Miles has tasked his underlings to see about making it happen.