IndyCar Market Selection must Confound Versus

Leadership at The Mountain promised in an earlier post to assess exactly what it might be that IRL management has strategically determined it will not do. We know of two activities.

Strategic Initiatives that IRL Management Will Not Do

• Compensate suppliers of racing teams in proportion with the market value they contribute.
• Manage the IRL supply chain to achieve measurable goals in the marketplace.
  

Non-Strategic Activities that IRL Management Will Do

• Race at an Edmonton airport because a promoter will pay for it
• Race at half-filled Twin Ring Motegi to guarantee supply of overpriced engines
• Race at an undisclosed Brazilian location in exchange for series "sponsorship"
• Consider racing in a New England parking lot for reasons known only to the divine
• Race at Barber Motorsports Park, where on-track passing is less likely than Louis regaining his head, and where attendance must be capped at 30,000 paying customers
• Dispatch Al Unser, Jr. to assist an uproven promoter in its effort to extract government subsidies for a "race" in Baltimore

Versus must regret wasting valuable air time promoting this undisciplined dog. The value of its broadcast asset is decreased by each IRL management action above. How so? The reasons vary by venue.

• In some cases, the problem is predictably lousy on-track competition.
• In others, the IRL markets to countries not served by Versus.
• In each, the style of racing attracts a disproportionate number of international drivers that are unlikely to be accepted by a large American television audience.

If IRL management continues to follow its non-strategic course, then the Committee of Public Safetly suspects that Versus is probably looking forward to two distinctive landmark occasions.

1. Opening Day of the 2009 College Football Season
2. The execution date of the first out clause in its contract with the Indy Racing League

We are unable to identify a 2009 IRL management decision that can be synthesized with the interests of the league's initially enthusiastic U.S. television partner. No, lining up advertising purchases by Apex Brasil and IZOD does not count. We'll explain when we further examine this issue after ratings for Sonoma are released next week.

Recall that the exquisitely capitalized CART series effectively purchased and re-sold television time for the duration of its existence. That oganization inherited stars like Foyt, Andretti, and the Unsers and developed some of its own, such as Mears, Sullivan and Rahal.

The present iteration of IndyCar racing has no stars of their caliber. More troubling, IRL management activities suggest that establishing new stars that would better serve the interests of the U.S. television partner is not a priority.

Roggespierre