Happy New Year!
I am pleased to report that I am refreshed and ready to resume the work of The Indy Idea. It is best, I think, that I ease back in to the blogosphere with a quote. I shall leave it to readers to interpret its relevance with regards to the state of contemporary IndyCar racing.
These words were spoken by former Boston Red Sox executive Bill James and reported by Michael MacCambridge in his book, America's Game.
"Baseball in 1960 was run by people who loved baseball, but it was run by people who, because they loved baseball so much, assumed that there was something 'special' about baseball which had propelled it to a predominant position in the American sports world. And because they made this assumption, they allowed the game to drift. They didn't really think about the game as a commercial product; they still don't."
Sound familiar? James continued.
"Pete Rozelle, Lamar Hunt, George Halas and the other people who ran pro football had serious disagreements among themselves, but they all assumed that they had both the right and the responsibility to shape football into the best possible commercial product that could be built upon the framework of the game. If the games were boring, they assumed it was their responsibility to make them more exciting. If the games were too long, they assumed it was their responsibility to trim the fat."
I encourage everyone to keep these words in mind as we recommence the New Day Rising Project. The idea is to transform IndyCar into the best possible commercial product that can be built upon the framework of the racing.
Roggespierre
Roggespierre:
ReplyDeleteYOU HIT THE NAIL RIGHT ON THE HEAD.
Greetings RP! Your quotes are dead on! The NFL as we have seen, has lost it rudder as Indy Car has. Both are good products but fail to inspire its customers as they once did. I believe that the reason for this is has simply been the constant "tweaking" of the rules. For the NFL it has been in efforts to protect the quarterback. For older viewers, this has made it a girls game as real men take the punihment of hitting. For Indy Car it has been trying to make the competition "fair". In either case it has not done justice to the products. So I say, get back to the basics. NFL...let them hit the QB again. Indy Car ......open up the rules again!
ReplyDeleteI don't understand how anyone can say that baseball "didn't really think about the game as a commercial product; they still don't."
ReplyDeleteLet's start with expansion since the 60's, divisional splits and playoffs (with wild cards), the plumping of the TV-rich Red Sox-Yankees, right through interleague play, the All-Star HR Derby, and the blind eye to performance enhancing drugs 'cause chicks dig the long ball.
Baseball, as a spectator sport, is more popular than ever by any measure. Fox pays big dough for the national TV rights. The game saturates the airwaves in every city and area every summer night. MLB has a deliberate divisional structure that allows the middle-rank teams to sniff the playoffs occasionally, and creates the same artificial championships as the NFL does - where 12 teams with strength-rigged schedules make the playoffs.
Indycar's failure is a mix of things, and much is, IMHO, generational. Not many years ago the largest spectator sport was horse racing. Boxing was an important sport; the HWT Champ a huge celebrity. And the "500" was the biggest auto race in America. Today, who much cares about jockeys, boxers or the winner of the 500? Ask Buddy Rice, who needed to celebrity-up when he could.
The solution I advocate is to divest the parasitic series, ignore NASCAR, open the Sweepstakes specs, and put $25 mil on the table...whatever materializes will certainly be economically effective and more entertaining than the current thin gruel - with more being mixed in the IRL kitchen as we speak.
Rocketman53: I agree with your main points re: the 500. My question is: What do we do for our racing "fix" for the rest of the year? I think that is the primary reason Roggespierre started this blog. So, how do we address the rest of the racing season. Indy alone, without races before and after the event is not enough.
ReplyDeleteA series has always spun off the 500. I expect the same will happen, but let's not tie the 500 to a series. It's not like every competitor in the 500 ran the series. Let Penske, et al figure it out with their own capital.
ReplyDeleteRocketman53:
ReplyDeleteI agree that the 500 should not be tied to a series. On the other hand, the series and the 500 should collaborate on a set of rules that allows the people who want to run at Indy can also, if they so desire, run in the series without incurring an exorbitant amount of expense.
Regarding Penske et. al. forming their own series. Do we really want another series controlled by the owners. Oh yeah.... we did that once. It was called CART.
The 500 always was the de facto rules maker for the championship division of AAA/USAC/CART. That's not going to change; the money involved would ensure that. Hang expense, "containing" costs was what somewhat got us here, and what diff did it make? Two, maybe three teams compete to win. Foyt could finish mid-pack or lower for a lot less, which means his operation is more profitable.
ReplyDeleteWhen CART failed, it didn't take the 500 with it. It took private investment capital with it. Frankly, I couldn't care less about any series at this juncture - a series has proven to be no value whatever in promoting the 500, and when that event dies, and it's fading, the whole game is kaput.
Rocketman 53:
ReplyDeleteI understand your passion for saving the 500. I believe it is possible to not only save the 500, but also to separate the series from the 500 and save the series as well. In order for AOWR to survive and grow both entities have to be saved. If the series dies, then there is a vacuum in open wheel racing at the highest level. I would rather see us set up a framework where both the 500 and the series are the best commercial product they can be, based on the racing. The series should not depend on the 500 for support. It should augment and expand the interest that the 500 creates. And for it's part the 500 has to lead the way with it's rules package to encourage as much innovation and participation as possible. This is what I think Roggespierre is trying to accomplish here.
History tells the tale. The 500 supports the rest in every way imaginable - from creating the stars to providing the cash to carry the entrants through the year. It has never worked any other way. Innovation? This is about survival.
ReplyDeleteRocketman53, your basic idea increasingly becomes something that makes me say "Gee, I want to SEE that!"
ReplyDeleteWhich is more than can be said for any ideas and announcements coming out of the league office.
However, Roggespierre has demonstrated such consistently solid thinking on the issues facing IndyCar that I'm also really keen to following along in his brainstorming game.
But hey, if that really leads to nothing but hands thrown up in frustration, NOT that I think it necessarily will, not much will be left beyond a back-to-basics, big-money-on-the-table approach. In that event, I'd jump right into your picket line!