Franchitti & Dixon Part of IndyCar Problem

The Republic loves Pressdog. Good-natured satire is hard to find in the Age of Colbert, but the Dog does it right. We also appreciate his ability to blend fan-based insight and hilarious one-liners.

Reporting from Chicagoland this weekend, P-dog subtly identified the primary obstacles that prevent IndyCar racing from producing a racing product that is competitive in the marketplace. These, of course, are the series' own drivers and teams.

"Dario is not a fan of Chicagoland. Questioners
after qualifying asked Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon how Chicagoland ranked among their favorite tracks. Dario said it wasn't high on his list, although he did give it credit for entertaining fans. I think Dixon felt about the same."

The Republic would like to know why citizens should give a damn whether or not Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon enjoy racing at Chicagoland? They probably don't like Texas, either, but that race actually draws a legitimately competitive audience at the track and on television.

When the IRL first announced that it would race on the streets of St. Petersburg, Roggespierre asked a league official to explain the decision. The response was chilling.

"We're doing it because our teams want it."

This is gross negligence with regard to product management. The personal tastes of suppliers are irrelevant to strategic decisions further up the supply chain.

Serve the Firm, not the Suppliers

For example, Wal-Mart does not consider the wishes of Mattel, Samsung and Wrangler when it selects new store locations. Wal-Mart is hated by suppliers because its market share gives it power to dictate pricing, scheduling and payment terms. Suppliers can either live with the unfavorable terms or not sell their products at Wal-Mart.

IRL management can't match Wal-Mart, but it does possess more buying power than it seems to recognize. IRL cars and engines can't be used anywhere else. Other racing series are downsizing. Some teams might want to leave IndyCar, but they really have nowhere else to go. And it isn't as if IndyCar teams are furnishing a racing product that's easy to sell.

Franchitti and Dixon: Non-Performing Assets

Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon are two of the biggest stars in IndyCar. Unfortunately, in the greater sports entertainment marketplace, they are not stars at all. IndyCar is not a competitive product, and one reason is that Franchitti and Dixon are not competitive with Tony Stewart and Jimmie Johnson, Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, Venus and Serena Williams, and so on.

There is a very good option for road racers who don't make it to Formula 1. It is called sports car racing, and it's a good fit.

1. High tech cars


2. Road and street courses


3. Financing not contingent on spectator support or market demand for the product

Franchitti and Dixon are talented racing drivers who have been rejected in the marketplace. If they and other top IndyCar drivers and teams were attracting fans in droves, then the Committee of Public Safety would advise IRL management to keep them happy. But that is not the case.

Would the IndyCar racing product become less competitive if Franchitti and Dixon were replaced by Paul Tracy and Buddy Rice? Casey Mears and A.J. Allmendinger? A.J. Foyt IV and Al Unser III?

TV ratings were better and attendance was similar when Greg Ray and Scott Sharp were the stars. The product was therefore more competitive in the marketplace despite the presence of CART, an entrenched and well capitalized direct competitor that no longer exists.

Franchitti and Dixon are talented but not valuable. NASCAR (sans-culottes!) has demonstrated where U.S. customer demand for motorsports can be found. The locations include lots of tracks that Franchitti and Dixon probably don't like. Ironically, they also include two road courses, so long as domestic oval racers are doing the driving.

Is that fair? No, but that's the marketplace. Despite their wishes, IRL management and IndyCar drivers and teams aren't going to change it. Past attempts ended in financial ruin. IndyCar will grow after it adapts to market demand, whether Franchitti and Dixon like it or not.

Roggespierre

IRL Management Quiz Answer: Hot Zips

Hot Zips are zip codes that are disproportionately represented in Nielsen television ratings samples. Product managers and television promotions personnel can purchase hot zips information from Nielsen and then use it to allocate advertising and promotions expenditures to the over-represented areas.

Contrary to claims made by Al Sharpton and others, the poor and lower middle classes tend to be over-represented in Nielsen samples.

This is important information for product managers and marketers who seek to establish a mass market television audience. There are not only fewer rich than poor, but also fewer of the rich than of the poor represented in television ratings. In addition, it is well known in the broadcast industry that less wealthy individuals tend to watch more television than their wealthy counterparts.

Hot Zips also tend to be clustered in regions that are within a mile or two of major Interstate highways. This makes sense because it aids Nielsen in its data collection efforts.

Roggespierre

IndyCar - Another IMS Executive Defection

The Indianapolis Business Journal (subscription required) reports that Charlie Morgan has vacated the top broadcast position at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Indy Racing League. Morgan, a respected radio talent and manager in Indianapolis, will run radio operations at Emmis Communications.

We shall have more to say about this in the near future. IMS Corp CEO Jeff Belskus is said to be forming a new leadership team.

IndyCar: Versus by the Numbers

We like numbers at The Indy Idea. Numbers provide tangible data points from which we can derive a reasonably accurate assessment of IndyCar's positioning and performance in the competitive marketplace.

The size of the average IndyCar television audience is particularly instructive. Television ratings in many ways constitute a perfectly competitive market. After cable and satellite fees have been paid, the only remaining costs are opportunity costs. Watching one live program necessarily means not watching another. At any particular point in time, the only additional option is to not watch any live television program at all.

Connections, personal sales, and inflated capitalization ratios can not buy good television ratings. TV numbers can't be skewed by complimentary race tickets and compulsory participation in corporate sales outings. TV viewership therefore gives us a reasonable approximation of citizens' relative preferences based on their behavior in the marketplace. The egalitarian foundation of TV ratings strips away noise and lays bare the truths of market acceptance and rejection.


Publicly available data regarding IndyCar ratings on Versus are a mixed bag. Yes, the overall numbers are bad, but such an assessment hardly qualifies as serious analysis. More to the point, mere observation is not a useful management tool. It is clear that IRL management must devise a strategy to increase the competitiveness of IndyCar racing in the television viewership marketplace.

This is a fundamental metric in the sports entertainment sector. That IRL managers are not held accountable for achieving competitive TV ratings is beyond comprehension.

IRL management must identify sources of competitive advantage that enable some broadcast properties to thrive on Versus. What are the key variables that separate the winners and losers? If IRL managers were to seriously engage in product development - a leap, we admit, given their history of refusing to manage the product - then how might they manipulate and manage those key variables? Which metrics should be used to determine success and failure?

Roggespierre, with aid from Danton and Marat, shall examine the available numbers and explore the questions above in the coming days. We encourage those who work at 4565 West 16th Street to join us. If the knitters conclude that TV ratings do in fact fall under IRL management purview, then it could be the Montagnards here that save your heads!

Roggespierre

IndyCar IRL Management Quiz for the Citizens

Good Morning, citizens! We begin today with a question for IRL management. We encourage those who care about the future of IndyCar racing to forward this question to management and let us know whether or not you receive an answer. This could be fun!

Question: What has IRL management done this season to leverage hot zips to increase the value of the IndyCar racing product? What were the results?

The Indy Idea is curious to learn whether or not anyone at IRL management even knows about hot zips. Don't bother looking on Google - the answer isn't there. Only product managers and professionals in a few select industries would know. We ask that they keep the answer to themselves until tonight. We'll give the answer then... unless IRL management beats us to it.