One year after NBC assumed the rights from longtime broadcaster ABC, the network is preparing to bring one of the iconic events in sports to a potentially record-setting television audience Sunday. The reasons are many, but the biggest are these: There remain far fewer live events than normal because of the COVID-19 pandemic, none of the 300,000 fans that turn out each year will be there in person, and the event itself still stirs a certain sense of Americana among race fans.
IndyCar and IMS announced Thursday that the 2020 Indianapolis 500 will be postponed from its scheduled May 24 start date to Aug. 23, the first time the race has been completed later than May.
Roger Penske now owns the iconic speedway, its hallowed grounds, “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing,” the IndyCar Series and all its properties, including the IndyCar Series and Indianapolis Motor Speedway Productions, in a stunning deal announced Monday.
Sunday’s race averaged a combined 5.446 million viewers watching on NBC and online via NBCSports.com and the NBC Sports app. The broadcast-only average of 5.414 million viewers makes it the most-watched Indianapolis 500 in three years. NBC took over the broadcast rights this year from ABC, the network that had aired the race for 54 years.
After airing every Indy 500 from 1965 through last season, ABC was outbid for the rights by NBC, giving the network exclusivity over the IndyCar Series. And that means Mike Tirico, who spent 25 years with ESPN before heading to NBC in 2016, will host the broadcast Sunday alongside Danica Patrick and a host of other celebrities, analysts and reporters.
Exclusives
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — NBC Sports will use retired NASCAR star Dale Earnhardt Jr. in its inaugural broadcast of the Indianapolis 500 next month. The second-year analyst will be part of a team that features 14 commentators and host Mike Tirico and analyst Danica Patrick. Earnhardt will be a roving reporter for his first Indianapolis 500 […]
STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) — NBC Sports announced Friday that Mike Tirico will anchor the network’s inaugural Indianapolis 500 coverage on May 26, giving him his first glimpse at the largest single-day crowd to attend a sporting event anywhere in the world. “I am thrilled to join our team as we cover one of America’s iconic […]
Beginning in 2019, the Indianapolis 500 race will be broadcast on NBC after 54 years on ABC as part of a new multi-year media rights deal between IndyCar and NBC Sports Group.
Blackout Lifted, WRTV To Air Indy 500 Live
For only the third time since 1950 the Indianapolis 500 will be broadcast live in Central Indiana. Officials with the Indianapolis Motor Speedway announced they are lifting the local TV blackout, allowing ABC affiliate WRTV to air the race on Sunday, May 29.
Central Indiana television viewers might see the Indianapolis 500 live after all. Indianapolis Motor Speedway officials discussed lifting the blackout Monday, ultimately deciding not to so long as unsold tickets remain, and there are some.
