IndyCar to Sportsnet

[Donovan's Monkey]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sport...rticle2446078/

The milk was barely dry on the finish line for Dario Franchitti's win Sunday at the Indianapolis 500 when news arrived that Rogers Sportsnet is taking over the Canadian television rights to the famous race and the other stops on the IndyCar race circuit from TSN.
... it will be a five-year deal for the network.
The package includes the Honda Indy Toronto and the Edmonton Indy, both events held in July each summer.

As I mentioned last year in the thread when Sportsnet started showing the American Le Mans Series , Sportsnet does not have much of a history of carrying motorsports. I notice their website (sportsnet.ca) now has an "auto racing" section like TSN's, when previously the rare articles relating to motorsport would be in a generic 'other sports' (or whatever heading they used) section.

[Donovan's Monkey]

Just to clarify the situation, the rest of the 2012 IndyCar season was on TSN in Canada, and it appears the Sportsnet deal starts in 2013. I have not yet heard of any Rogers official announcement on the subject, but on Sunday night when he was appearing on SpeedTV (a strange move, since their races are on ABC and NBC Sports Network in the U.S.) to announce the 2013 IndyCar schedule, IndyCar CEO Randy Benard mentioned Sportsnet will be carrying the races in Canada.I suppose Rogers now has an advantage over TSN by simply having more channels to allow for a larger quantity of sports events. They've got the four regional Sportsnets, Sportsnet One, Sportsnet World, have bought The Score, and have recently started showing some more sports events (soccer, tennis, in addition to NFL) on Citytv.A few weeks ago TSN aired a Sunday afternoon IndyCar race some time after 2 a.m. on Monday morning, and that was a delay of the originally scheduled delayed airing at 11 p.m. ET, after tennis coverage ran long because of rain.

[Donovan's Monkey]

Rogers Sportsnet has at last officially announced the deal with Indycar.
http://www.sportsnet.ca/pressroom/20...ndycar_series/

[Donovan's Monkey]

I wonder if Sportsnet will continue with this for the duration of the five year TV deal or if they have a way to get out?
Rogers does not care about anything except the NHL, and there may be soon be no IndyCar race in Canada. Allegedly
the Toronto race has only existed in recent years because of government handouts that likely will not continue. The race promoter's contract with the City of Toronto has expired, and it won't happen in July of 2015 because the site will be taken over by the Pan Am Games. The headline of this column buries the lead. Trying to work out an acceptable date for the Toronto race in 2015 would likely be the second issue to be addressed only after finding someone to pay for it in the first place. These things are usually planned more than a year in advance, so the prospect of it returning for 2015 and beyond does not look good. And neither does only 12-15,000 people showing up.
http://www.torontosun.com/2014/07/21...nto-indy-dates

I suppose someone might argue that the alleged amount of less than $2 million a year pales in comparison to a billion being wasted on Pan Am Games, but even as a racing fan I think it's ridiculous that government would be paying for any of this stuff. Recreational sports facilities are okay for government to pay for, but not elite level and professional sports and for-profit events. Mosport (or Canadian Tire Motorsports Park), the permanent racing track mentioned in the column, is about an hour east of Toronto and is owned by a billionaire, Carlo Fidani. Let him decide if he wants to pay to have it at his place or not.

If it wasn't for the Indianapolis 500, the series probably would not exist. TV ratings in the US are microscopic. It was reported that the recent Pocono race had a 0.2 rating equating to only 342,000 TV viewers, and disappointing attendance at the track.
http://www.sportsmediawatch.com/2014...bespn-indycar/
http://articles.philly.com/2014-07-0...andon-igdalsky

[Donovan's Monkey]

The five year contract (after apparently being extended to a sixth year to cover 2018) with Sportsnet has expired, and apart from the races to be on the main NBC network (with the rest of them on NBCSN in the US) there is still no arrangement for Canadian TV with about a month left until the first race of 2019.
http://norrismcdonald.ca/were-out-of...indycar-races/

Scott Moore , who negotiated the contract ... is no longer with the Rogers company.

http://www.wheels.ca/news/hans-device/
Probably very unlikely, but I've read a suggestion elsewhere that if Sportsnet, TSN and Discovery Velocity aren't interested, maybe IndyCar should consider buying time on CHCH. It would get them on satellite (Bell TV and Shaw Direct) across Canada and I assume cable systems at least across Ontario. The CHCH weekend afternoon schedule is paid programming and "public domain" movies.