Posted by Eric Smith in Indy Car on February 20, 2012  |  0 Comments More from this author  |  Website

The IZOD IndyCar Series held their own “State of the Union” presentations in Indianapolis last week. CEO Randy Bernard addressed many topics and gave updates for the upcoming 2012 season.

First off, Bernard said the series’ television audience last season was up 28 percent from 2010, and he expects it to grow another 15 percent this season. He went on to say attendance at the track was up 9.8 percent, and that the series was going to be more aggressive this year to put even more people in the seats and would like to see a 15 percent increase this year in attendance at the tracks.

Bernard also said the biggest gain was in the PR field. The series had a 36.8 percent increase in print articles, a 29 percent web increase, and a staggering 103 percent on blog posts.

As far as television coverage this year, the series announced every race will be shown live on either ABC/ESPN or the new NBC Sports Network.

NBC Sports Network is the old Versus, as NBC recently bought Versus out.

Bernard made it very clear that "Versus" is no longer in the sport's vocabulary: “Last year we stood up here on the stage and told you we never wanted to use that acronym IRL again. You’ve supported IndyCar very strongly. This year we’re going to ask you to never use the word 'Versus' again.”

ABC/ESPN will carry six of the 16 events live, while the remaining 10 will air live on NBC Sports Network.

NBC Sports Network will also have a new program called IndyCar 36. The show will follow a new driver around every weekend and show 100 percent of what goes on in their lives during a race weekend. The network will turn that into a 30-minute show each week which will air three or four times during the week.

NBC Sports Network will also show 100 percent of the Firestone Indy Lights series races, compared to only eight of the feeder series events last season.

As far as the 2012 schedule, Bernard confirmed Milwaukee will be back on this year's schedule to go along with new races in Fontana, Detroit, and most significantly, China.

Another big announcement was that Firestone will be the primary tire supplier for the series through the 2014 season. That too is big as Firestone’s future in the series had been questionable past this season. Teams and drivers had been pushing for the return of Firestone and its famously dependable tires.

The Series also announced that IndyCar is now partnered with Discover Card and will have a Discover IndyCar credit card. Fans will get rewards for using the card and reap many benefits.

Other announcements in the field of marketing strategies included the announcement that LIDS will now be managing the efforts for the Izod IndyCar Series and the Firestone Indy Lights Series. Merchandising efforts will be ramping up for both series starting this season. Another marketing strategies announcement was that Fuzzy’s Vodka will now be the official vodka of the Izod IndyCar Series.

All of these new changes is a huge step in the right direction. I’ve believed for many years that the series needs to get on TV more. Now, IndyCar has a great chance to showcase their drivers more with new programming, and have fans get familiar with the up-and-coming drivers from the Indy Lights series now that all the races will be shown.

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