Bernard addresses concerns at State of INDYCAR
IndyCar commentary, Interviews, Podcasts — By Paul Dalbey on February 15, 2012 9:31 amFollowing the two-day State of INDYCAR conference, INDYCAR CEO Randy Bernard spent a few minutes with More Front Wing to discuss some of the headlines of recent days and address some questions about INDYCAR’s relationship with SMI and ISC and the future direction of the IZOD IndyCar Series. A transcript of his responses is below. To hear the interview in its entirety, click on the player below or search for More Front Wing on iTunes.
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On the INDYCAR Mobile app being available only to US-based Verizon users:
“I think that Verizon has been a remarkable partner, and I think that one of the most important things we can do besides building our fan base is being able to generate and fulfill great sponsors and Verizon is one of those. They’ve stepped up to the plate and offered this app, they’ve spent millions of dollars on it, and it’s for Verizon users. Hopefully, people will switch phones to Verizon. If you’ve ever had a Verizon compared to any of the other services, I’ll guarantee you’ll like it a lot more. I’m doing every fan a favor by getting you to switch over, trust me. I’ve had them all. I love Verizon. It’s the best.”
Whether INDYCAR will offer at-track rental equipment for non-Verizon users:
“At this point, no. Down the road, I think we just need to sit down with Verizon, our partner, and determine what is in everyone’s best interest and go from there. But they’ve been great to work with, and they’ve invested so much into this. It’s only fair to let their key customers use it.”
Availability of online streaming for 2012:
“It’s not going to happen. It was something that we fought for, and it was not in the rights. And we still have six more years left on that contract. That’s NBC, but ABC has the same problems.”
Whether the ESPN3 stream will be for the race only or all weekend:
“That’s a good question. I don’t have an answer to that.”
Whether Milwaukee can be successful in 2012:
“I think we need to see some success for sure this year. I produced about 225 events with PBR, and it was not uncommon that you could take an event and produce an event with four months to go. I think that especially in today’s world and in the past several years we see the purchasing of tickets really is in that last 60 days and even less. So, do I believe we can be successful? Yes. The traditionalists and the purists really want to see this race, and I think that it’s important for us. It has such a legendary status being one of the oldest tracks in the country. We need to really try and make it successful.”
How the situation in Milwaukee differs from New Hampshire:
“We wanted to try again, find the right date. We shot ourselves in the foot up there a little bit. There was a big air show within 60 miles of there that did over 100,000 people that day. That was an annual event. That’s the same type of person that would go to a race. I think the rain hurt us. There were quite a few things. So, I think Jerry Gappens would be interested in another race.” (Are there discussions going forward, maybe in ’13 or ’14?) “I think we’ll address it at a separate point.”
Relationship with SMI:
“I wouldn’t say great friends. I’d say it’s a very business-to-business relationship. It’s a quality relationship, but it’s business to business. I don’t go out to dinner or drink with them or socialize.”
How the tragedy at Vegas and the aftermath impacted INDYCAR’s relationship with SMI:
“They addressed my concerns in a very responsive manner. There were some comments that were inappropriate. But Chris Powell — and Kevin Camper used to be my Chief Marketing Officer at PBR — I have a tremendous amount of respect for them. And when you have a tragedy like that you can never prepare for it, and I think that everyone’s stress levels were straight through the roof. But it was, again, business to business.”
Relationship with ISC:
“Again, business to business. I am friends with John Saunders and some of them. I think that if scheduling permits and if they can provide deals that make sense, I think you’ll see some additional ISC tracks on the schedule for 2013. We never had any negativity — let me rephrase that — we never walked away and said we’ll never have another event with ISC. It was just a matter of making sure that it made sense for both of us.”
Starting the IZOD IndyCar Series season earlier in 2013:
“Possibly — again, if it makes sense. I think the most important thing we can do is really be strategic on our long-term planning of our events and make sure that they are well thought out.”
Thanks for the Verizon advertisement, Randy. I appreciate you requiring me to cancel my current provider (at a sizable expense) and purchase another device in order to follow IndyCar on my mobile device. Of course, I recognize that sponsorship money is the proverbial “legs that feed the wolf”…fragmenting your fan base by restricting IndyCar mobile access from the 67% or so of Americans who *don’t* have Verizon service is a sure way to gain new fans to grease those sponsorship wheels! Please keep up the great work.
/sarcasm
Whinge moan whinge moan whinge moan. I’m Aussie, we don’t even HAVE Verizon, let alone access to the app. Ultimately, if you’re in the USA and call yourself a real fan, you might be inclined to switch to Verizon.
This industry is no chairty Dumpus, Verizon has a right to try and leverage it’s involvement in IndyCar to gain customers. You could always get a second mobile on Verizon’s cheapest plan to get access to the app.
After all, they spent the money developing the product – it didn’t just magically appear.
In short,
Quit your bloody whingeing cry baby.
No need to act like that, it is a legit question about opening up the app for other services. I have Sprint and even though I’m a big Indy fan, I will not swtich over because my plan can’t be touched by Verizon. Indycar should have done this app, there is no reason to alienate a good part of the fan base. What happens when Verizon leaves off being a part of Indycar?
Man, I’m sorry. I really should count my blessings…I mean, I didn’t even think you guys HAD internet down there, and here I am bitching about Indycar being the only major sport in the entire United States that doesn’t have a free mobile app to follow news and results.
and wtf is “whinge”?
“Whinge” is the non-American English equivalent of “whine”. Have no idea where American English lost the “g”.
Interesting on the online streaming front because Andy Hall from ESPN told me blunt on twitter that ESPN does NOT have practice or qualifying rights for their 6 races. Just to check I re-asked who does have the rights on qualifying for their races, and he said “thats a question for IndyCar” check my twitter timeline, and feel free to send it Randy’s way with a question mark.
Indycar needs to get back on track and iron out these issues. It seems that all the good momentum buildt up the last couple of years is slipping. I remember the ALMS had great momentum five years ago but in about a years time it was all lost. Lets hope Indycar doesn’t fall to the same fate.