NTT To Boost IndyCar Series Technology, Fan Engagement

NTT's Okuno Tsunehisa

IndyCar fans can "expect to see some notable changes" with NTT on board as the series' new title sponsor, including a "revamped IndyCar mobile app with live data available to all users and, eventually, ways to track favorite drivers in real time as they race," according to Dana Hunsinger Benbow of the INDIANAPOLIS STAR.

IndyCar for years has been "trying to draw in younger fans." IndyCar CEO Mark Miles said that NTT is "key to doing that." Miles: "If there is a part of the demographic in the world today that is digital, data driven, it’s younger fans. As we think about technology innovation that can be developed with NTT, younger fans will be top of mind for us."

Hunsinger Benbow notes in the mobile app's prior iteration, live content was "only available to Verizon customers." But Miles said that the new app "will be open to all fans with access to the platform." Miles said that as a global company, NTT is extremely "interested in IndyCar having a presence" outside of the U.S.

Miles: "That opportunity, our strategy of having a couple international races that are impactful is attractive to NTT" INDIANAPOLIS STAR

In Indianapolis, Mickey Shuey wrote the NTT deal "might surprise some fans of IndyCar, which for its past two sponsorship cycles has paired with Verizon and Izod, two brands widely recognized by American audiences."

The sponsorship from NTT "comes at a time when IndyCar is seeking to expand its audience, which has been mostly stagnant in recent years." IBJ.com.

ART OF THE DEAL: Miles said that Verizon "told the circuit roughly a year ago that they wouldn’t be the sponsor" after '18, and then discussions "intensified with NTT subsidiary company NTT Data throughout last year."

Miles said that the "official arrangement for sponsorship had to be approved by the parent company, which was why there was some nervousness as the group went to Tokyo" in late November. In Detroit, Keith Dunlap notes one member of the IndyCar contingent that "was in the talks was Japanese driver Takuma Sato."

Miles said that there was "serious discussions with another potential sponsor and that would have likely been Plan B, but he was thrilled when things worked out with NTT" DETROIT FREE PRESS

RACER.com's Robin Miller noted last September, IndyCar President Jay Frye received a call from Ganassi Racing COO Doug Duchardt. Duchardt suggested that Frye call NTT Data CFO David Croxville "because the sponsor of Chip Ganassi’s No. 10 car might be looking to do more" in '19. Frye was "ecstatic that NTT was interested, but didn’t want to step on one of his team’s sponsors."

Frye said, “We wouldn’t talk to anyone’s sponsor without the team’s knowledge, and we weren’t going to take a sponsor from a team. They assured us that wasn’t the case, and NTT Data really helped streamline everything" RACER.com