Low TV ratings putting IndyCar teams out of business (Update)

UPDATE A reader writes, Dear AR1.com, I have been quiet for awhile but I could not agree more about the TV ratings. In fact if I had to guess, the only reason Verizon sponsors 2 cars and the series is probably because Penske did a B2B deal by switching all his dealerships and employee cell phones in all those dealerships to Verizon. Ditto for the Shell sponsorship – I bet that is another B2B deal with Penske's dealerships as is Hitachi and others.

I am sure Target cut back to one car because they could not justify paying for 2 with those ratings. I wonder how many legit sponsors are left when you take out the B2B deals in the paddock as well as the ride-buyer sponsors. Probably not many and your reasoning (low TV ratings) is pretty much spot on. Mordichai Rosen, Los Angeles, CA

After Hartman (L) pulled out due to his sinking oil business, Fisher (C) could not find a replacement sponsor.

01/28/16 Pathetic TV ratings on NBCSN has now cost the IndyCar series two more teams. The Sarah Fisher team is done and the KV Racing team is down to just one car. We remember when KV was a 3 and 4 car team.

Teams cannot sell sponsorship when TV ratings are below 1.0 – we have harped on this for ages. IndyCar must get at least a 1.0 average rating for all their races before sponsors will begin to take notice.

How many races have also failed over the years because the ratings are so low and they cannot land a title sponsor?

IndyCar prefers to collect their nice check from NBCSN and use it to fund their welfare system – i.e. their Leader Circle program.

Welfare only works if it seeks to eliminate the need for its own existence. In this case IndyCar has made it a necessary lifeline for its fledgling teams, perpetuating their impoverished condition.

TV ratings below 1.0 are meaningless to sponsors so if a team can't land a ride-buyer with enough money they have to shut the car down.

The way IndyCar runs the series with the welfare model is an indication just how ass-backward the series is run. Albert Einstein said it best – the definition of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

In sports TV ratings are king. Just ask the NFL, NASCAR and F1 (global)

100% of IndyCar races need to be on network TV – either ABC or NBC, or a split between the two networks.