Ganassi says IndyCar should remain a North American series
Chip Ganassi wants IndyCar to stay in North America |
The IndyCar series is interested in introducing a couple of international races, certainly one at Mexico City, and perhaps another. That doesn’t seem to have unanimous support within the paddock, especially Chip Ganassi.
Ganassi told the IndyStar, "I’ve said this 100 times, and I’ll say it again: It works in our time zones. People want their racing, I’m sorry, they want it on Saturday or Sunday in an hour they are awake. They don’t want to see the results on their computer. It’s the same battle they faced in Korea for the Olympics. People know the results ahead of time so they don't watch it.
Until IndyCar has a big global following from proper international TV distribution, IndyCar has no business overseas |
"You need to be accessing our fans. How many times have we tried this? How many stupid events have we heard about that never made it? Count them up. Please, can we please get over this idea?
"It’s still a national championship whether people want to believe it or not. One international race, OK. Would I like to go to Japan? Sure. Would I like to go to Australia? I’d love to.
"These are places we have fans. One or two races outside of the U.S. for a little cache, OK, great. Not at the beginning of the season, not at the end of the season. Not the first race, not the last race. I don’t want to hear these grandiose goofy ideas about how going to Siberia in the summertime is going to help our fans or help us get sponsors.
"All the sponsors sold at these races out of the country, added together, wouldn’t sponsor one car for half of season — that’s ever been sold for every single one. So don’t tell me how great it’s going to be.
"We’ve been there, we’ve done that. Do I need to give a history lesson?
"Mexico City and Canada. What’s wrong with that?"
Chip is right. And besides, IndyCar has no big overseas following because it has no TV deals with other countries like F1 has. You must hatch the egg before growing the chicken.
IndyCar has some great races. They should hire Bernie Ecclestone to help do overseas TV deals. Once IndyCar becomes better known, then perhaps racing overseas makes sense.
This is the global TV empire that Bernie Ecclestone built for F1 while IndyCar was asleep at the wheel
Country | TV Network | Language |
Albania | Top Channel | Albanian |
Andorra | Movistar F1 | Spanish |
Armenia | Setanta Sports + | Russian |
Asia | STAR Sports Channels | English |
Fox Sports Asia Channels | English | |
Australia | Network Ten | English |
Fox Sports | English | |
Austria | ORF eins | German |
Azerbaijan | Idman TV | Azerbaijani |
Setanta Sports + | Russian | |
Belarus | Setanta Sports + | Russian |
Belgium | Play Sports | Dutch |
Sporza | Dutch | |
RTBF La Deux | French | |
Bosnia and Herzegovina | Sport Klub | Serbian |
Bulgaria | Diema Sport | Bulgarian |
Diema Sport 2 | Bulgarian | |
Brazil | Globo | Portuguese |
SporTV | Portuguese | |
Canada | RDS / RDS2 / RDS Info | French |
TSN / TSN2 / TSN3 / TSN4 / TSN5 | English | |
Central Asia | Setanta Sports + | Russian |
China | Various regional broadcasters | Chinese |
Croatia | Arena Sport | Croatian |
Czech Republic | Sport 1 | Czech/Slovak |
Sport 2 | ||
Sport 3 | ||
Cyprus | CytaVision | Greek |
Denmark | TV3+/TV3+ HD | Danish |
Estonia | TV6 | Estonian |
Viasat Sport Baltic | Estonian, Latvian and Lithuanian | |
Finland | MTV3 | Finnish |
C More Max | Finnish | |
Sub | Finnish | |
France | Canal+[24] | French |
Canal+ Sport | French | |
TF1 | French | |
Georgia | Setanta Sports + | Russian |
Germany | n-tv[25] | German |
RTL Television | German | |
Greece | OTE Sport | Greek |
ERT | Greek | |
Hungary | M4 Sport | Hungarian |
Iceland | Stöð 2 Sport | Icelandic |
Ireland | Eir Sport 1 | English |
Channel 4 UK | English | |
Sky Sports F1 | English | |
Israel | Sport 5 | Hebrew |
Italy | Sky Sport F1 | Italian |
TV8 | Italian | |
RAI | Italian | |
Japan | Fuji TV Next | Japanese |
DAZN | Japanese | |
Latin America(except Brazil) | Fox Sports LatAm Channels | Spanish |
Latvia | TV6 | Latvian |
Viasat Sport Baltic | Latvian, Estonian and Lithuanian | |
Liechtenstein | SRG SSR | German, French and Italian |
Lithuania | TV6 | Lithuanian |
Viasat Sport Baltic | Lithuanian | |
Malta | GO | English |
Middle East and North Africa | beIN Sports | Arabic / English |
Macedonia | Sport Klub | Serbian |
Moldova | Setanta Sports + | Russian |
Montenegro | Sport Klub | Serbian |
Netherlands | Ziggo Sport Totaal | Dutch |
Ziggo Sport Go | Dutch | |
Ziggo Sport | Dutch | |
New Zealand | Sky Sport | English |
Norway | Viasat Motor and Viasat Sport | Norwegian / Swedish |
Viaplay | Norwegian / Swedish | |
Viasat 4 | Norwegian | |
Papua New Guinea | Fox Sports Asia Channels | English |
Poland | Eleven Sports | Polish |
Puerto Rico | ABC | English |
ESPN | ||
ESPN2 | ||
Univision Deportes Network | Spanish | |
Portugal | SportTV[36] | Portuguese |
Romania | Dolce Sport | Romanian |
Digi Sport | ||
Russia | Match TV | Russian |
Match! Arena | ||
San Marino | Sky Sport F1 | Italian |
RAI | Italian | |
Serbia | Sport Klub | Serbian |
Slovakia | Sport 1 | Czech/Slovak |
Sport 2 | ||
South Korea | SBS Sports | Korean |
Spain | Movistar F1 | Spanish |
Sub-Saharan Africa | Supersport | English and Portuguese |
Canal+ Sport | French | |
Sweden | Viasat Motor | Swedish |
Switzerland | SRG SSR | German, French and Italian |
Canal+ | French | |
Canal+ Sport | ||
Turkey | S Sport | Turkish |
United Kingdom | Channel 4 | English |
Sky Sports Mix | ||
Sky Sports F1 | ||
Ukraine | Перший автомобÑ-льний[41] | Ukrainian |
United States | ABC | English |
ESPN | ||
ESPN2 | ||
Univision Deportes Network | Spanish |