Champ Car rejects hapless TSN?

UPDATE #2 Another reader adds, The comment with respect to TV coverage of the Canadian events is simply wrong. How would someone in Topeka even know what the coverage is on Global when he can't get Global in the US (even though virtually EVERY Canadian household gets EVERY US TV network and many cable/satellite channels such as Speed TV and CNBC). Global's coverage of ChampCar has been more extensive than that of Speed and CBS as they have provided a half hour pre race show and full post race coverage for podium activities, interviews and race highlights.

TSN carried the non Canadian races and that is where all the conflicts arose. It all too often carried ChampCar (and IRL) races late Sunday night or early Monday morning. If it was a race covered by CBS, Canadian fans had already watched it live on that network so TSN would only get a handful of viewers in the middle of the night and, of course, close to a zero rating (why would TSN have expected anyone to watch?). I should add that for the two Far East races, TSN usually carried them live at or around midnight on Saturday while Americans usually had to wait until Sunday to see the race.

Speed TV is available in most of Canada and I still can't understand why Speed TV and TSN could not do a deal to lift the Speed TV blackout when TSN could not carry a race live (in some cases I think it even carried NASCAR races live and delayed CC when the NASCAR race was also available to Canadians on a US network channel). Perhaps ESPN's significant ownership share of TSN and its veto power precluded such a deal.

Hopefully Global will cover the entire 2006 season – but I doubt that will happen if it has conflicts with other sports that produce higher ratings. Don Leslie, Brantford, ON

Dear Don, AutoRacing1.com has just learned that the SPEEDTV broadcasts will no longer be blacked out in Canada, which would indicate Champ Car will indeed not be back with TSN nor will it have network TV coverage in Canada except for the three Canadian rounds. Mark C.

01/30/06 A reader writes, Dear AutoRacing1.com, What is the Canadian business community's problem with Champ Car? The series has always been pro Canada and Canada seems to do every thing they can to kill the Champ Car series. They will not support their native drivers, including Tracy when he was the defending champion, or give good TV coverage for their very well attended races. It seems the only people that understand the product are the people that attend the races. J. Marney, Topeka, Ks

Dear J. Champ Car does not market itself enough so the Canadian and American business communities have no idea what you are talking about when you walk in and pitch "Champ Car." Huh, what's that are the stares. Marketing and advertising takes money and ever since CART was created back in 1979, and continuing to this day, the effort to market/advertise the series has been small compared to NASCAR and F1. When CART had the big "star" names the PR surrounding them helped advertise the series. Today the "star" names are all in NASCAR and F1 so Champ Car is going to have to make a bigger effort than it did back in CART's "star power" days. As with any business, you must market and advertise or you won't sell product or services. Mark C.

01/29/06 TSN released its auto racing lineup this week and no Champ Car races are on the schedule.

There have been scheduling conflicts in recent years — baseball or CFL football always seemed to take priority — and Champ Car (not to mention its fans) was not happy.

Let's hope Sportsnet, The Score or the Outdoor Life Network will guarantee to telecast Champ Car races when they are actually happening, not eight hours later.

Meantime, the 21-race NASCAR Nextel Cup coverage will start Feb. 11 at 8 p.m. with the Budweiser Shootout from Daytona. The Daytona 500 will be covered the following weekend, Feb. 19.

All 19 F1 races will be live on TSN, beginning with the Grand Prix of Bahrain at 6 a.m. on March 12.

Eight IRL races are promised, with the showcase Indianapolis 500 coming on May 28. The first race shown, however, will be through the streets of St. Petersburg, Fla., on April 2. The Star

[Editor's Note: Rumor has it Champ Car might do a network TV deal in Canada.]