Long Beach GP: Michaelian talks about Versus

Jim Michaelian

AR1's Scott Morris, on the scene at the PRI show this week, had a very enlightening chat with Grand Prix of Long Beach President Jim Michaelian:

I asked him how he felt about the Versus deal, and how the GPLB and the City of Long Beach feels about not being on network TV, when their event is clearly the marquis race property next to the Indy 500. He said quite simply, that the stature of their event can afford them some patience. With the current news of the Comcast-NBC buyout, he says he thinks their event, with all of the equity they have will be well positioned to regain a network broadcast spot as that deal evolves.

He also said that he is confident in Versus commitment to their catchy terms of "cross-pollination" and "super serving the viewer" and being more than just snazzy slogans.

He said the reasons they are not on network has more to do with a situation that is out of their control, than it does a Versus deal or not. He said they have ABC issue because of the NBA playoffs starting right that weekend, so they weren't going to get it on ABC anyway, and that was the only option. He said ESPN in the long run probably would have fared better in ratings over the short run, but that with what Versus has done with the NHL, he said that he was willing to be patient and give it a chance. Their history is with open wheel, and it's part of their identity. So they could not just abandon that. He said the city of Long Beach agreed, and they are moving forward, committed to the long term relationship with IndyCar.

He said specifically that he knew from the start that this was not a "SpikeTV deal", and commented that the results Versus has produced with the NHL, which essentially went bust a few years back, lend a great deal of credibility and confidence to the relationship.

So now we have it right from the mouth of their biggest race promoter, and Jim is the kind of guy who is not really known to candy-coat things.