Rumor: IndyCar can’t sell 135,000 tickets for the 500 (Sold) (Update)

This rumor is downgraded to ‘false’.

The speedway has announced that the 135,000 seats have been sold and, as a result, the TV blackout in Indianapolis has been lifted.

“We’ve hit our capacity for this year’s Indianapolis 500 and look forward to hosting 135,000 fans at the world’s largest sporting event since the pandemic began. We’re thrilled to welcome fans ‘Back Home Again’ and appreciate our loyal customers and their continued support.

“With no more tickets available and 40 percent of venue capacity reached, we have decided to lift the local broadcast delay for this year’s race. Central Indiana spectators will be able to tune in on NBC beginning at 11am.

“We look forward to an exciting and historic edition of the Indy 500 this weekend.”

Considering the race capacity is usually around 350,000, it’s nearly impossible to “sell out” the entire venue, and indeed the race has been blacked out for the local region all but five times in the history of the venerable event. This year, with capacity limited due to the pandemic, officials waited until the last minute to announce that the blackout will indeed be lifted for Sunday’s 105th running.

Capacity for the Indy 500 is limited to just 135,000 for 2021 – a number mandated by the state of Indiana due to Covid.

It was thought for sure the Speedway would sell those out easily given they usually sell upwards of 250,000 for the Indy 500.

Rumor has it the Speedway still has plenty of tickets available and the TV blackout for Indianapolis is still on. If the race was sold out that blackout would be lifted to improve TV ratings.

Because the decision on selling tickets was made so late, many fans said screw it because it was too late to make travel arrangements.

For Roger Penske’s sake we hope he gets a good walk up crowd. The weather forecast for the race is perfect weather.