| IndyCar Series on NBC | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Auto racing telecasts |
| Presented by | Seecommentators section below |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Producer | Terry Lingner[1] |
| Camera setup | Multi-camera |
| Running time | Pre-race: 30 minutesRace: 2 to 5 hours (depending on race length)Post-race: 30 minutes |
| Production company | NBC Sports |
| Original release | |
| Network |
|
| Release | April 5, 2009 (2009-04-05) – September 15, 2024 (2024-09-15) |
| Related | |
IndyCar Series on NBC was the blanket title used for telecasts ofIndyCar Seriesracing produced byNBC Sports.
NBC Sports' most recent involvement with the IndyCar Series dates back to the 2009 season, whenComcast-owned sports networkVersus acquired the cable rights to the IndyCar Series under a 10-year deal. Versus was merged into the NBC Sports division and renamed NBC Sports Network (NBCSN) in 2012 after Comcast acquired a controlling stake inNBC Universal.
In 2019, NBC Sports reached a three-year extension to its contract, which also sawNBC acquire the broadcast television rights to the IndyCar Series (replacingABC). As a result, NBC gained the broadcast rights to the IndyCar Series' flagship event, theIndianapolis 500.
When theCART Series was created in1979,NBC broadcast the races as part of the sportsanthology seriesSportsworld.[2] NBC soon became the exclusive broadcast partner of CART – although the series' most prestigious race, theIndianapolis 500 was sanctioned byUSAC, and had a contract withABC Sports. NBC carried races from 1979 to 1990, with theMichigan 500,Pocono 500, andMeadowlands their top events. Additionally, NBC televised a close father-son championship duel atTamiami Park in1985 betweenAl Unser andAl Unser Jr., with Big Al defeating Little Al by a single point.
Paul Page was the chief announcer, withBobby Unser a frequent analyst before both made separate moves toABC Sports in 1987.
In the mid-1980s, CART began airing races onABC andESPN. The number of races NBC covered each season began to dwindle during the late portion of the decade. In addition, the broadcasts on NBC were more often tape-delayed and edited, while those on ABC and ESPN were usually live and"flag-to-flag". As the sport was growing in popularity, the organization naturally preferred the more desirable live telecasts.
By 1990, NBC carried only one race each year in July, theMeadowlands Grand Prix. After a three-year hiatus, the final season that NBC had aired a CART race was in1994, with its coverage of the Toronto race.Jim Lampley (who called the Indy 500 on ABC in 1986-1987) was the anchor for the 1994 telecast.
NBC went away from auto racing after 1994, and did not air another major race until theNASCARPennzoil 400 in late 1999.
In the early 2000s, NBC covered occasionalAmerican Le Mans Series races and secured amulti-year TV contract with NASCAR, but in2005, NBC agreed to cover the Champ Car World Series (formerly CART) inLong Beach andMontreal, using Champ Car's new in-house broadcasting team of (at the time)Rick Benjamin,Derek Daly,Jon Beekhuis andCalvin Fish. These races were renewed in2006, with the addition ofSan Jose. In2007, NBC usedBill Weber andWally Dallenbach Jr., both of whom still were contracted to the network despite NBC dropping their rights to NASCAR following the 2006 season, alongside permanent Champ Car driver analystJon Beekhuis, and added their own Marty Snider to the CCWS pitlane team ofMichelle Beisner,Cameron Steele andBill Stephens. WithESPN once again covering the bulk of the calendar, NBC only covered the first two races of the season, inLas Vegas and Long Beach.
On August 7, 2008,Versus announced a ten-year deal to broadcast at least 13IndyCar Series events per-season, beginning with the2009 season.[3][4]ABC would continue tobroadcast the Indianapolis 500, as well as four additional races. Through the deal, Versus began airing one-hour pre-race shows the day before a given race.[5] The channel's parent companyComcast would acquireNBC Universal in 2011, and Versus was re-branded asNBC Sports Network (NBCSN) in 2012.[6][7]
On March 21, 2018, NBC Sports announced that it had agreed to a new, three-year extension of its contract beginning in the 2019 season, and also acquired the broadcast television rights to replaceABC. As before, NBCSN would continue airing the vast majority of the races, but eight races per-season would be televised by the mainNBC network (an expansion over the previous ABC deal, where only five races were shown on broadcast television). The broadcast television package includes theIndianapolis 500, marking the race's move from ABC after 54 consecutive years.NBC Sports Gold also offered a subscription service with IndyCar-related content not broadcast on television. The content was later moved to NBCUniversal's streaming servicePeacock Premium in 2021.[8][9][10]
In July 2021, IndyCar announced a three-year extension of its contract with NBC Sports beginning in 2022; with NBCSN shutting down at the end of 2021, the broadcast television package would expand to at least 13 races per-season, and cable coverage would move toUSA Network. Up to two races per-season would be exclusive to Peacock.[11][12] The 2022 season would feature 14 races on NBC, and one race was carried exclusively by Peacock.[13]
On June 13, 2024 IndyCar announced that the series will be moving toFox Sports after six seasons on NBC.[14]
NBCtelevised the2019 race in the United States, having assumed the broadcast rights as part of a new, three-year deal to televise the entire IndyCar Series, replacingABC for the first time since 1965 (NBCSN held cable rights over the previous contract, but selected races, including the Indianapolis 500, were part of a separate package sold toABC). The race was called by NBC's commentary team ofLeigh Diffey,Townsend Bell, andPaul Tracy.Mike Tirico served as on-air host for pre-race coverage, joined byDanica Patrick andDale Earnhardt Jr. as analysts.[15][16][17] Dillon Welch, whose father was a formerESPN pit reporter for the Indianapolis 500, was also a reporter.
Portions of pre-race activities were exclusive toNBC Sports Gold'sIndyCar Pass subscription, including most practice sessions and all of the first day of qualifying with the final hoursimulcast by NBCSN along with the entirety of Carb Day also simulcast. Bump and Pole Day were exclusive to NBCSN; while NBC had a scheduled window, the session was delayed due to rain, and NBC had commitments to air anNHL playoff game. The season-long broadcast team of Jake Query,Anders Krohn, and Katie Hargitt covered theIndy LightsFreedom 100. NBCSN broadcast a two-hour pre-race show and a one-hour post-race show on race day.[18]
The 2019 Indianapolis 500 saw an average of 5.4 million viewers, and a 3.9 overnight rating—a 15% increase over the 2018 edition (which was the least-viewed 500 since the introduction of live flag-to-flag coverage).[19][20][21][22]
The2020 race wastelevised on NBC in the United States; also, for the first time since 2016, the race was not blacked out in the Indianapolis area, airing live onWTHR (channel 13), as ticket sales ended four weeks prior to the race, and under regulations of the Speedway and Marion County Public Health Department's orders regarding capacity limits for events, announced two weeks before tickets were revoked under Marion County orders. On the original date of the race, NBC aired an encore of the 2019 edition of the race,Back Home Again, withMike Tirico joined bySimon Pagenaud andAlexander Rossi[23] (645,000 viewers)[24]
On August 23, the live coverage on NBC was scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. eastern, following live coverage ofThe AIG Open Championship. The start of the race was moved from 12:45 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. During coverage of practice, time trials, and race day, driver analystPaul Tracy moved out of the Pagoda and reported from the Turn Two Suites. This mimicked the positionBobby Unser utilized from 1993 to 1997. Tracy's position offered unique perspective, as well as promoted social distancing among the reporters.
Absent from the crew wasDale Earnhardt Jr., who drove the pace car and served as analyst in 2019. Earnhardt was instead covering theNASCAR Drydene Twin 500km that aired on NBCSN. Also absent wasRobin Miller, who relinquished on-air duties due to battling bone cancer. Miller did contribute to the broadcasts, providing narration to pre-taped features during practice and time trials.
The Nielsen rating of 2.26 (3.699 million viewers) was an all-time low for the event.
The2021 race wastelevised on NBC in the United States. The coverage began at 11:00 a.m. EDT.[25] On May 28, it was announced that the race was not blacked out in the Indianapolis area for the fifth time in race history, airing live onWTHR (Channel 13), as all tickets had been sold out and reached 40 percent of venue capacity. This event hosted 135,000 fans on the circuit.[26]
Mike Tirico andDanica Patrick returned for pre and post-race coverage, as they had done the previous two years. Patrick also drove the pace car during pre-race festivities.Jac Collinsworth made his Indy 500 debut as the Prerace Host on NBCSN.Dale Earnhardt Jr. returned for pre-race coverage after being absent for the2020 event as a result of rescheduling (Earnhardt and Letarte were covering theDrydene Twin 500km at Dover International Speedway on the rescheduled weekend).[25]
On May 4,Jimmie Johnson was announced as part of the broadcast team as part of the "Peacock Pit Box" crew alongsideSteve Letarte.[25]
The 2021 race was the final "500" forRobin Miller, who had covered the event for roughly fifty years atThe Indianapolis Star,Racer, and on television throughESPN,Speed, and NBC. Miller died ofleukemia on August 25, 2021.[27][28][29]
The2022 race wastelevised on NBC andPeacock Premium in the United States.[30] The terrestrial television broadcast was subject toblackout in Central Indiana. The streaming broadcast on Peacock was not subject to blackout, as the platform does not currently have the ability to enforce such restrictions at a local level. NBC received special consent from IMS to stream the race within the blackout region for 2022 only, under the presumption that the required capabilities would be implemented prior to the 2023 race.[31] This was only the sixth time in race history that the race was available to be seen live in the Central Indiana market.[32]
Former driverJames Hinchcliffe joined the NBC broadcast team for 2022 as acolor commentator, replacingPaul Tracy, who had been in the role for the previous three years for the race.[33]
On May 4, NBC announced their full crew for the race broadcast.Mike Tirico andDanica Patrick returned as the hosts for pre-race and post-race coverage, whileDale Earnhardt Jr. andRutledge Wood returned for pre-race coverage. Tirico, Patrick, and Earnhardt were also announced as part of the "Peacock Pit Box" crew for mid-race coverage. Dillon Welch joined the crew as a pit reporter, replacingKelli Stavast, who had been part of NBC's coverage since 2019.[34]
The2023 race wastelevised on NBC andPeacock Premium in the United States.[35]Mike Tirico andDanica Patrick returned for pre-race and post-race coverage, as they had together since 2019.Leigh Diffey,Townsend Bell, andJames Hinchcliffe were the booth announcers for the race.[36] Two additional hours of pre-race coverage on race day was carried exclusively onPeacock.[37]
On May 8, 2023, it was confirmed that, in line with longstanding policy that had been suspended during theCOVID-19 pandemic, the live broadcast would be blacked-out in the Indianapolis area on both local television and Peacock, marking the first Indy 500 local blackout since the2019 Indianapolis 500.[38]
On June 13, 2024, it was announced that IndyCar agreed to a new media rights deal withFox Sports starting in 2025, putting an end to IndyCar's relationship with NBC Sports.[39]
NBC broadcast their final IndyCar event on September 15, 2024, during the2024 Big Machine Music City Grand Prix atNashville Superspeedway.
Bob Jenkins (who was signed as the chief announcer, and returned to IndyCar Racing full-time for the first time since 2001),Jon Beekhuis andRobbie Buhl[40] were initially on the network's broadcast team, along withJack Arute, Robbie Floyd and Lindy Thackston as pit reporters.
In August 2009,Indianapolis Star reporter Curt Cavin said that Arute would be leaving ESPN at the end of 2009 and join Versus full-time. He was fired from the network due to cost-cutting moves instituted by the network's newComcast ownership following itsmerger withNBCUniversal. He was replaced by Kevin Lee, who is also a pit reporter for theIndianapolis Motor Speedway Network.Wally Dallenbach Jr. joined the Versus broadcast team following the merger, replacing Robbie Buhl.[41]
Mike Tirico,Danica Patrick, andDale Earnhardt Jr. have augmented NBC's broadcast team for the Indianapolis 500.[42][43][44]
| Preceded by | Indianapolis 500television broadcaster 2019–2024 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by None | IndyCar Series pay television carrier in the United States 2009–2024 (shared withESPN from 2009–2018;NBCSN from 2019–2021 andUSA/Peacock from 2022–2024) |