2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series US/Canada TV Schedule

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/XSL Speed Reporter

In a matter of two weeks, the new turbocharge-engined, Dallara Indy car chassis will come to life in competition on the St Petersburg, Florida temporary street course. Adding to the mix a slew of exciting driver and team combinations announced over the past five months, the kick-off to the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series will be most intriguing. Will Dario Franchitti defend his crown for a fourth-straight year? Is it finally Will Power's time to claim overall point honours with Penske Racing? Could Andretti Autosport and even KV Racing spoil the IZOD INDYCAR Series dominance of Penske Racing and Target Chip Ganassi Racing? The first race for the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series will be the first opportunity to witness what drivers, teams, media and fans could expect from this important year.

With St Petersburg being the first among a 16-race tour in 2012, the IZOD INDYCAR Series will take the refreshed brand of open wheel racing through 10 states as well as four countries including a first-ever visit to China with the Qingdao street race. Presenting 16 chances for enthused auto racing fans and families to personally attend a 2012 IZOD INDYCAR event to cheer on their favourite driver, television will again play a pivotal part in spreading the spectacle across great distances. For the United States and Canada, the 2012 schedule for the IZOD INDYCAR Series involves the series involved once again with familiar broadcast partners.  

Race viewers in the United States will have ABC and the NBC Sports Network (formerly the Versus channel) broadcasting each event live. Six events will be shown on ABC in 2012 including the broadcaster's 48th time at the Indianapolis 500. ABC will also cover the INDYCAR Series return to Belle Isle for the Detroit Grand Prix sponsored by Chevrolet. The remaining ten 2012 IZOD INDYCAR events will be shown on the NBC Sports Network channel. NBC Sports Network broadcasts in 2012 will involve the final four-race stint for the open wheel racing series starting at the Qingdao street circuit.

Photo Credit: Chris Nagy/XSL Speed Reporter

For Canadian race fans hoping to see James Hinchcliffe, Alex Tagliani and ride-permitting Paul Tracy compete through 2012, the TSN channels is the exclusive simulcast broadcaster. The mothership TSN station will only relay five IZOD INDYCAR races in 2012 with the balance going to the digital television-only TSN2 channel. Fortunately for basic cable and satellite customers, four of the TSN2 races will be televised on the ABC television network. For 2012, the Honda Indy of Toronto will be one of those events likely to receive higher viewership through the American channel.

During the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series season, four races will be televised in the TSN channels through same day, taped-delay for the Canadian market (Alabama, Milwaukee, Mid-Ohio and Baltimore). All four tape-delayed races will be broadcasted on TSN2.

The full television United States and Canadian listing for the 2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series television is provided below.


2012 IZOD INDYCAR Series TV Schedule Listing

March 25	Honda Grand Prix of St Petersburg	Streets of St Petersburg	US Channel/Time	ABC/12:30 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN/12:00 PM
April 1	Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama	Barber Motorsports Park	US Channel/Time	NBC Sports Network/2:00 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN2/5:00 PM
April 15	Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach	Streets of Long Beach	US Channel/Time	NBC Sports Network/3:30 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN2/3:30 PM
April 29	Sao Paulo Indy 300	Streets of Sao Paulo	US Channel/Time	NBC Sports Network/12:00 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN/12:00PM
May 27	Indianapolis 500	Indianapolis Motor Speedway	US Channel/Time	ABC/11:00 AM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN/11:00 AM
June 3	Chevrolet Detroit Belle Isle Grand Prix	The Raceway at Belle Isle Park	US Channel/Time	ABC/3:30 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN2/3:30 PM
June 9	Firestone 500	Texas Motor Speedway	US Channel/Time	NBC Sports Network/8:00 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN2/8:00 PM
June 16	Milwaukee IndyFest	Milwaukee Mile	US Channel/Time	ABC/1:00 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN2/5:00 PM
June 23	Iowa Corn Indy 250	Iowa Speedway	US Channel/Time	NBC Sports Network/8:00 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN2/8:00 PM
July 8	Honda Indy Toronto	Streets of Toronto	US Channel/Time	ABC/12:30PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN2/12:00 PM
July 22	Edmonton Indy	Edmonton City Centre Airport	US Channel/Time	NBC Sports Network/2:00 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN/2:00 PM
August 5	Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio	Mid-Ohio Sport Car Course	US Channel/Time	ABC/12:30 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN2/5:30 PM
August 18	Streets of Qingdao	Streets of Qingdao	US Channel/Time	NBC Sports Network/11:55 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN/12:00 AM
August 26	Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma	Infineon Raceway	US Channel/Time	NBC Sports Network/4:00 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN2/4:00 PM
September 2	Baltimore Grand Prix	Streets of Baltimore	US Channel/Time	NBC Sports Network/2:00 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN2/11:00 PM
September 15	Unnamed Auto Club Speedway Race	Auto Club Speedway:	US Channel/Time	NBC Sports Network/8:00 PM
			Canadian Channel/Time	TSN2/8:00 PM

2011 IZOD INDYCAR TV Schedule for US and Canada

Photo source: Chris Nagy/XSL Speed Reporter

Confirming the 2011 IZOD INDYCAR schedule by announcing a poorly-kept secret of Las Vegas Motor Speedway hosting the finale event, the open wheel racing series' television partners in the United States and Canada will continue broadcasting action and sounds.

For the United States, ABC will cover 5 races (including the 2011 series opener, the Indianapolis 500 and the Las Vegas finale) while VERSUS is slated to cover the remaining 12 events. Both television broadcasters provided coverage to the 2010 IZOD INDYCAR season. Just like last season, all rounds of the open wheel racing series will be shown live through the American networks.

In Canada, TSN is continue to simulcast the United States network's broadcasts. Feeding 11 race coverage to their digital channel TSN2, the cable and satellite sports network in Canada have been criticized by the sizable open wheel racing fan base for not meeting the races as accessible as other sports including NASCAR. Last season, the Iowa Speedway round for the IZOD INDYCAR Series (regarded in hindsight as one of the better competitions of the 2010 season) ran on a nearly 10-hour tape-delay on the TSN2 digital channel. In my personal opinion, its bad enough to run an auto racing event on a time delay but if they want to run it late night, shift it to the base TSN channel. For 2011, Iowa Speedway round is made into a night race and therefore TSN2 intends to carry the race live.

TSN, in conjunction with TSN2, again appears to not be siding entirely with open wheel fans for 2011. Notable on the Canadian television schedule is the broadcasts of the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, Kentucky Indy 300 and the inaugural Baltimore Grand Prix starting later than the US live broadcast times. While sometimes TSN enters into live coverage following a 30 minute to 1-hour prerace show, the air time gaps on the mentioned to those races is substantial. While an one and half hour difference exists with the IZOD INDYCAR round in Long Beach between US and Canadian tv carriers, the second-to-last round of the 2011 season at Kentucky sees a four and a half hour gap. The Baltimore Grand Prix is set for a tape delay as deep as the Iowa race last season. While an afternoon event in September, the IZOD INDYCAR's Baltimore Grand Prix will not air until 11pm at night on TSN2.

Fortunately, VERSUS broadcasts of the 2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series Canadian rounds (the Honda Indy of Toronto and the reinstated Edmonton Indy) will air live on the more widely-viewed base TSN channel.

The following television schedule for the 2011 IZOD INDYCAR Series is mentioned as tentative and could change due to weather or other issues.

Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Streets of St. Petersburg
Sunday, March 27

U.S. Carrier: ABC 12:30pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN2 12:30pm et



Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama
Barber Motorsports Park
Sunday, April 10

U.S. Carrier: VERSUS 3:00 pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN 3:00pm et



Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach
Streets of Long Beach
Sunday, April 17

U.S. Carrier: VERSUS 3:30pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN2 5:00pm et



Itaipava Sao Paulo Indy 300 presented by Nestle
Street of Sao Paulo
Sunday, May 1

U.S. Carrier: VERSUS Noon et
Canadian Carrier: TSN2 Noon et



Indianapolis 500
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Sunday, May 29

U.S. Carrier: ABC Noon et
Canadian Carrier: TSN Noon et



Firestone Twin 275s
Texas Motor Speedway
Saturday, June 11

U.S. Carrier: VERSUS 8:00pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN 8:00pm et



The Milwaukee 225
The Milwaukee Mile
Sunday, June 19

U.S. Carrier: ABC 3:30pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN2 4:30pm et



Iowa Corn Indy 250
Iowa Speedway
Saturday, June 25

U.S. Carrier: VERSUS 8:00pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN2 8:00pm et



Honda Indy of Toronto
Streets of Toronto
Sunday, July 10

U.S. Carrier: Versus 2:00pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN 2:00pm et



Edmonton Indy
Edmonton City Centre Airport
Sunday, July 24

U.S. Carrier: VERSUS 2:00pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN 2:00pm et



Honda Indy 200
Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
Sunday, August 7

U.S. Carrier: VERSUS 2:00pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN2 2:00pm et



IZOD INDYCAR 225
New Hampshire Motor Speedway
Sunday, August 14

U.S. Carrier: ABC 3:30pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN2 4:00pm et



Indy Grand Prix of Sonoma
Infineon Raceway
Sunday, August 28

U.S. Carrier: VERSUS 4:00pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN 4:00pm et



Baltimore Grand Prix
Streets of Baltimore
Sunday, September 4

U.S. Carrier: VERSUS 2:00pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN2 11:00pm et



Indy Japan 300
Twin-Ring Motegi
Sunday, September 18

U.S. Carrier: VERSUS 11:00pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN2 11:00pm et



Kentucky Indy 300
Kentucky Speedway
Sunday, October 2

U.S. Carrier: VERSUS 2pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN2 6:30pm et



IZOD INDYCAR World Championships at Las Vegas
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Sunday, October 16

U.S. Carrier: ABC 3:30pm et
Canadian Carrier: TSN2 4:00pm et

IndyCar Needs More Dedicated TV Partners

Photo Credit: Christopher Nagy


The 200-plus mile per hour open wheel race cars have been zooming in front of an improved business model. In the past two years, increased field participation, a richer quality lineup of drivers and the IndyCar series title sponsor with high-end apparel company IZOD has shown the the potential of some newfound glory for the American auto racing tour. Acquiring new allies as the sport rebuilds, one aspect which is pivotal to the immediate growth of the IZOD IndyCar series is television broadcast partners committed to the series. In this situation, it's clear the Indy Racing League may not be getting their value from some of the current television package.

Allow me to first exclude the team that puts the IndyCar races together on the American cable channel Versus. While I'm in Canada and forced to settle with what our cable sports channel wants to show, I have been impressed by the play-by-play and the focus directed towards the IZOD IndyCar Series itself. Another network, which I will name later, tends to run IndyCar races in the foreground but covers it as a sideshow to celebrity guests and other shows on the TV station. I wish Versus would be broadcasted directly to Canada since I'll also have a few issues to share with the Canadian sports channel. We know that distribution is an issue with Versus in the United States for Versus as 19.6 million American DirecTV customers missed the Sao Paulo IndyCar opener due to fee disputes. However, the broadcasts are refreshing realizing the IZOD IndyCar Series as a premier racing series.

Witnessing Versus as providing an excellent IndyCar telecast, ABC races for IndyCar stand out as horrendous. I remembered when ABC (or ESPN on ABC) covered the CART/Champ Car series in the early 2000s they pioneered this effort to interview winners while they were on their cool-down lap. ABC were running the races so tight on time they couldn't even broadcast a proper victory lane ceremony.

In the last race broadcast of the Camping World at the Glen, the start caught the ABC team by surprise as they were focused on a pre-race pit report as the green flag dropped. Essentially missing the start of the race, this is certainly a mistake no NASCAR race coverage would dare to make happen.

Backing up claims that the ABC broadcast is working like an advertisement to their other shows, announcers in the race mentioned no fewer than three times of Danica Patrick's NASCAR Nationwide Nationwide Series race at New Hampshire. While it is not unusual to point out other efforts of IndyCar drivers, the talk about Patrick reeked of promoting Patrick in NASCAR rather than her current efforts in the IZOD IndyCar Series. Of course, since the ABC parent company spent considerable monies securing the NASCAR Nationwide Series it seems operative that they plug the stock car racing series.

As bad as ABC can be, imagine worse. In Canada, TSN (The Sports Network) handles the entire coverage scheme of the 2010 IZOD IndyCar Series doing few favours for the open wheel division. Getting spotty coverage throughout the year, many of the broadcasts were diverted to TSN's digital-only channel TSN2. While live auto racing coverage has become the norm, the June 20th race at Iowa Speedway witnessed the Canadian-based network drag open wheel racing into a wrong direction. Race fans were figurately punted into the wall as the Iowa Corn 250 aired on the digital channel around midnight on early Monday morning. Insulting the racing fateful fans to the IZOD IndyCar, many fans who needed to get up early for work missed Tony Kanaan take victory in one of the most exciting races of the year. Decreasing the effective reach for the series, one full-time Canadian driver Alex Tagliani (two if you include Ryan-Hunter Reay who's mother was Canadian) gets shouldered onto another network as they provide less patriotic sports on the primary channel. Unfortunately, I believe that TSN only picks up sports like the IZOD IndyCar Series in order to insure that a rival network can't. Since several IndyCar races run near the same time as a NASCAR Sprint Cup race, they don't want auto racing competition on the lower-tier cable channels.

In the most recent Watkins Glen race, ABC made one right move by using side-by-side coverage through portions of the race. Meaning that advertisements will be shown on one side of the screen while viewers can still watch the IZOD IndyCar Series race on the other, TSN refused to provide the same experience to Canadian customers. Was the sports channel that desperate to gather every dime of ad revenue?

I criticize only because I want networks to improve on their faults and provide the IZOD IndyCar Series with the respect it has richly earned. For the remaining races of 2010, I'll be watching.

More NASCAR on ESPN for 2010: 90% of Chase Races to be Aired on Cable Network

Photo Credit: Ford Media


In a press release made available on Wednesday, America's largest cable sports provider ESPN announced that their network will broadcast 9 of the 10 races in the 2010 NASCAR Sprint Cup's Chase for the Cup Championship. With the 10-race Chase for the Cup airing entirely on ABC through the past 3 seasons, the over-the-air channel will only show the October 16th night race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. “Last year’s performance showed us that ESPN provides the best home for NASCAR,” ESPN's executive vice president of content John Skipper said regarding the increased Sprint Cup coverage on the sports channel. Only 3 NASCAR Sprint Cup races will be televised on the ABC channels for 2010.

Back in 2000, NASCAR took the direct role in negotiating the season long coverage of the three major series (Sprint Cup, Nationwide, and Camping World Truck Series) in an effort to not only net a bigger money deal but to gain broadcasting partners committed to expanding the exposure of professional stock car racing. In the inaugural season of the initial NASCAR TV deal involving FOX and NBC stations in 2001, 9 of regular 36 races were shown on cable channels while the rest aired on over-the-air networks. With only one event per week in their major division, this exposure on wide network television was important as NASCAR was continuing to push growth of the sport's brand. After the 2006 season, NBC decided not to renew their contract with NASCAR (though cable relative TNT did resign) allowing an ABC/ESPN deal to be formulated. Though ABC and ESPN had been pivotal in the past with fostering the once more humbler NASCAR series to a national audience, the loyalty of the networks to NASCAR since their return is not equal to Fox or even TNT.

In fact, it seems ABC's commitment for sports coverage appears to be dwindling. Moving ABC's long-established Monday Night Football to ESPN in 2006, this has been the most transparent to the media company's choice to empathize sports on their specialty channel. For NASCAR, the likeliest reason for this move from over the air to cable television is money more than viewership. ESPN benefits from a much higher pay per carriage fee from cable and satellite companies in the US which makes it more profitable to air increasingly more expensive sporting events when TV ad revenue takes a dive.

Because of the 9 NASCAR Sprint Cup Chase races shifting to ESPN, there will be more live races airing on cable channel than on major networks for the first time since NASCAR began brokering the TV packages. “This is exciting news for NASCAR and our fans,” NASCAR's Media Group President Paul Brooks assures the observers of the stock car racing series. However, is it quite a disenchanting event when 20 races on cable for 2010 appears to be regressing NASCAR. A stumble in at race attendance and slightly lower TV ratings in later years of the Sprint Cup have led the sanctioning body to rethink their sport. Attempting double-file restarts through more than half a season in 2009, there is also considerations being made to the race cars planned to compete at the Daytona 500 using everything from removing out-of-bounds lines to enlarging restrictor plates to speed up the cars.