Miles: Imminent TV deal will put more than half of IndyCar's races on broadcast TV

INDIANAPOLIS -- Ten-year IndyCar veteran Graham Rahal isn’t one to mince words, and he didn’t when asked about IndyCar CEO Mark Miles’ ongoing negotiation to land the sport a new national TV deal.

“I think Mark’s biggest day is right now,” Rahal said. “What’s he going to do with this TV deal? It either makes or breaks this sport going forward. Maybe I’m too sensitive to that, but I just know that for the past 10 years we’ve dealt with a floundering TV package. And after a time we finally got unification, then bam here we are split up again with the TV deal.”

Perhaps Rahal’s anxiety was assuaged a bit when he learned that Miles has guaranteed that not only will IndyCar have just one broadcast partner in the upcoming TV deal, but that more than half of IndyCar’s events will be on broadcast -- not cable -- TV.

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In a recent conversation with IndyStar, Miles talked about the details of IndyCar's upcoming TV deal, which he confirmed will be with either NBC or ABC.

Question: How close are you to a deal?

Answer: We’re quite close to choosing between the two sort of finalists, partners. We’re trying to negotiate the rest of the relevant details with just one. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the other one couldn’t come back in. But we think at this point, the way to close this is to know enough to work with one right now and try to get to a term sheet that outlines all the key points and then we’ll have one more chance to see if that’s going to be the end of the game.

I think there will be a broadcast package, by which I mean free to air. So if it were ESPN that would mean ABC and if were NBCSN that would mean NBC. I think we will get to the place where we get half or more than half of races on broadcast. Then there will be a cable package, meaning the events that are on cable, and then there will an over-the-top or direct-to-consumer offering.

Q: Will that over-the-top offering be live coverage of the race?

A: It’s early to say. So let’s take the examples of the ABC platform and NBC platform. It’s obvious which would be the broadcasters in those two (ABC and NBC), and it’s obvious which would be the cable (ESPN and NBCSN). With a lot of fanfare, people know that ESPN has spent a lot of money and made a lot acquisitions of technology and businesses, and ESPN Plus is getting launched as a direct-to-consumer offering, very much meant to be attractive to cable-cutters.In the case of NBC, that’s NBC Gold.

They’re not looking to pull eyeballs away from TV to the over the top. So it’s still to be decided what you’d be able to get over the top. It could be the the race, but it might not be the race -- all of it like you see on TV. That’s work to be done -- to learn exactly what the offer is and what the price is. But the important part from our perspective is: It’s a start. It’s the first time we’ve had an offering like that. And hopefully that will broaden our audience and eventually make us some money.

Q: Do you envision your partner creating their own content?

A: In either case, we’re likely to be much more close to having fully packaged the content, having fully produced the content ourselves. IMS Productions. ... But it will be very collaborative.

Q: What kind of commitments for promotion are you trying to negotiate? For example, will ABC or NBC be obligated to talk IndyCar on one of their other programs during the week?

A: Yeah, that can take various forms. Whether it’s NBC late night stuff or morning shows and all the rest that you’re talking about, including other sports offerings. That’s one approach that both have available to them. That’s more PR. They also have tune-in spots they can run in other programming. They also have tune-in spots they can run in their racing. We can also negotiate for tune-in spots for us in our races or in other media. It’s very hard to get a lot of specificity about all of that. But we’re aware of all it, and it’s part of the equation. Exposure, promotion and money, and we hope they’re all on a par -- but in that order. Because that’s how you grow."

Update on title sponsor search

Miles reported it’s still early days in the hunt for a new title sponsor to replace Verizon, which will be leaving the series after five years.

“Right now, we’re broadly in the marketplace to talk to agencies and companies to see who has interest in talking with us,” he said. “We have (five to seven) people interested in having that conversation with us so far, but we’re not finished looking. We’re focused right now on finishing the U.S. TV arrangements, and then redoubling our efforts."

Q: Indiana Business Journal reported that IndyCar might be looking for something like $20-30 million annually on a new deal. Is that number accurate?

A: Those numbers are so difficult. I saw one report was $50 million. It depends entirely on what you want to count and what a sponsor wants to do. There’s rights fees paid to us, some of which with Verizon at least, gets passed through to teams and promoters. I’ve heard about the net to us, the gross to us. ...

I’m much for familiar with what they are obligated to pay us, generally what they spend on our broadcast and our net.

(Miles declined to comment on what that number might be.)

Q: Will there be an emphasis on landing another high-profile brand to replace Verizon?

A: Yes, I think there’s (an emphasis) on finding another big brand. If they’re a big brand, then they’re consumer facing. If they’re consumer facing, that means they may be choosing to use the sponsorship more broadly than an endemic sponsor might. On the other hand, Verizon really didn’t put us in spots to sell their service. It was more of a business to business, customer entertainment thing. So it doesn’t necessarily follow.

For example, Aero -- not someone we’re talking to about being a title sponsor -- they’re not a household name but they’re a great company and a great brand in their industry. A big brand name would be good, people would think it’s good, but that’s not the holy grail. … My highest priority is getting a great partner that will use the partnership in a way that helps us and them.

Follow IndyStar Motor Sports Insider Jim Ayello on Twitter and Instagram: @jimayello.