Indy Racing League CEO Randy Bernard came into his new position after forging a reputation as a smart promoter with the Professional Bull Riders, the organization he led for 15 years. He’s being counted on to produce solid leadership, as well as marketing ideas that can help create a desperately needed new wave of fans for the IRL.
So what does the new leader of American open-wheel racing have in mind? Besides his relationships with other promoters and network/cable television outlets, Bernard is mulling over several future options — including altering the schedule to up the league’s entertainment quotient for fans.
In an interview with the St. Petersburg Times’ Antonya English that comes in advance of the league’s event next Sunday in the Florida city, Bernard talks about those possible scenarios.
“I’m not convinced that sanction agreements are always in the best interest of the league and I would like to see possibly co-promotions and I’d like to see possibly the bottom two events dropped every year so that we continue to make sure that we are bringing better value every single year to our fans,” he told the Times. “I’m sure promoters are not going to like to hear that, but those are the types of things that are very important to me.
“If you’ve ever been to a PBR event, I’ll put that entertainment value against anything…To me, [fans] are going to leave with about two or three impressions. And you want to make sure those impressions are great impressions.”
The option of dropping under-performing events jumps out in particular. It raises the question of what the criteria would be in that plan. Obviously, the on-track racing product would be involved, but you also have to believe that elements such as attendance, financial figures, and race sponsor/track promotion would play a role, too.
What would those two events be if Bernard’s “drop two” idea was reality right now? There are a few “candidates” that come to my mind: The races at Kansas and Homestead have been attacked in recent years by some fans over lack of attendance and promotion, but let’s not forget the money problems that have plagued the Edmonton airport race as well. I suppose it would all depend upon which criteria had more weight than the others.
That goes into my other thought: “Drop two” might get other American tracks like New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca, and Portland International Raceway back in the hunt for major-league open-wheel events. Or it could be the avenue that takes the IRL to China, which still stands as a possible venue for 2012 according to IRL commercial division president Terry Angstadt.
If you had Randy Bernard’s ear on this subject, what two events would you tell him to dump from the IRL docket?
