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Groundhog Day is not until tomorrow, but it seemed like I was watching the Bill Murray semi-classic when the television schedule for IndyCar was released last week. When the dates and venues for the 2023 season were announced last September, we had to go through the usual gnashing of teeth over the lack of ovals, too many street courses and of course; the regular wondering when Michigan and Cleveland will finally re-appear on the schedule. Now we are going through it again.

The comments on social media are pretty predictable, each time the schedule is released – no matter how many positive entries there are on it. I feel like Michigan, Cleveland, Milwaukee and Surfer’s Paradise could all be included on a new schedule; but there would still be a group campaigning that NOLA and Edmonton should be there instead.

Do you remember prior to the 2019 IndyCar season, when NBC could do no wrong? Those were the days when ABC still carried a handful of races, including the Indianapolis 500. As long as we had Eddie Cheever and Scott Goodyear to complain about, NBC was golden in the eyes of fans. We loved what we had been seeing on NBCSN for years, and we wanted that for all of the IndyCar content we consumed. But when NBC became the sole television partner to the NTT IndyCar Series in 2019 – they suddenly shifted to the focus of the ire felt by IndyCar fans. The partner that could do no wrong, could suddenly do no right – at least in the eyes of some fans.

When they took over, NBC brought us NBC Sports Gold; a streaming platform that provided coverage of each practice, as professional as race broadcasts. You could also watch live qualifying coverage, when the NBCSN broadcast was going to be delayed. It ended up costing less than $5 a month.

When I first heard about it, I was ecstatic that we could get all of that for what I thought was a good value. But then, the Legions of the Miserable came out of the woodwork and told everyone what a rip-off this was. They said they preferred the free You Tube telecasts of practice that featured stationary cameras and commentary piped in from the IndyCar Radio Network.

While I thoroughly enjoy listening to Mark Jaynes, Jake Query and our other friends on the network; the overall production of the practice You Tube broadcasts was a little subpar. NBC Gold put as much into the practice production as they did the race – with no breaks for commercials. Yet everyone complained.

When NBC Sports Gold went away, and all practices and qualifying were shifted to Peacock; I saw it as a good thing. Apparently others didn’t. For those that had Comcast Xfinity as their cable provider, Peacock was free and the app was already on the cable box. Those that had cut the cord or received their content in other ways, would have to pay $4.99 a month for a Peacock subscription. That’s far less than the current price of a carton of eggs.

Fans were outraged! They felt that NBC and IndyCar had secretly conspired together to turn their backs on the fans. They paid no attention to the fact that the cost was the same as NBC Sports Gold, but they weren’t just limited to IndyCar content. Subscribers had access to all of their IndyCar catalogue, as well as NASCAR, IMSA and any other form of motorsports that NBC carried. Fans also got access to any sport that NBC covered, including NFL Sunday Night Football and the Triple Crown of Horse Racing. Subscribers also had access to the entire NBC library of shows, and even shows not originally produced by NBC, like Yellowstone.

You get the point – IndyCar fans like to complain. If you go back and read the comments over the release of TV times, you would think that IndyCar and NBC are both extensions of Satan. And of course, the comments weren’t limited to the TV times – USA Network and Peacock got particularly slammed because some races will only be shown there.

Keep in mind, thirteen of the seventeen races will be shown on Big (over-the-air) NBC. That is so key for viewer exposure, in that quest for new fans. Only Road America, Mid-Ohio and the IMS August road course will be shown on USA Network. Like last year, Toronto will be shown exclusively on Peacock. The rest will all be shown live on Big NBC.

Although it happened last year, you can only imagine the anger spewing from fans over Toronto being on Peacock. I get it that fans don’t like it, but keep in mind – per the contract, NBC has the right to put two races on Peacock each season. So far, they’ve only done one each season– so it could be worse.

Here is the entire 2023 IndyCar schedule, with starting times and TV networks:

As far as the times go, there are only a couple of notable changes over the past couple of years. Most notably is the Music City Grand Prix. Two years ago, the race started at 4:30 local time. With two red flags and a lot of caution laps, it was near dark when the race finally finished. Marcus Ericsson’s victory lane celebration actually took place in the dark. Last year, the starting time was moved up to 2:30 pm, but the start was delayed by rain. Still it was finished way before daylight was threatened. This year, the starting time has been moved up to 11:00 am local time. While that may actually hurt the local crowd, it selfishly works for me, and it should also help those that want to drive back to Indianapolis afterwards.

The other noticeable change is Gateway. Since its return to the schedule in 2017, Gateway had always been a Saturday night race until last year. Due to a well-placed rain-delay, Gateway finished last year’s Saturday race in total darkness as well. The likelihood of that happening this year is a lot lower. The race has been moved to Sunday with a 2:30 local start time. This is where I will agree with the complainers. I think Gateway, and the Saturday Iowa race should be run at night. The cars look so much better under the lights, except for those running a matte finish – they just sort of disappear.

A slight change is Barber. Last year’s race started at Noon local time, giving those of us who attended ample time to get back home. This year, the race starts at 2:00 local time. That’s not a huge change, but it will make for a longer night driving home to Nashville.

Everything else is either the same or within an hour of last year’s starting times. But that didn’t stop the complainers from complaining. In about another five to six weeks, those blue envelopes containing tickets to this year’s Indianapolis 500 will be arriving in our mailboxes. I hate to see what complaints those things will generate. Now, about the lack of video coverage for Thursday’s Open Test…

George Phillips

This entry was posted on February 1, 2023 at 4:03 am and is filed under IndyCar. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.