An Unpopular Take to Start the Off-Season
Welcome to the 2023-24 IndyCar offseason. With the craziness of Sunday’s race, it certainly did not begin with a whimper. One thing occurs to me every year at this time. This is not a new take, as I have opined about it several times over the years; nor is it popular with most fans, but I feel stronger about it this year than usual.
As much as we all hate the offseason, it is inevitable. I mean, do we really want non-stop IndyCar racing twelve months a year? There is nothing I like better than eating lobster, but I wouldn’t want it every night. Everyone needs a break – drivers, teams, manufacturer’s, IndyCar employees, the real IndyCar media and even lowly bloggers. Even fans need a break. That makes us appreciate the new season even more, when it finally comes back around in the spring.
My unpopular take is that the IndyCar season needs to finish one week earlier than it did this season. I realize that everyone is booing and hissing as they read this, and it’s an old argument – but hear me out.
Many of the readers of this site are die-hard IndyCar fans. They are so die-hard that they don’t follow any sports other than motorsports. They may follow USAC, IMSA, F1 or NASCAR; but they have no interest in what has become known as “stick & ball” sports (football, baseball, hockey and basketball – otherwise known as the Big Four sports).
But the demographic studies show that the prototypical IndyCar fan is also an NFL fan, as well as a fan of at least one of the other stick & ball sports. I also fit into that demographic. As big a racing fan as I am, I am just as big of a football fan – both college and pro. I casually follow baseball, and also college basketball. I do not follow the NBA at all.
I consider myself a die-hard fan, but this past Sunday I watched the Titans opening game live – then turned over to the DVR and started watching the IndyCar pre-race about an hour and a half delayed after it actually aired. I set my DVR to go thirty minutes over, but with all of the delays in Sunday’s race – it still shut off with about eighteen laps to go. I had to scramble and go to Peacock to view the remaining laps of the race about two hours after the race had finished.
My point is that even though I am a rabid die-hard IndyCar fan; I am also a huge NFL fan. There was no way I was going to watch the season-opener delayed. I figured I would record the race, watch it and then write about it – after I watched the Titans play.
If the marketing information is correct, many other IndyCar fans opted to watch Opening Day in the NFL over watching Laguna Seca, which prior to Sunday – was usually an uneventful race. My question is – how many of those NFL fans bothered to set their DVRs to record the race?
Most of you will vehemently disagree with me, but I am and always have been a strong proponent of avoiding going up against the NFL at all costs. For the past fifteen years or so, the NFL has been kicking off their season on the weekend after Labor Day. That seems to be working out well for them, so I don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Labor Day weekend has served as an opportunity for special early season matchups in college football; Like Florida-LSU, Virginia-Tennessee, LSU-Florida State and Clemson-Duke. While those games have somewhat of a national draw, they are still mostly for their respective fan bases. I seriously doubt that many people watched my Vols play Virginia, even though it was televised nationally on ABC.
There was still plenty of room on my schedule to watch IndyCar practice, qualifying and the race from Portland. Once the NFL kicked off this past weekend – that was another story.
While I would love to have a twenty-two race schedule that runs into late October, that’s just not feasible in today’s sports climate. This is obviously just my opinion, but I strongly feel that IndyCar and its fans would be best served by wrapping up the season on Labor Day weekend.
I am genuinely worried about the longtime viability of the season finale in Nashville. Teams can request a certain date to be on the road to avoid a local conflict, but there is no guarantee that the request will be granted. I am pretty certain that the NFL will make sure the Titans will be on the road on September 15 in the 2024 season, which will probably be Week Two of the NFL season. But they don’t usually make that accommodation year after year. If the season finale remains in Nashville, with IndyCar finishing their season in mid-September – there will most likely be an NFL game taking place, about a city block away from the race track and pits. You want to talk about a logistical nightmare?
If the IndyCar season finale were to take place on Labor Day weekend, there would never be such conflicts. Fans could have a seamless transition from IndyCar racing on one weekend, straight into the NFL season the very next weekend. Fans could have an extra travel day to get back home. They could arrive in Nashville on Thursday night, go to the track on Friday morning and party into the wee hours every night – including Sunday night after the race, before travelling back home on Monday.
The IndyCar season finale is important, but so is the beginning of the NFL season. You can’t count on many fans setting their DVRs. Fans shouldn’t have to choose which one to watch. By holding the season finale over Labor Day weekend – they won’t have to.
George Phillips
Oilpressure 
September 13, 2023 at 8:01 am
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September 13, 2023 at 9:16 am
I completely agree George. I too, am a big NFL fan and have wished Indycar would make sure to have season finale the week before the NFL season begins.
September 13, 2023 at 9:18 am
I disagree with this from the standpoint that I don’t think the series needs to start or end at any specific date, so long as they are doing so in the service of creating or maintaining a strong event. How many opportunities are there to really do that? It doesn’t appear that there are as many as there maybe once were, but I don’t think Indycar should turn down promoters who are interested in hosting a race during the NFL season simply for that reason alone. That said, the series also does not need to expand into the NFL season simply for the sake of doing so, it does have a significant effect on television ratings.
I’m going to guess that the NFL, Indycar, and the city of Nashville will work together to make sure there is not a football game happening at the same time as the race. That may involve moving the race date by a week or two or it may be as easy as the NFL accommodating the race on its schedule year-after-year. Making schedules work with other major events is not new ground for Indycar street race promoters, or for the NFL for that matter.
September 13, 2023 at 11:57 am
I am iffy on whether I spend my time watching sports over other things in life or when I debate which sport to watch over another. I will say, I generally try to live in the moment when I am away, my coworker slipped an Eagles concert several years ago to watch a Buckeyes game, team did nothing that year and it was a meaningless game, I’d rather have the memories of seeing the Eagles personally. I feel a bit the same way in the debate about the Titans vs Indycar, I mean, George, The Titans are going nowhere this year, watch Indycar!
September 13, 2023 at 12:25 pm
A race with a .75 rating during the NFL season is better than no race and a 0.0 rating because IndyCar is too afraid to race after football resumes. That’s one of the reasons IndyCar will not return to the national spotlight, save for the Indy 500. Small-mindedness.
September 15, 2023 at 11:59 am
+1 to this!
September 13, 2023 at 1:34 pm
Is it really so incredibly difficult to set the DVR player to record ?
20 races over 8 months please.
September 14, 2023 at 8:14 am
I think its getting harder and harder for professional sports leagues to schedule over major holidays. As you mentioned even the NFL is avoiding Labor Day weekend now. To end the Indy Car Season practically in August would be a mistake. Then the silly calls would start up again to start the season in January or February in Mexico or some other place outside the country that no one would pay any attention to. A season from mid-March to early October makes sense to me. Run on Saturdays in September if the NFL worries the league. I wish they would do that more during the rest of the season. More night races too.
September 14, 2023 at 8:46 am
Friday night races during NFL season. If the IndyCar demographic is as old as people say it is, then it’s not like we’re at the high school football game or the bar. We’re sitting home on our couches with nothing else to watch.
September 14, 2023 at 9:50 pm
I understand your point George. Iam one of those racing only guys! Alway looked at the stick & ball sports as just children’s games played on higher level. That opinion get me in trouble all the time. But I understand your point. Nothing will or can complete with the NFL
September 16, 2023 at 2:42 am
When I read the headline to this article, I thought “wow, another edition of ‘One Take Only'”, but no, when I clicked the link to the article, I found it was not to be. I missed those this season. Here’s hoping John is doing fine, too.
September 16, 2023 at 4:43 pm
We did one in May. We’ll do one in the offseason. I talked to John yesterday. He’s doing fine.