The Indianapolis 500, formally known as the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, and commonly shortened to Indy 500, is an annual automobile race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana, United States, an enclave suburb of Indianapolis. The event is traditionally held over Memorial Day weekend, usually the last weekend of May. It is contested as part of the IndyCar Series, the top level of American open-wheel car racing, a formula colloquially known as "Indy car racing". The track itself is nicknamed the "Brickyard", as the racing surface was first paved in brick in the fall of 1909. One yard of brick remains exposed at the start/finish line. The event, billed as The Greatest Spectacle in Racing, is considered part of the Triple Crown of Motorsport along with the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the Monaco Grand Prix, with which it typically shares a date.
The Brickyard 400 is an annual NASCAR Cup Series points race held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana. The inaugural race was held in 1994 and was the first race other than the Indianapolis 500 to be held at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway since 1916. In its inaugural running, the Brickyard 400 became NASCAR's most-attended event, drawing an estimated crowd of more than 250,000 spectators. The race also paid one of NASCAR's highest purses. From 1994 to 2020, the race was held on the 2.5-mile oval, for a distance of 400 miles. The race was put on hiatus for three years (2021–2023) in favor of the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard which was run on a combined road course and run a distance of 200-mile (321.869 km). The event returned to the oval for the 2024 season.
Leigh Diffey is an Australian-American auto racing and track and field commentator. His career began calling motorcycle races in his home country before moving to the United Kingdom to cover other forms of motorsport. Diffey then moved to the United States to join Speed Channel, while simultaneously working for Network Ten in Australia.
NBC Sports is an American programming division of the broadcast network NBC, owned and operated by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal and subsidiary of Comcast. The division is responsible for sports broadcasts on the network, and its dedicated national sports cable channels. Formerly operating as "a service of NBC News", it broadcasts a diverse array of sports events, including the Premier League, the IndyCar Series, NASCAR, the National Football League (NFL), the NBA, Notre Dame football, Big Ten football and basketball, the Olympic Games, professional golf, the Tour de France, Thoroughbred racing, and the WNBA among others. Other programming from outside producers – such as coverage of the Ironman Triathlon – is also presented on the network through NBC Sports. With Comcast's acquisition of NBCUniversal in 2011, its own cable sports networks were aligned with NBC Sports into a part of the division known as the NBC Sports Group.
WTHR is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with NBC. It is owned by Tegna Inc. alongside low-power, Class A MeTV affiliate WALV-CD. The two stations share studios on North Meridian Street in downtown Indianapolis; WTHR's transmitter is located near Ditch Road and West 96th Street in Carmel.
WRTV is a television station in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States, affiliated with ABC and owned by the E. W. Scripps Company. The station's studios are located on Meridian Street north of downtown Indianapolis, and its transmitter is located on the city's northwest side near Meridian Hills, Indiana.
Paul Page is an American motorsports broadcaster who is best known for serving as the play-by-play commentator for the Indianapolis 500 for a total of 50 years across radio and television. Page was the radio Voice of the 500 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network from 1977 to 1987, and again from 2014 to 2015. He served the same role on television in 1988–1998 & 2002–2004.
NASCAR on NBC is the branding used for broadcasts of NASCAR races that are produced by NBC Sports, and televised on several NBCUniversal-owned television networks, including the NBC broadcast network in the United States. The network originally aired races, typically during the second half of the season, from 1999 to 2006.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio Network, is an in-house radio syndication arrangement which broadcasts the Indianapolis 500, the NTT IndyCar Series, and Indy NXT to radio stations covering most of North America. The network, owned by the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and headquartered in Speedway, Indiana, claims to be one of the largest of its kind in the world. It currently boasts over 350 terrestrial radio affiliates, plus shortwave transmissions through American Forces Network and World Harvest Radio. The network is carried on satellite radio through SiriusXM, and is also accessible through online streaming, and downloadable podcasts. For 2017, the broadcast reached 20.5 million listeners.
Robert Francis Jenkins was an American television and radio sports announcer, primarily calling Indy car and NASCAR telecasts for ESPN/ABC and later Versus/NBCSN. Jenkins was the radio "Voice of the Indianapolis 500" on the IMS Radio Network from 1990 to 1998, then held the same role on ABC Sports television from 1999 to 2001.
The television and radio rights to broadcast NASCAR are among the most expensive broadcast rights of any American sport, with the current television contract with Fox Sports and NBC Sports being worth around US$8 billion.
Side-by-side is a type of split-screen presentation format used on television broadcasts, particularly as a means of continuing to show a view of ongoing live content, whilst simultaneously airing commercials alongside them. Typically, only the audio of the advertising is played.
In the United States, sports are televised on various broadcast networks, national and specialty sports cable channels, and regional sports networks. U.S. sports rights are estimated to be worth a total of $22.42 billion in 2019, about 44 percent of the total worldwide sports media market. U.S. networks are willing to pay a significant amount of money for television sports contracts because it attracts large amounts of viewership; live sport broadcasts accounted for 44 of the 50 list of most watched television broadcasts in the United States in 2016.
IndyCar Series on NBC is the blanket title used for telecasts of IndyCar Series racing produced by NBC Sports.
NBC Sports is the sports division of the NBC television network. Formerly "a service of NBC News", it broadcasts a diverse array of programs, including the Olympic Games, the NFL, Notre Dame football, the PGA Tour, the Triple Crown, and the French Open, among others. Assets currently include among others Golf Channel and NBC Sports Regional Networks.
The IndyCar Series on ABC, also known as the IndyCar Series on ESPN, was the branding used for coverage of the IndyCar Series produced by ESPN, and formerly broadcast on ABC television network in the United States between 1965 and 2018.
Until 2001, race tracks struck individual agreements with networks to broadcast races, but NASCAR wanted to capitalize on the growing popularity of the sport and announced in 1999 that television contracts would now be centralized; that is, instead of making agreements with individual tracks, networks would now negotiate directly with NASCAR for the rights to air a package of races.
On December 7, 2005, NASCAR signed a new eight-year broadcast deal effective with the 2007 season, and valued at $4.48 billion, with Fox and Speed Channel, which would also share event rights with Disney-owned ABC, ESPN and ESPN2, as well as TNT. The rights would be divided as follows:
When the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020, all major professional and collegiate organizations responded by suspending operations indefinitely. This effect was passed down to the world of sports broadcasting, which includes live coverage of thousands of events on an annual basis through stations and network available over the air, through cable, satellite, and IPTV companies, and via streaming and over-the-top services.
