The RACER Mailbag, January 29

Yesterday at 05:36 AM

Welcome to the RACER Mailbag. Questions for any of RACER's writers can be sent to mailbag@racer.com. We love hearing your comments and opinions, but letters that include a question are more likely to be published. Questions received after 3pm ET each Monday will be saved for the following week.

Q: IMS contacted my family about my father being the "Account Holder" on our tickets for the 500. Our father passed away in 2006 (his first 500 was 1946). Our mother is still alive at 97 years old. IMS asked if our mother still attends the race; she stopped attending in 2017 (her first 500 was 1947).

IMS then stated that someone attending the race needed to be the “Account Holder” and that the transfer fee for same would be $100.

Per their policy:

“The account will be assessed a $100.00 administrative fee for the transfer that is payable within 10 business days of the invoice date. Failure to pay the fee will void the ticket transfer and the tickets will revert back to the current Account Holder."

Thanks, IMS. As your Account Holders die off, $100 is now charged to their survivors if they'd like to retain their tickets.

Two questions:
1) Why did it take 19 years for you to call us?
2) Why does it cost us $100 to retain our tickets within our family?

Jesse (first 500 was 1969), Franklin, IN

MARSHALL PRUETT: Oof. Penske Entertainment was taken to task last year by its teams after big year-to-year price hikes were passed down – like annual credentials for extra crew members, which went from $500 to $1000 for no apparent reason. I heard from several teams who reported their Indy 500 hospitality suites were subject to an extra $50,000 fee, with no extra amenities: just a giant money grab, from within its cash-strapped paddock.

I share this in response to the apparent cash grab here which, as I've read about in other sports, has become a common way to squeeze more money from fans through personal seat licenses and transfer fees. Probably not as big of an outrage for younger sports fans who are accustomed to such things — not as if they like it, but some newer fans have never lived in a time where PSLs didn't exist — but for older fans who've been loyal to IMS, or your favorite local stick-and-ball team you've supported forever, it likely lands in a different, greed-based manner.

Here's what Penske Entertainment/IMS shared in response when I forwarded your letter, and they've also asked for your contact info to make a direct outreach:

Indianapolis Motor Speedway's main goal is to ensure tickets are going to our account holders and to prevent fraudulent activity.

In many cases, a family member reaches out to let us know when a beloved family member has passed, and we assist with an account transfer, so the tickets remain in the family.

Understandably this is not always the case, so the IMS Ticket Office has started to review customer accounts and reach out to customers where the name on the account and the payment details and/or address do not match. We want to ensure the tickets are paid for by family members and others do not try to fraudulently acquire an account/tickets when the account holder passes. We also want to ensure the mailing address is correct so tickets arrive where they should the first time and the email address is current so event operational emails with important information are received.

We believe we should always allow family transfers (because the seats transferred have the family ties and memories that make them special to that family) and our policy allows family members to transfer tickets from another family member's account for situations such as these. The account holder does not always need to attend the race, so we will reach out to the fan and address.

As part an account transfer among family, we did implement a transfer fee for a variety of reasons. Our fee is in line with the market and lower than some competitors.

I hope this helps you understand our process and why we believe it is the fairest way to treat all our customers while, at the same time, allowing families to keep the seats that have traditionally been in the family.

Q: FOX is advertising it will provide streaming for the Super Bowl through Tubi TV on its new commercial it rolled out with Erin Andrews. This is all speculation, but if it goes well with Tubi TV, there may yet be an IndyCar cord-cutter option for streaming. Tubi TV is free – whether or not the Super Bowl stream will be free, I have no idea.

Rob, Rochester, NY

MP: I didn't know Tubi existed until this time last year when Katt Williams mentioned it on Shannon Sharpe's podcast, and since then, I've avoided it whenever possible because it tends to have really crappy movies with lots of ads. All that being said, I just looked and it's owned by FOX, so yes, in theory, it would be an easy tool to use for more live sports programming if that's what FOX Sports wants for IndyCar.

Q: Now that IndyCar has taken over promoting Nashville, why doesn't it take over promoting all 17 events on the calendar? Then it would be able to make sure there was a high level of marketing and quality of on- and off-track activities.

If it brought on the same support series for each event, it would make things better. Just look at what Feld Entertainment does with Monster Energy Supercross. Penske Entertainment has billions of dollars and ownership of major brands. It’s not a lack of money that is the issue.

I find that some IndyCar promoters put on a better event than others. Depending on the event, you can have a shoestring budget to a high one where you can stage concerts with top level acts.

I have found with Toronto, for example, there is not much to do there in the infield, with very little activities in Thunder Alley which used to be robust. They don’t have activities for families or kids indoors out in the infield. It’s wall-to-wall racing. Yes, they do have the Rookie Racers club for kids, but it’s really not enough. Having kids entertainers is sorely needed. They don’t have to be famous, either. If there was a kids zone indoors, it would go a long way. Right now the paddock is the only option for off-track activities.

If Penske Entertainment eliminated the middle-man and promoted all of the events itself, it could make sure that the circus is exactly the same no matter where it goes. Is this the way IndyCar might go, or is the choice to take over promotion of Nashville an anomaly?

David Colquitt

MP: All great points you raise, David. At this stage, Green Savoree Race Promotions is the last significant race promoter in IndyCar with Toronto, St. Petersburg, Mid-Ohio — which it owns – and Portland.

From there, it's track owners/managers putting on events at Barber, Laguna Seca, Road America, etc. The only thing that wouldn't work, unless Penske wants to make major investments, is all of those tracks, and a few others, pay Penske $1,000,000 or more to show up and race. And not all of those are profitable for the promoters, so I don't know if Penske wants to take them on when others are willing to pay.