By Joey Barnes, Editor-in-Chief
The television schedule for the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season has been revealed with “continuity and consistency” being the name of the game.
“Today’s announcement is another key step forward in INDYCAR’s plan of developing continuity and consistency in both our event calendar and our television schedule,” said Mark Miles, CEO of Hulman & Co., the parent of INDYCAR and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
“We’re extremely grateful to our partners at ABC and NBCSN for their collaboration, which has been instrumental in the increase of television ratings and viewership INDYCAR has experienced the past three years and has the series well positioned to continue that growth in 2017.”
The series has gone through growth year-to-year in viewership for the past three seasons, which brings a combined 55 percent increase since 2013.
“Coming off of another year of growth for the IndyCar Series, we look forward to continuing our long relationship with the series and the Indianapolis 500 in 2017,” said Julie Sobieski, ESPN vice president, league sports programming.
“There’s nothing like the Month of May at Indianapolis with three very different weekends for race fans that culminate with ABC’s 53rd year at the Indianapolis 500. And it’s always exciting for us to restart the year in St. Petersburg and conclude our portion of the season with two consecutive days of live racing action from Detroit. It’s a diverse and vibrant schedule for us.”
“As the U.S. television home of motorsports, we’re proud to showcase the thrilling speed and exciting racing that the Verizon IndyCar Series delivers each year,” added Jon Miller, president of programming for NBC Sports & NBCSN.
“Our INDYCAR coverage in 2016 reached more fans than ever before, and we look forward to building off of that success as we crown yet another INDYCAR champion on NBCSN in 2017.”
Additional INDYCAR programming, including Verizon IndyCar Series practice and qualifying sessions, will be announced at a later date.
The 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series television schedule is as follows (all times ET; times subject to change):
