Indy 500 to be blacked out

Indy Speedway President Doug Boles. Why aren't all IndyCar races blacked out in the local market if the race is not a sellout? It would boost race attendance for the entire schedule. The 'family' only cares about their race.

The surge from the 100th running continues writes Jim Ayello of the Indy Star.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway president Doug Boles reported Tuesday afternoon that ticket sales for Sunday's 102nd running of the Indianapolis 500 attendance remain ahead of last year's pace for a race that drew about 300,000 spectators.

"We’re better than last year, and last year we were significantly better than 2015," Boles said of the 99th running, which attracted an estimated 220,000. "We’re not going to sell out, but it will be another really, really good crowd.

"Really from the renewal period on, we’ve been tracking ahead. And the past few weeks, we’ve been tracking way ahead. We had a really good spring."

As he has in the past, Boles continues to credit the momentum built by the 100th running of the 500, which drew a reported "sell-out" crowd of 350,000-plus spectators.

But Boles also suggested that the return of Danica Patrick for her final race has boosted ticket sales.

"I think people from the 100th really got fired up about the 500 again," Boles said. "But some of (this) you can really attribute to Danica. It being her last race, and I’ve said it all along, she’ll probably be a better ticket-sales driver than (Formula One star) Fernando (Alonso) was last year. Fernando was great for international interest and our live stream. All of that was way up because of him. But Danica being from here, from the U.S., racing all over the country, she’s probably driven ticket sales better than he had."

Interestingly, Boles said that while there will not be a sellout this year — and therefore the local blackout will not be lifted — he can foresee a time in the near future where the conversation changes.

If attendance keeps ticking up the way it has since the 100th running, Boles suggested, then maybe a "sellout" becomes the norm and the blackout can be lifted.

"We've said in the 100th when we lifted the blackout, that we'd always consider it if we were to sell out the grandstands," Boles said. "That's the first thing. We'd have to get there, and then it'd be a consideration going forward. … For us, it's just a matter of maintaining the integrity of the event. We are the world's largest sporting venue. So to fill those a little under 240,000 permanent seats, it's a tall order."

In non-Race Day attendance news, Boles said the weekend's Pole Day crowd outpaced the Bump Day crowd, though the figures were close. He added that Pole Day was the best-attended it's been in many years. He also said that while he wished popular driver James Hinchcliffe were competing in Sunday's race, he doesn't expect his absence to slow sales.

"Of course, he is very, very popular, and as a promoter, I absolutely wish Hinch was in the field. Clearly, he is one of the three or four most high-profile drivers, and you want those people in the race. At the same time, you have to protect the integrity of 33. And if we really mean it — and 33 is an important number — then we don't have a choice but to stick with 33 regardless of who it is that gets bumped out." Jim Ayello/Indy Star