Formula E Secures $101M In Backing From Swiss Technology Firm ABB (Update)

IndyCar will once again in 2018 have it's 2nd biggest race of the year (Long Beach) on NBCSN where few people will see it.

UPDATE A reader asks, Dear AutoRacing1.com, I am a big time IndyCar fan. How come IndyCar cannot command large sponsorship deals like this? Jane Marsh

Dear Jane, It's the TV stupid. And I do not mean you are stupid Jane. Although Formula E does not attract many fans at the track (few people want to watch silent race cars), they model their global TV deal after Formula 1, and it truly is global. Although their viewership numbers in any one country are not high, cumulatively around the world their TV viewership numbers dwarf IndyCar which cannot produce any evidence a lot of people are watching.

IndyCar is clueless how to grow an international product. It's owners only care about one thing, the Indy 500. Formula E started from nothing just three years ago and already dwarfs IndyCar in global awareness and popularity. Until IndyCar is sold to an entity who really cares about making it a global TV powerhouse, IndyCar will never command a sponsorship deal like Formula E landed with ABB.

Instead they prefer their teams remain propped up financially by ride-buyer money. It's a broken business model they have run on for decades because 'it's the TV stupid' and they haven't a clue.

To be fair, Formula E is also getting an infusion of manufacturer R&D money because the entire automotive industry to going electric and manufacturers are using Formula E to perfect their electric vehicle technology. The manufacturers also like the global TV reach Formula E has. IndyCar has none.

If IndyCar signs another domestic cable channel TV deal for 2019 and beyond, with no effort to develop a strong global TV presence, rest assured IndyCar will remain a series for a bunch of gentlemen club racers, invisible to 99.99999% of the world's population. And that's unfortunate because the on-track product IndyCar has is perhaps the best in the world. Mark C.

01/10/18 Formula E secured $101.5M in backing in the "biggest sponsorship deal in its history," according to Jonathan Prynn of the London EVENING STANDARD.

Swiss industrial technology firm ABB revealed in London on Tuesday that it will become the sponsor of the 14-race series, which will be renamed the ABB FIA Formula E Championship.

The seven-year partnership will also see ABB "help develop electric vehicle technology." Formula E launched in Sept. '14. EVENING STANDARD