Champ Car TV revenue/cost close to break even

Kevin Kalkhoven – "Even our television ratings, which were not very good last year, are improving this year and I suspect when we announce the 2006 television package we'll see it will be even stronger still. Everything is a development that we're still doing, and things occasionally go wrong. But we are stronger this year than we have been for two or three years. We're nowhere near the level that the series spent on teams in previous years and the difference is being made up by sponsorship."

Finally, Kalkhoven was asked if he sees a time in the future when Champ Car will earn a TV rights fee rather than having to buy television time.

"Nearly every sport in the United States with the exception of the NFL and two or three others has to buy air time," he commented. "Even basketball buys time. There is nothing wrong with buying time as long as you have a product that sells the advertising at the same time. What people are forgetting is that we are getting some very good revenue from our advertising which is allowing us to pretty much cover the costs of our television. We are not where we want to be, but it's getting a lot better." ChampCar.ws