Baltimore Grand Prix IndyCar race sees ratings dip

NBC Sports Network (formerly the 10-year Versus deal signed by none other than Tony George's team) continues to be a noose around IndyCar's neck. Television ratings for NBC Sports Network’s coverage of the Grand Prix of Baltimore’s IndyCar race were down from a year ago.

NBC Sports Network’s broadcast of the Sept. 2 race garnered a 0.2 rating among U.S. households. That translates into 247,000 viewers for Sunday’s television broadcast on the cable network, i.e. infomercial territory.

This year’s ratings were significantly lower than those for the 2011 Baltimore Grand Prix. That race earned a 0.6 household rating and drew 591,000 viewers on Versus.

We predicted these sort of results when Tony George announced that 10-year deal, calling it pennywise and pound foolish. Sure, IndyCar gets paid for each race that is televised, but the money the series and teams lose in lost sponsorship because of the miniscule ratings is probably tenfold.

And to make matters worse, NBC cannot move any of its NBC Sports Network races to network TV (i.e. NBC) where ratings would be much higher because IndyCar signed a deal with ABC that only they can broadcast IndyCar races on network TV.