Revenue / 05.18.22

90% of Grandstands Sold for Indy 500 But IMS Not Expecting Sellout, Lift of Local Blackout

Access Staff

Indianapolis Star (IN) (05/13/22) Brown, Nathan

Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) President Doug Boles does not expect the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 to sell out its approximately 240,000 reserved grandstand seats for the May 29 race. The local blackout of the race's live broadcast is also expected to continue. Boles said it also remains unclear whether central Indiana race fans who have bought a Peacock Premium subscription through NBC will be able to watch the race live. He noted that 90% of the track's permanent seating was sold out as of May 13, including all of the suites. Comparatively, on May 6, 2016, IMS announced that all reserved seats were sold out, and the track halted general admission ticket sales on the Wednesday of race week, lifting the local blackout for the first time since 1950. "I think we'll be really close to selling out reserved seats. I don't think we'll get there, but we'll be close," Boles declared. "GA is still going to be a big crowd, but not like 2016 because that year, for a month, if people wanted to come to the race, [buying a GA ticket] was their only choice."

Read the full story at Indianapolis Star. 

Tags: Revenue , Indy 500 , Racing