CART Expands 2004 Broadcasts With CBS Sports

[John Corn]

http://www.champcarworldseries.com/News/Article.asp?ID=6540

TORONTO (July 13, 2003) – Continuing to build on what has been a successful relationship, the CART Champ Car World Series and CBS Sports announced Sunday that they will expand their broadcast relationship for 2004.

The nationwide broadcast network, which is carrying seven races this season including this weekend’s Molson Indy Toronto, announced that it would up the ante next year by agreeing to carry as many as 10 races for the 2004 campaign. The yet-to-be released CBS schedule will include the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg as well as the Toyota Grand Prix of Long Beach, one of the signature events on the CART Champ Car schedule.

The announcement was made Sunday at Toronto in a joint press conference with CBS Sports Senior Vice-President of Programming Rob Correa and CART Champ Car President and CEO Christopher R. Pook, prior to the running of the Molson Indy Toronto.

“Sports fans as well as racing fans are showing that they enjoy the tight racing action provided by the CART Champ Car World Series,” Correa said. “We will continue to develop new methods to take the fans even closer to the action, and intend to provide those fans with the finest open-wheel racing coverage anywhere.”

“We are very pleased that we have been able to build such a strong relationship with CBS Sports in the last two years,” said Pook. “This partnership will definitely benefit both sides, and will go a long way toward helping our drivers and teams attract sponsorship for upcoming seasons.”

The Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will be broadcast on CBS Sports to kick off the 2004 season, marking the first time in three years that the CART Champ Car opener can be seen on network television. Long Beach returns to network via CBS next season after airing on SPEED Channel this year. CBS has already televised five Champ Car World Series events this season, setting a season high with last weekend’s broadcast from Cleveland, drawing over a million households with a peak viewership of nearly 1.4 million.

[SamC]

IF there is a CART next year. CART started the year with a huge cash reserve (courtesy of suckers who bought their stock at upwards of $35 (it closed Friday at $2.50). It has spent 90% of it on buying time.

These broadcasts are time-buys. CART pays CBS for the slots, same as an infomercial, and recoups some of its money by selling its own commercials. This practice has led CART to burn up its millions and to post loses that would make K-Mart blush. They simply don't have the money to buy this time.

My money is on CART quietly going bankrupt over the winter.

[John Corn]

Andretti predicts CART will survive
By Tom Withers, The Associated Press
CLEVELAND — Mario Andretti says CART can one day get back up to speed.
As usual, the always outspoken Andretti has some pointed views on the troubled racing series, which has lost sponsors, teams and fans in the past few years.

Last month, CART, a publicly traded company, hired Wall Street investment firm Bear Stearns to help with its restructuring while exploring the possibility of selling the series.

Andretti, one of racing's best ambassadors, is confident CART will survive, and he can foresee a day when it will merge with IRL.

"I feel damn good about it," he said where CART is headed. "There are a lot of things that are happening. I'm hearing good things about the series — a title sponsor, things like that.

"I'm still bullish about it, and I don't think I'm wrong."

Andretti, who will step down from CART's board of directors in two weeks to become the series' spokesperson, said the best way to get open-wheel racing to catch up with NASCAR's popularity is for CART and IRL to work out their differences.

"I haven't given up the idea of bringing the two series together," he said. "I might make enough noise that they'll start talking. Both series have assets and we need to bring them together."

CART's steady decline and the sagging state of open-wheel racing in the USA has Andretti concerned. But he remains convinced better days are ahead.

"It's been totally undervalued, and I don't like that," he said. "We need to bring it back to where it used to be."

More from Mario: Andretti had one of those 1960s flashbacks.

After sliding into the front seat and behind the steering wheel of a new Ford GT on Saturday, one of the greatest drivers in history had his mind race back to Le Mans in 1966.

"I couldn't help it," he said. "It brought back many positive recollections."

Thirty-seven years ago in France, Andretti was part of an American racing team that went 1-2-3 at the 24 Hours of Le Mans while driving the track-hugging Ford GT40s. The sweep stunned the racing world.

"We were not given a chance to go there and steamroll the competition," Andretti said. "And that's what we did with a stock-block engine."

The motor company has honored that feat by building three prototype 2005 Ford GTs, designed with the same sexy lines as the original with some modern upgrades.

Andretti got into one for the first time before Saturday's Cleveland Grand Prix and drove it as the pace car around the temporary Burke Lakefront Airport track.

"The chief engineer is going to go along so I don't abuse it," Andretti joked.

[Cyclone]

If anyone wants to see pictures of the new Ford GT, click on this link (http://www.imagesofmotorsport.com/fordgtphoto.html).

I'm really Glad that Ford finally has something to answer to GM's Corvette or Chrysler's Viper. :D Shame it starts at $150,000.