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IndyCar
INDYCAR: 20 Questions With Randy Bernard Pt 2
IndyCar's CEO finishes up his interview with Marshall Pruett covering Versus, new promotional plans, slow drivers, technology and rates his first year on the job.
A first look at the new driver intro stage Bernard is having built for 2011. To gauge its size, Will Power is standing at the top of the stairs next to a full-sized IndyCar. It will also shoot 90-foot flames. (IndyCar)
Part two our our interview with IndyCar CEO Randy Bernard continues to reveal a leader whose approach to running the IZOD IndyCar Series is vastly different than the man he replaced.
Humility--a hallmark of Bernard's personality--and a relentless work ethic have resulted in an impressive list of accomplishments for the former head of the Professional Bull Riders, and his template for growing the PBR from a small-time organization into a international brand has clearly been used to great effect with the IndyCar Series.
Bernard's greatest asset is a burning desire to fix whatever is broken. He's reminiscent of tenacious driver who refuses to give up after going a lap down early in a race. As he shares below, getting IndyCar back on the lead lap will take some time, but with the help of all involved with the series, he believes it's just a matter of time until open-wheel racing is racing to the front of the pack.
Pruett: You inherited a TV package that wasn’t one you negotiated. You know the folks at VERSUS very well from your days at PBR, and they do a better job than we had when the series was on ESPN and ABC full-time, but that doesn’t change the fact that very few people tune in to watch the races. Do you have a plan in place—from the side of the series—to drive more traffic to watch Versus, or is that something you have to leave up to the channel?
Bernard: I think that you're correct in saying I didn't negotiate the television package we have. But being fair as well, if I was here back then, I might've done the same thing. I'm not going to say anything negative on what has happened. I think the biggest thing that's happening with Versus is with Comcast purchasing 51% of NBC; that's going to make a significant difference in our programming. And I think when you bring a powerhouse like NBC into the mix of a sports channel like Versus, everything should get better. And when you get better programming you’re guaranteed to get a bigger ‘universe’ of homes. ‘Universe’ is defined as how many homes have the opportunity to watch a network.
Right now, NBC has 120 million homes compared to Versus which has 70. ESPN has somewhere between a hundred and 110 million. I think we need to sit back, not make too many decisions until everything is done with NBC and Versus and hopefully we can gain more viewership because of that. From everything I've read and you probably read the same thing, it should happen somewhere in the first quarter next year. The thing that I don't want is an expectation for someone to snap their fingers and overnight [Versus] is going to have bigger viewership. I think it's a couple years in the making.
But I think that when you get people like NBC’s Dick Ebersol involved in a network like Versus, it's a huge, huge, huge compliment and I'm totally excited about that. And I think the world of the whole team over there. I’ve worked with the NBC team and I have tremendous respect for them.
READ: INDYCAR: 20 Questions With Randy Bernard Pt 1
Pruett: We’ve seen a number of sponsorship announcements for 2011 of late, with a lot of funding going to the big teams. Do you have a plan in place to focus on helping the middle-class and low income teams to secure funding? There appears to be a widening gap between the big fish and the little fish in a very tight economy.
Bernard: That's a very good question, and to be honest, I don't really have the full answer for that yet. What we do right now is we have a representative that works for IndyCar that is there to help any team that needs it. We’ll do all we can, but compared to some other sports, we don’t own the teams or pay their salaries. This business model is a lot different. I think from a sports property perspective, the one thing that we have to do is continue to create the best competition possible. I'm not a big fan of socialized sports and that means paying everyone equal amounts of prize money or whatever. So I think that it's a fine line.
You have to have different sizes of teams in our sport to cater to different sponsors or drivers, but you want them all to be successful financially, whatever size their organization is. You hope a team with 10 employees—and they will have less income than a team with 100 employees—can be successful. It’s the same for the medium-sized and big teams. The economy is still really tough right now, but our teams have adapted and sacrificed and streamlined in a lot of different ways to maintain. We have some really smart businessmen and businesswomen in our series and they’ve done an incredible job.
I think the most encouraging thing I can say is when you hear teams like Highcroft wanting to get involved, [Bobby] Rahal and now Mike Lanigan wanting to get more involved, and Don Prudhomme making a comment that maybe he's going to get involved in 2012. I think when you start seeing this type of caliber of folks trying to join the series when the economy is still recovering, I think it's going to raise the bar on everyone and it says there are new sponsors out there who want to get involved in IndyCar.
I think there will always be some teams that struggle; every era of open-wheel racing has a few teams that are in that place, but I think what we need to continue to do is just continue to try to lift the entire sport and hopefully they can grow with it.
Pruett: What’s the biggest complaint and compliment about the series you hear from owners?
Bernard: Team owners biggest complaint is exposure; they want more, which I don't blame them. They want to see bigger stars built, and I don't blame them. There’s a lot we have to fix, and we’re addressing all of them. The biggest compliment from the owners is also about the momentum we have going. They say they see it and they feel it in the paddock. They're all very encouraged with what they see going on right now.
Pruett: Last one on that theme: what’s the biggest complaint and compliment you hear about the series from drivers?
Bernard: Dealing with the press…no, just kidding. The biggest complaint from the drivers was that they wanted more input, so they created a committee to bring their suggestions to IndyCar. The biggest compliment was probably from Dario Franchitti. He told me five different times that the best thing that we've done is change from IRL to IndyCar.
The other one is what we’re doing with our history books. When you talk about all open-wheel drivers – legends and current – the fact that we are going to roll all the statistics up and combine them, so IndyCar statistics will go back for a hundred years, is something I know they appreciate. I think IndyCar fans—CART, IRL, AAA; you name it—will appreciate that too. We have statisticians putting it together right now. They’re combining them as we speak. By the time the new season gets here, you should see a new combined set of IndyCar statistics in our media guide. I think it’s important.
I think if someone breaks one of AJ Foyt’s records, that's huge news. And it’s not being disrespectful to [the legends]… they want it too, they want to see their records recognized for being so great, which they are. And I think that we try to hide that. It was open-wheel racing before the IRL was created, by God, and we need to make sure we go back to that and we combine everything and make sure we honor those legends that have been such a big important part of our history. And if someone breaks one of those records, it’s a huge, huge accomplishment. I think the real open-wheel purist is going to love that. This is long overdue, in my book.
Humility--a hallmark of Bernard's personality--and a relentless work ethic have resulted in an impressive list of accomplishments for the former head of the Professional Bull Riders, and his template for growing the PBR from a small-time organization into a international brand has clearly been used to great effect with the IndyCar Series.
Bernard's greatest asset is a burning desire to fix whatever is broken. He's reminiscent of tenacious driver who refuses to give up after going a lap down early in a race. As he shares below, getting IndyCar back on the lead lap will take some time, but with the help of all involved with the series, he believes it's just a matter of time until open-wheel racing is racing to the front of the pack.
Pruett: You inherited a TV package that wasn’t one you negotiated. You know the folks at VERSUS very well from your days at PBR, and they do a better job than we had when the series was on ESPN and ABC full-time, but that doesn’t change the fact that very few people tune in to watch the races. Do you have a plan in place—from the side of the series—to drive more traffic to watch Versus, or is that something you have to leave up to the channel?
Bernard: I think that you're correct in saying I didn't negotiate the television package we have. But being fair as well, if I was here back then, I might've done the same thing. I'm not going to say anything negative on what has happened. I think the biggest thing that's happening with Versus is with Comcast purchasing 51% of NBC; that's going to make a significant difference in our programming. And I think when you bring a powerhouse like NBC into the mix of a sports channel like Versus, everything should get better. And when you get better programming you’re guaranteed to get a bigger ‘universe’ of homes. ‘Universe’ is defined as how many homes have the opportunity to watch a network.
Right now, NBC has 120 million homes compared to Versus which has 70. ESPN has somewhere between a hundred and 110 million. I think we need to sit back, not make too many decisions until everything is done with NBC and Versus and hopefully we can gain more viewership because of that. From everything I've read and you probably read the same thing, it should happen somewhere in the first quarter next year. The thing that I don't want is an expectation for someone to snap their fingers and overnight [Versus] is going to have bigger viewership. I think it's a couple years in the making.
But I think that when you get people like NBC’s Dick Ebersol involved in a network like Versus, it's a huge, huge, huge compliment and I'm totally excited about that. And I think the world of the whole team over there. I’ve worked with the NBC team and I have tremendous respect for them.
READ: INDYCAR: 20 Questions With Randy Bernard Pt 1
Pruett: We’ve seen a number of sponsorship announcements for 2011 of late, with a lot of funding going to the big teams. Do you have a plan in place to focus on helping the middle-class and low income teams to secure funding? There appears to be a widening gap between the big fish and the little fish in a very tight economy.
Bernard: That's a very good question, and to be honest, I don't really have the full answer for that yet. What we do right now is we have a representative that works for IndyCar that is there to help any team that needs it. We’ll do all we can, but compared to some other sports, we don’t own the teams or pay their salaries. This business model is a lot different. I think from a sports property perspective, the one thing that we have to do is continue to create the best competition possible. I'm not a big fan of socialized sports and that means paying everyone equal amounts of prize money or whatever. So I think that it's a fine line.
You have to have different sizes of teams in our sport to cater to different sponsors or drivers, but you want them all to be successful financially, whatever size their organization is. You hope a team with 10 employees—and they will have less income than a team with 100 employees—can be successful. It’s the same for the medium-sized and big teams. The economy is still really tough right now, but our teams have adapted and sacrificed and streamlined in a lot of different ways to maintain. We have some really smart businessmen and businesswomen in our series and they’ve done an incredible job.
I think the most encouraging thing I can say is when you hear teams like Highcroft wanting to get involved, [Bobby] Rahal and now Mike Lanigan wanting to get more involved, and Don Prudhomme making a comment that maybe he's going to get involved in 2012. I think when you start seeing this type of caliber of folks trying to join the series when the economy is still recovering, I think it's going to raise the bar on everyone and it says there are new sponsors out there who want to get involved in IndyCar.
I think there will always be some teams that struggle; every era of open-wheel racing has a few teams that are in that place, but I think what we need to continue to do is just continue to try to lift the entire sport and hopefully they can grow with it.
Pruett: What’s the biggest complaint and compliment about the series you hear from owners?
Bernard: Team owners biggest complaint is exposure; they want more, which I don't blame them. They want to see bigger stars built, and I don't blame them. There’s a lot we have to fix, and we’re addressing all of them. The biggest compliment from the owners is also about the momentum we have going. They say they see it and they feel it in the paddock. They're all very encouraged with what they see going on right now.
Pruett: Last one on that theme: what’s the biggest complaint and compliment you hear about the series from drivers?
Bernard: Dealing with the press…no, just kidding. The biggest complaint from the drivers was that they wanted more input, so they created a committee to bring their suggestions to IndyCar. The biggest compliment was probably from Dario Franchitti. He told me five different times that the best thing that we've done is change from IRL to IndyCar.
The other one is what we’re doing with our history books. When you talk about all open-wheel drivers – legends and current – the fact that we are going to roll all the statistics up and combine them, so IndyCar statistics will go back for a hundred years, is something I know they appreciate. I think IndyCar fans—CART, IRL, AAA; you name it—will appreciate that too. We have statisticians putting it together right now. They’re combining them as we speak. By the time the new season gets here, you should see a new combined set of IndyCar statistics in our media guide. I think it’s important.
I think if someone breaks one of AJ Foyt’s records, that's huge news. And it’s not being disrespectful to [the legends]… they want it too, they want to see their records recognized for being so great, which they are. And I think that we try to hide that. It was open-wheel racing before the IRL was created, by God, and we need to make sure we go back to that and we combine everything and make sure we honor those legends that have been such a big important part of our history. And if someone breaks one of those records, it’s a huge, huge accomplishment. I think the real open-wheel purist is going to love that. This is long overdue, in my book.
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