Last-minute deal gets IndyCar race coverage for Canadian fans

Then it was TSN and later Sportsnet, the latter featuring legendary retired Canadian racer Paul Tracy doing analysis.

All the races all the time for more than 30 years.

Sunday, in St. Petersburg, Fla., the first race of the 2019 season will get the green flag at about 2 p.m. Eastern.

James Hinchcliffe of Oakville, driving for a team co-owned by a Canadian, Rick Peterson of Calgary, will start ninth.

The injured Robbie Wickens of Guelph, featured on ABC’s Good Morning America on Friday, is expected to be an integral part of the St. Pete race coverage.

Inexplicably, until Saturday afternoon, there was no Canadian coverage of this race.

It was only after intense pressure from IndyCar fans on social media that Canadian IndyCar rights holder Rogers Sportsnet announced it would make the race available without charge on the Sportsnet.ca website.

The rest of the schedule, though, with the exception of the iconic Indianapolis 500 and the Honda Indy Toronto, has been relegated to premium-pay channels.

Sportsnet is making the other races available either on the digital channel Sportsnet Now-plus, which costs $20 a month or $200 a year if you want to pay up front, and the linear television channel Sportsnet World, which also costs around $20 a month.

And that’s on top of your regular monthly cable bill.

Like fans of the Maple Leafs, Blue Jays and Raptors, IndyCar fans are used to seeing every race live on television.

In the United States, NBC has the rights to IndyCar and will televise eight of the races on the main network, which Canadians with cable will be able to see, leaving nine on the specialty channel NBC Sports Network, which Canadians are unable to get.

Now that St. Petersburg will be available on Sportsnet.ca and the Honda Indy Toronto will be on TV in Canada as part of the deal with Sportsnet, only six races are in play. But one of the them is another icon, the Grand Prix of Long Beach.

An IndyCar source told the Star Saturday that it was clear nearly a year ago that as cost-cutting and other reviews took place in the Canadian television industry generally, IndyCar racing was under threat, as were other niche sports.

“It wasn’t a matter of price,” the source said. “We thought of just asking for the time and then we’d go out and try to sell some advertising. But there just wasn’t the interest.”

“Our highest priority then became to make sure the Indianapolis 500 got on Canadian television, with our second priority being the Honda Indy Toronto,” said Mark Miles, president and CEO of Hulman and Co., owners of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the IndyCar Series.

“We achieved both,” he said, with a spokesperson adding the Honda Indy will be carried on Sportsnet One and the 500 on Sportsnet 360.

IndyCar fans continue to be far from satisfied.

“It seems strange that IndyCar would sign a contract with a major TV network that has six channels available but instead puts the races on an expensive streaming service,” said Mike Sullivan of Scarborough.

And John Strothard of Pickering added: “Following great momentum for IndyCar, we have this sudden misstep. Cable TV rates are already at the breaking point in Canada.

“Most folks, including me, will simply refuse to pay more. I can’t imagine those with a vested interest, such as Honda Canada and Petro-Canada, are enthused, not to mention the promoters of the Toronto Honda Indy.

“If there’s a silver lining here, it’s a few hours freed up on Sunday afternoons. How best to spend it? NASCAR is ‘free’ on TSN and is looking pretty good now!”

Corrrection — March 10, 2019: This article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said Sportsnet is making the other races available only on the digital channel Sportsnet Now-plus. In fact, the other races will be available on Sportsnet Now-plus and Sportsnet World.