The season of discontent with the IndyCar series is well in hand now. We are waiting patiently to hear any good news out of the IRL head office. Brazil, title sponsorship, Versus getting back on DirecTV, new chassis for 2012, new engine for 2012: all are stories that we need to hear about in the very near future. The IRL has strung all of these things along for quite some time now.
Among those items, the title sponsorship has the potential to make the most visible impact on the series. Especially if the stories we are hearing out of Robin Miller’s mouth are true.
Robin put up an article today on Speed’s website about what he is hearing on the title sponsorship. If it turns out to be true, then the IRL has really been able to get a good deal out of IZOD. Here are the particulars according to Robin:
IZOD is supposedly very close to signing a deal to be the title sponsor of the IndyCar Series
They deal is worth $10 million annually to the IRL
IZOD will also provide somewhere around $100,000 per car in sponsorship
This all on the back of spending somewhere around $6 million dollars this season to show us the same “everythings gonna be allright, huh” commercial almost as many times as we endured smiling Bob.
On top of that, IZOD still has that contract they signed with Ryan Hunter-Reay. It will last for another 2 years. If IZOD does pull the trigger on this deal, then they will be looking hard at getting RHR into a decent seat (read not Foyt) next year.
The IRL and the existing teams have to be elated with the thought that IZOD might be making such a large advertising push for the series. It gives the teams a little more creditiablity when they are trying to sell attract sponsors, not to mention the $100,000 buy that IZOD would be making with each team.
But lets not just take Robin’s word for it, Curt Cavin at the Indy Star and Trackside Online have both been reporting that this deal was just about done.