INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The Indianapolis 500 is expected to be sold out and the local blackout will be lifted so fans in the area unable to attend can watch it live.
It will be the first grandstand sell-out since 2016, the 100th running of the Indy 500. If the grandstands don’t reach capacity, Indianapolis Motor Speedway implements a local television blackout in which the race can only be watched inside the city later that day on replay.
The expected sell-out was announced Friday by IndyCar and IMS president Doug Boles, who said “we are within four digits in terms of tickets remaining and we wanted to get that out now so those fans that were thinking about coming, they’ve got a few hours to get that done.”
Boles said the grandstands will be completely sold out by Monday for the May 25 event and “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is expected to draw 350,000 on race day. The Indiana Pacers will also host an NBA playoff game that evening.
“We will lift the local delay in the Indianapolis market so those folks here in Indianapolis can watch the Indianapolis 500 live when its run,” Boles said. “We also know that the Pacers are playing in town that evening. But for a lot of our fans who are here for the race, their tradition when they get home is to watch the Indianapolis 500. I’m sure people will be trying to figure out how bounce between a Pacers game, which we hope is a win for Indianapolis and the Indianapolis 500.”
General admission tickets are still available and the speedway directed any questions as to the possible attendance of President Donald Trump to the White House.
“This really is about the fans, this event has the 109th running coming up because of the way fans have embraced it,” Boles said. “It is a race, but it so much more than that. It’s an event and I love hearing stories from our fans about what this race means to them, to their families, the generations of their families.”
The race will be shown on Fox Sports, which is in its first year as IndyCar broadcast partner.
“Fox Sports is all in on IndyCar, and this is an incredible accomplishment to celebrate with our first Indy 500 broadcast,” Fox Sports CEO Eric Shanks said. “As a lifelong fan, I am also personally thrilled to see the grandstands filled on race day and look forward to broadcasting the race live in Central Indiana.”
Indianapolis Motor Speedway has 232,000 grandstand seats. The speedway has another 20,000 suite tickets, 12,000 employees on race day, and an untold number of those who watch from the infield.
“You can see how quickly we get to that 350,000 number,” Boles said.
