The Izod IndyCar Series Grand Prix of Baltimore "likely won't have a title sponsor for this year's race, but organizers are still working on lining one up for next year," according to Gary Haber of the BALTIMORE BUSINESS JOURNAL. Event GM Tim Mayer said that race officials are "looking for a title sponsorship deal in the low seven figures." He said several companies "have expressed interest for next year." While he did not identify any of the companies, Mayer said that they are "interested in reaching people living in the mid-Atlantic region." The Labor Day weekend race has not had a title sponsor since it was created in '11. Mayer said that both ticket and corporate suite sales "continue to trend ahead of last year." He added that officials "expect to exceed the 131,000 tickets sold in 2012 and are on target to reach the roughly 150,000 sold in 2011." Haber noted new event sponsors for this year include auto service company Mr. Tire, meat company Esskay and watchmaker Ritmo Mundo (BIZJOURNALS.com, 7/16). Race On LLC VP/Sales & Marketing Debbie Bell, whose firm organizes the event, indicated that sponsorship sales "are up over last year -- when Race On had only 100 days to organize the race after previous groups failed to do so -- but would not say by how much." Last year's race "brought in $800,000 in sponsorship money, about one-third as much as the inaugural event" (Baltimore SUN, 7/18).
