ABC has been televising the Indianapolis 500, either live or on tape delay, since '65getty images
Sunday will mark ABC's final broadcast of the Indianapolis 500, as IndyCar's three-year deal with NBC will begin in '19, ending one of the "longest relationships between a television network and a sporting event," according to Keith Groller of the Allentown MORNING CALL. ABC has been "televising the Indy 500 on the Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, either live or on tape delay," since '65. ABC/ESPN IndyCar analyst Scott Goodyear will be working his 17th Indy 500, which will "break a tie with Sam Posey for the most times doing the national broadcast." Lap-by-lap broadcaster Allen Bestwick and fellow analyst Eddie Cheever will also be on the call. Goodyear said, “I might feel something when it’s over, but right now all I am thinking about is preparing for the race.” Goodyear "understands it’s a 'cut-throat business'" and with the current business climate, he is "not shocked a change of networks took place" (Allentown MORNING CALL, 5/23). ESPN Coordinating Producer Kate Jackson, who became the first woman to produce the Indy 500 in '15, said, "I refuse to acknowledge it's our last. I will only say we're not doing it the next three years." The AP's Dave Skretta noted for many years, the Indy 500 "seemed insulated from the business side of sports television, like the Masters on CBS and a few other rare events." But the way fans consume sports has "changed dramatically over the past decade, and the multimedia deal that NBC was willing to put forward was impossible to pass up" (AP, 5/22). THE DAILY profiles ESPN's Andy Hall on his plans for ABC's Indy 500 finale.
