Indy 500 On Pace For Best Attendance in Years

The Indy 500 is less than 10 days away, and “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” is on pace for its best attendance showing since the pandemic began.

The huge event looks like it will draw over 300,000 people, based on current ticket sales. 

• More than 90% of the grandstands at Indianapolis Motor Speedway are already sold.
• However, the event is not expecting a full sellout of its 240,000 reserved grandstand seats, according to Doug Boles, president of IMS.
• As of Monday, IMS was around 20,000 tickets ahead of its 2019 count, but also that same amount behind its 2016 sellout, the race’s 100th edition. 

The race’s 2021 prize purse was $8.9 million, with winner Helio Castrovince pocketing $1.8 million. Every winner from 2008 to 2019 took home at least $2.4 million.

Blackout Warning

The race is likely to be blacked out on local television stations, unless ticket sales surge in the leadup to the event. 

The Indy 500 typically blacks out local broadcasts in an attempt to juice ticket sales. Fans will be able to watch a delayed broadcast later in the day on NBC.

It is not clear whether local fans with a Peacock Premium subscription will be able to circumvent the blackout.

IMS lifted the local blackout last year due to pandemic restrictions on attendance, but will reinstate it this year if the event does not sell out.