By Austin Lawton, Staff Writer
Fans that are unable to attend the 109th Indianapolis 500 in person will be able to watch the race live on FOX on May 25.
The annual blackout for the race has been lifted as the Indianapolis Motor Speedway has announced that less than 1,000 grandstand tickets are left and reserved seating will be sold out for race day.
With the broadcast blackout being lifted, comes the lift of the local Indianapolis broadcast delay. This means that anyone watching the race in the Indy area, will be able to watch it live, without delay. The race will be replayed that night on FOX 59 in Indianapolis.
“We will lift the local delay in the Indianapolis market so those folks here in Indianapolis can watch the Indianapolis 500 live in primetime — live when it’s run, and then in primetime it will run again.” IndyCar and IMS President Doug Boles told the media on Friday.
Boles also told the media that 232,000 grandstand seats will be sold out at IMS. Boles estimate that 350,000 people will be on the corner of 16th Street and Georgetown Road on May 25, combining fans, employees, media and suite ticket holders. The “500” is the largest single-day sporting event on the planet and will have the population of the second largest city in Indiana on race day.
“232,000 grandstand seats will be completely sold out here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, about 20,000 suite tickets on top of that sold out, so that gets you to over 250,000 people before you start thinking about everybody in the infield, The 12,000 employees that it takes to put on the Indianapolis 500, the 2,000 people that are related to the INDYCAR Series, the 800 people from FOX that it takes to put on this race. You can see how we quickly get to that 350,000 number here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on May 25.” Boles said.
Fans can still buy General Admission tickets for the “500” which will give access to the viewing mounds and the Snake Pit.
Indianapolis itself will be busy on May 25, not only with the Indianapolis 500 but with the Indiana Pacers as well. The Pacers are scheduled to play Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the New York Knicks or Boston Celtics at Gainbridge Fieldhouse that evening at 8 p.m, creating a hotbed of sports activity in the city.