The ever evolving NTT INDYCAR Series schedule continues to change. On Saturday INDYCAR and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course mutually have agreed to postpone the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio that was scheduled for Aug. 7-9 until a date to be determined in September or October. While that decision has seem to catch everyone off guard, it was made for one big reason – the need to have fans.

This decision was made through communication with local health officials given the current environment.

“Our team continues to work with all of our partners and our local government to identify a date later this year when we can host The Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio,” a statement from the track read.

More information will be forthcoming as it becomes available. Visit midohio.com for ongoing updates.

“We appreciate the patience and understanding of our fans as we navigate this postponement,” a statement continued.

According to Ohio news outlets, the Ohio Department of Health on Saturday reported 92,087 total coronavirus cases for the state with 10,857 cumulative hospitalizations and 3,515 deaths. Cases increased by 928 with 26 additional deaths and 67 hospitalizations since Friday.

According to an ABC news affiliate in Columbus, Ohio reported a seven-day average of 5.9% positivity for daily tests as of July 30.

The state also set a new record Thursday for newly reported coronavirus cases with 1,733.

The state government is clamping down again in Ohio and large scale events were likely going to be affected. Remember, INDYCAR can’t host many races without fans and Mid-Ohio is in no position to do so either.

Green-Savoie, the track promoters, have already lost races to the pandemic at Toronto and Portland are the St. Pete Race was moved to October. They need the revenue from gate admission, hence moving this race to later to hopefully give them time to do so.

Think about it, INDYCAR and their tracks can’t play host to races without fans. The series doesn’t have the TV deal that NASCAR has.

That’s why if you’re paying attention, INDYCAR is moving races to venues where fans, albeit limited amounts, can come.

NASCAR’s contracts with NBC Sports and FOX Sports pay them over $8 billion over a 10 year span. By virtue of that, NASCAR pays tracks millions to come race. That’s why they’re able to race without fans right now. 

INDYCAR doesn’t have that luxury. They charge a fee that ranges between 6-7 figures to come to tracks. How can a track make money when they owe INDYCAR that much but can’t have fans to offset the expense? They’re in the red. Why would they willingly go in the red with no way to make it up? With the track promoter for Mid-Ohio having no revenue coming in this year from their other tracks and the NASCAR weekend canceled, they have to have fans.

Then, why would INDYCAR give all their tracks deals to not pay? They need the money too. 

So, in turn you get what you’re seeing. Texas got a deal to get the season started. Indy went off on July 4 because NASCAR shared the weekend and their millions. It didn’t cost IMS to have INDYCAR here that weekend. 

But, look at the rest of the year. Road America wasn’t in position to host fans in June. They were in July. So the race moved. Iowa had fans. Mid-Ohio was supposed to have fans until a recent government decision. Indy for the 500 can have fans. Gateway can host fans.

Portland and Laguna Seca can’t. So, move those three combined races (Laguna was a doubleheader) to venues that can host fans ie. Mid-Ohio, Gateway and IMS. 

By adding races at venues with fans and using doubleheaders, it’s a win-win for tracks, INDYCAR, fans and NBC Sports. 

The TV equipment is already set up. They get two races essentially without paying for travel and infrastructure set up. INDYCAR gets more races in a season and doing so with fans helps track revenue. 

That’s why if INDYCAR is going to race in 2020 now, it won’t be behind closed doors — hence Saturday’s announcement.

The series last raced at Iowa on July 17-18. This past week, INDYCAR announced changes to the west coast swing which saw all three races (doubleheader in Laguna Seca) were going to be moved. One of Race was added to the Gateway weekend, another to the IMS road course weekend in Oct. and the other to Mid-Ohio. That left a sizeable gap in the schedule for September with no races from Aug. 30-Oct. 2.