Hy-Vee & IndyCar Explain Iowa Speedway Price Increase

One of the major highlights of the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series season was the tremendous effort involving Hy-Vee and Penske Entertainment to create a festival at the Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa Speedway.

It revived the dormant 0.875-mile short oval in Newton, Iowa and turned it into a weekend long festival that included two-days of back-to-back IndyCar Series races surrounded by four major entertainment acts.

Three-time Grammy award-winning country music superstar Tim McGraw performed before the Hy-VeeDeals.com 250 Presented by DoorDash before the race on Saturday July 23. Billboard record country music duo Florida George Line performed a full concert afterwards.

On Sunday, July 24, three-time Grammy award winner Gwen Stefani performed before the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 Presented by Google IndyCar Series race. Her husband, nine-time Grammy-nominated country music star Blake Shelton delivered with a full-length concert following that race.

Hy-Vee, a popular supermarket chain based in West Des Moines, Iowa, was heavily involved in activation and marketing the event. Hy-Vee has over 300 stores located in eight states in the Midwest with plans to expand to 12 states including new stores throughout the Southeast. It is expanding into Indianapolis, Louisville, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee and Alabama – all areas that host NTT IndyCar Series races, or in Louisville’s case, are in the heart of IndyCar’s fan base.

Portable Hy-Vee stores were brought to the grounds at Iowa Speedway, giving race fans and campers a place to stock up before firing up the grill. A Food Truck Challenge included some of the Midwest’s top food trucks to the area.

Temporary suites were constructed, and additional seats were added. Capacity crowds came to Iowa Speedway on both days, despite temperatures soaring over 100 degrees.

It was a memorable weekend for Hy-Vee and Penske Entertainment and served as a blueprint for other promoters that host races on the NTT IndyCar Series schedule.

To continue that momentum, Hy-Vee raised the bar with even bigger musical entertainment for 2023.

Four of the biggest names in entertainment will perform before and after each of the two NTT IndyCar Series races on July 21-23, 2023. Carrie Underwood and Kenny Chesney will perform on Saturday of race weekend while Zac Brown Band and Ed Sheeran will crank up the energy by rocking on the Hy-Vee Stage on Sunday.

Both pre-race concerts will feature 60-minute performances while each post-race concert will include a 90-minute show.

After a period set aside for ticket renewals, public sale for the 2023 Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend went on sale on December 5.

Ticket prices for both the single-day and weekend packages doubled, and that sent some disgruntled race fans to social media to voice their displeasure.

Ironically, many of these are the same fans that often loudly criticize IndyCar and its track promoters for not aggressively marketing and promoting its races.

Hy-Vee and Penske Entertainment are now taking some heat over the price increase.

Marketing To A Younger Audience

One of the immutable philosophies of business is increased marketing and promotion often comes at a cost. That is exactly what is happening with the Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa Speedway.

The purpose of combining four big-name concerts with two IndyCar Series races is to bring new fans and new eyeballs to the sport.

I had lengthy, in-depth and exclusive interviews with Hy-Vee Executive Chairman and Executive Director Randy Edeker and Penske Corporation President Bud Denker regarding the price increase and why it was necessary, even if some of the race-only fans decide to watch from home.

“We’ve got to get the sport built up so that it has this kind of following so that this is not a big shock that the tickets are going to be over $55,” Edeker told me. “It’s all about mindset. It’s just how people think about the sport of IndyCar racing, and we’re trying to change mindset acrossthe entire sport.

“We just believe this is the right thing. We believe this is the future. We believe that we can get other races to, to follow suit, and we can create the following that IndyCar deserves, that it’s going to need to be sustainable for the future and really become the sport that I think that it’s destined to be. I think it’s going to be one of the best sports in the United States. I think this is how we should be investing right now.”

IndyCar fans want aggressive marketing and promotions, they just don’t want to pay for it.

“Realistically, I appreciate all the fans that came to Iowa Speedway in July, but I think that you’re living in La La Land, if you think you’re going to bring this kind of entertainment to an event and not have to up the ticket price,” Edeker told me. “I’ve read some of the comments and, and frankly, it’s just almost silly that people expect to come to an event like this for $55.

“Our lowest ticket price now is $100. Last year, it was $55.

“You cannot bring this level of entertainment, grow the sport, grow the event, get more people to the event. We are expecting 60,000 fans in Newton, Iowa for both days.

“That’s what it’s about. Of course, the ticket price is going to be more, if you look at it depends on how you look at it.”

Hy-Vee works with Live Nation to book the musical entertainment for the Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend. Although Edeker declined to reveal the booking fee for each group, it is believed to be in the $1 million per act range.

Edeker said additional sponsorship helps defray some of that cost. The majority of that overhead, plus the IndyCar sanctioning fee, has to be made up through ticket sales and additional sponsorship. Some of Hy-Vee’s vendors and suppliers are able to participate in a business-to-business relationship that benefits the product, the supplier and Hy-Vee through product placement at the stores.

IndyCar Can’t Grow On Die-Hard Race Fans Alone

The die-hard IndyCar fan wants to see the race and may not be interested in the concerts. Some of them have expressed that. But if only the die-hard IndyCar fans showed up as in the past, the crowd at Iowa Speedway would likely be under 20,000.

Hy-Vee and Penske Entertainment are hoping to attract a large contingent of ticket buyers that have never been to an IndyCar race but want to be part of the weekend-long festival.

That’s the key – it’s designed to be a “festival” and not just “a race.”

“If you look at it from the Indy side, they’re looking at an increased ticket price,” Edeker continued. “But we have people contacting us from all over the United States trying to figure out how they can get tickets to get into our event.

“You just don’t see four entertainers like this in the same spot.

“I talked with a promoter last year who said, on our weekend in the United States, actually in North America, there was no bigger event. It’s just really almost silly that people would expect that the ticket price isn’t going to go up. And I understand if you only want to come to the IndyCar race and that’s the only aspect of it that you care about, then that you’re going to feel that way. But frankly, you’re not going to put this kind of entertainment in.

“To say the amount went up slightly, that’s an understatement. It went up a lot. We’re investing in entertainment to help grow the sport of Indy, grow new fans and, and bring people to Iowa to frankly, experience the state. We think this is the best way for our state to be viewed, to have this level of event than it used to be.”

It Costs Much More To Attend NFL, Major League Baseball and NBA Games

While some of the disgruntled fans on social media compared the highest-priced two-day tickets to the price of a single-race ticket elsewhere, that’s not an accurate comparison because it’s comparing double the value for the price of one event elsewhere.

Tickets went on sale on Monday, December 5. Single-day tickets start at $100 and go up to $225. Two-day ticket packages begin at $190 and go up to $440. Tickets include two full concerts, and a full NTT IndyCar series race each day.

A quick comparison of ticket prices at other major single-day IndyCar races has the Hy-Vee IndyCar Weekend at Iowa as the same price for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – widely considered the most successful street course race in North America and one of the most successful in world. The Iowa race weekend is also slightly less than the cost of tickets for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix held on the streets of Nashville.

Take the comparison even further and the ticket prices are much less than the cost of attending a National Football League (NFL) game, which hosts eight home games a season. In the National Basketball Association (NBA), the cost for good seats for one of 41 homes games a year can run well past $250.

Check the pricing for a Chicago Cubs game at Wrigley Field or a New York Yankees game at Yankee Stadium and the ticket prices for one out of 81 home games a year can cost upwards of $200 for lower-level box seats.

“I think it’s just a ridiculous comment that somebody would be upset about a $100 ticket price if you compare it to the NFL or to Major League Baseball,” Edeker said. “I think the thing about the sport of IndyCar.

“I love IndyCar. I am all in. I love watching it. I love going to the races. I love the fact that we have the No. 45 Honda that’s going to be racing. We’re super excited about that. We’re excited about our partnership with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. We think that we’ve got a great year coming this next year. And we’re all in on IndyCar. We believe in it, and I think that we’re investing in the sport to grow it and make it bigger.

“That’s the thing that the fan base has to see. This is for the health and longevity of the sport. As you look at other racing out there, if you look at Formula One, this is our way of growing the sport. We think that IndyCar racing is the best, and we feel like this is the best way we can help grow it and make it a bigger deal. And I think any fan of IndyCar would get behind it, rather than talking about $55 versus $100 would be saying, ‘My God, look at how big this event is going to be in Iowa as a part of IndyCar racing.’

“It’s, it’s an amazing thing.”

What is amazing to Edeker and Hy-Vee is the quality and caliber of entertainment that have been added to the two, compelling races at Iowa Speedway.

“You can compare it to any other major league sport, and we believe that our ticket price is very, very competitive,” Edeker continued. “There are more expensive tickets, there’s better seats, but we think we’ve got a great competitive ticket price.

“For the fan that really wants to experience the concert, Kenny Chesney, Ed Sheeran, we’ve got pit passes that they can go down and stand in front of the stage. We’ve got VIP pit passes that they can stand directly in front of the stage. It’s whatever level of experience you want to have at the event. We’ve got tickets and ticket prices to match every single person.

“We also have the Chairman’s Club that’s going to be organized different. The Chairman’s Club will be elite seats, like I’ve seen at other Indy races. I’ve seen ticket options at Formula One races that really creates all the viewing options for all the fan base.

“I think we’ve got a good plan. We’ve got great seating, and I think we’ve got the best, most competitive ticket prices. And as I said, we’re getting calls from all over the country that are trying to figure out how they’re going to get to Newton, Iowa to see Ed Sheeran and see Kenny Chesney.

“So, we believe not only did we get the big names, but we got them at the right time when they’re not appearing anywhere else.”

Lions and Tigers

As the Penske Corporation President, Bud Denker has a keen knowledge of ticket pricing. He is also the head of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix and works closely with the Detroit business community.

“I live in Detroit, and if I go to a Detroit Lions game, and I want to be on the 50-yard line and I want to be four rows up, I’m paying hundreds of dollars for a seat like that,” Denker told me. “To come watch Kenny Chesney in a typical concert and be on the floor, you’re going to pay $1,000 dollars and up.

“We’re not charging that. We’re charging $100, not thousands of dollars on top of the fact you see Carrie Underwood the same day and you get to see a great race.

“We’re excited about it, we’re bullish about it. I hope and I know we’re going to have a great opening day of ticket sales today because people want to come to events.

“If you look at the value of what people are getting from the tickets, it truly is that word ‘value.’ To go to an Ed Sheeran concert, or Kenny Chesney, a $200 act and more just for one, show.

“If you think about our cheapest price, we have $100 for the grandstand seat to view three shows. It’s $33, if you break it down, $33 for to see Carrie Underwood, $33 to see an IndyCar race and $33 to Kenny Chesney.

“Where can you find the value of that kind of event or music festival?”

It’s Not Just A Race; It’s An Event

Hy-Vee and Penske Entertainment are trying to create a festival that becomes an event, more than a race.

“Hy-Vee is helping us create a festival,” Denker continued. “This is not a race; this is an event. There’s a big difference between the two, as we saw last year when we had 35,000 people plus each day at the event. I would bet between 60 and 70 percent of the folks that were there, I think hadn’t been to a race before.

“We’re going to see that same thing again with Ed Sheeran and the second day with Zac Brown as well. It’s truly a value.

“But it is a change, certainly a change from what it was last year and a change from what some of the IndyCar fans may have seen. But in terms of what we’re going to create, it’s still a great value.”

For Denker, Edeker, Hy-Vee and IndyCar, it’s not just exposing new fans and new eyeballs to the product, it’s the demographic of the fans that they hope to attract.

For the most part, IndyCar has an aging fan base with a small percentage of fans in the much valued 18–34-year-old demographic. By bringing in an entertainer such as Ed Sheeran, IndyCar and Hy-Vee hope to see a younger crowd at Iowa Speedway.

“I saw on an MTV concert with him recently and the demographic that Ed Sheeran has, is a bunch of younger females,” Denker revealed. “Think about filling up the Iowa Speedway with a whole new demographic we haven’t had before that are going to like what we put on in terms of concerts, but also hopefully get attached to racing and come back time and time again to watch an Indy car race.

“That’s unlike anything we’ve ever done.”

Hy-Vee and Penske Entertainment are attempting to bring some much-needed change to IndyCar and to its fan base. Some of older fans are kicking and screaming as that change tries to drag the sport out of the 1970s and into sustainability and viability in the 2020s.

Talk Is Cheap — It Takes Action

Without proper marketing and promotion, IndyCar operates in a vacuum, supported by just a fraction of what the audience could be.

It all comes at a cost.

“I think people in a lot of ways people just don’t want change,” Edeker said. “They talk about change, but when real change happens, they don’t always embrace it. We’ll probably lose some fans that came last year that just aren’t willing to pay the $100 for a ticket. But that’s okay.

“We’re trying to grow the fan base. We did it last year with Gwen Stefani and other people that, frankly, most of that fan base have never been to an Indy race. Not ever. And we believe that if we grow it with entertainment, we’ll get a new fan that comes, and they start to follow Indy. And we believe that’s the way to help grow the sport. And we believe that’s the way to compete with other people in the space.

“Like Formula One, we we’re trying to invest to help the sport and help ourselves. We’re not in it just for IndyCar. We’re trying to grow a big event. We’re trying to help the state of Iowa. If you go back, we were challenged by our Governor to help put an event on. We’ve done that. There are a lot of factors. I think that sometimes the fan base they want things to grow, but they want it to grow on their own terms. That’s okay. We’re going to move forward with our event. We’re going to keep working to grow it.

“We’re going to try and grow new fans, and we know that we’ve got the entertainment that we’ll sell the tickets out, we’ll sell the venue out and, and we’ll have an amazing event.”