INDYCAR: Miles lauds schedule continuity

IndyCar boss Mark Miles says that the continuity that is built into the newly released 2017 schedule needs to be a cornerstone of the series' future plans.

"[Continuity] is fundamental," Miles said. "It's really important to growing the sport because the foundation of the sport is the quality and the growth of our races, our events in the cities where we compete.

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"The foundation, and the priority for us is to the greatest extent possible, [is to] have continuity from year over year with our races and date equity to the greatest extent possible, and to just grow that base carefully."

The new calendar was also released substantially earlier than in recent years, which Miles hopes will give promoters more time to prepare for their events. IndyCar had also intended to announce its 2018 schedule at the same time, but while Miles says that release will now be delayed, he expects the 2018 calendar to continue in a similar vein to its 2017 counterpart.

"I loved the idea of putting out the '17 and '18 calendars at the same time, and we were really close to doing it," he said. "I expect everybody that's on the calendar for '17 to be on the calendar for '18. But there are still a couple of details like Phoenix as to which week would make the most sense for them.

"And we do think there are still some prospects that need a little more time to be fully developed for both international and other domestic opportunities for '18. So we decided not to go [with an announcement].

"The other thing is the further out we get, the harder it is to really fine-tune the television broadcast schedule, and that matters to us. As you know, we've made real progress with our broadcast partners in finding optimal broadcast times, which help us attract more viewers. We want to continue that focus. The further out you get, the harder it is to pick the exact date when you know a little less about [the network's] other programming. So we'll take a little more time."