FOX drops big plans for the Indy 500: "Blow the doors off"

Fox is heading the broadcasting of IndyCar for the 2025 season, beginning with the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg where Alex Palou took an impressive victory. But this is only the beginning for the American company, which is ramping up its efforts to bring fans a "Kentucky Derby" of an event at the legendary Indy500.

FOX Sports CEO Eric Shanks is adamant that the new home of IndyCar is going to do the Indy500, one of the most famous racing events in the world, the justice it deserves. This follows a substantial effort to promote the sport ahead of the season opener, with a number of commercials and visibility at Superbowl.

“We are going to blow the doors off of Indy,” Shanks promised. “We’re going to bring everything that FOX has to bear.

“We have personalities that we probably haven’t announced yet, but there will be an enormous amount of FOX personalities and non-FOX personalities doing everything that you could imagine there.

"We’re going to be cross-promoting with our other sports, and I think we have a two and a half hour pre-race show that day. The other thing with the 500 that I’m working on really hard with these guys is I really want to turn the Indy 500 into more of a Kentucky Derby day from a wagering standpoint.

“It’s hard to understand how to wager on motorsports. You just kind of don’t get it, but on Kentucky Derby day even if you don’t know anything about horseracing, you put down an exacta or a trifecta, you got win, place, show.

“How can we figure out how to get that type of broad attention around an event that honestly kind of feels a lot like horseracing that day? That kind of stuff we’re working on as well and hopefully have an announcement in the near future.”

Past Indianapolis 500 winners, Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet, Josef Newgarden, Team Penske Chevrolet, Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, Takuma Sato, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, Alexander Rossi, Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Ryan Hunter-Reay, DRR-CUSICK MOTORSPORTS Chevrolet, Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda, and Marcus Ericsson, Andretti Global Honda

Photo by: Geoffrey M. Miller / Motorsport Images

It sounds like Shanks is leaning into betting, like many sports across the United States. Only recently has Formula 1 appointed ALT Sports Data as their official betting data partner with the objective of driving growth in that sector. 

Emily Prazer, Chief Commercial Officer at Formula 1, confirmed this move in the industry: “Sports betting is an increasingly important part of the global fan experience, and Formula 1 is committed to delivering new and entertaining ways for our audiences to engage with the sport." 

The 109th showing of the Indy500 will take place on May 25.