Music City Grand Prix officials hope to extend IndyCar contract with city
Big Machine Music City Grand Prix officials are negotiating with Metro Nashville government and Indy Car officials about extending their contract for three more years.
The 2023 race on Aug. 6 in downtown, which travels over the Cumberland River on the Korean War Veterans Memorial Bridge, will be the third and last in the original deal.
Music City Grand Prix president and CEO Jason Rittenberry said Friday talks are underway to sign a new agreement, with the goal to get it done before the next race.
The 80-lap race has been a big success. More than 110,000 fans showed up for the inaugural weekend event in 2021, which included 60,000 for the race day.
With a total television audience of 1.21 million viewers, it was the most-watched IndyCar Series race on cable in NBC Sports history dating to 2009. The race, won by Marcus Ericsson, surpassed NBC Sports’ previous cable rating record of 934,000 viewers for Mid-Ohio in 2016.
The 2022 race that was won by Scott Dixon, who started 14th and fell to 23rd before coming back to lead the final 15 laps, also was considered a success. It was Dixon's second win of the season.
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The circuit runs next to Nissan Stadium. Rittenberry has said if final approval comes for a $2.1 billion Tennessee Titans domed stadium, he is confident the race can still be run even if some adjustments have to be made.
The start time for this year's race has been moved to 11:30 a.m. and it will be broadcast again on NBC. Tickets went on sale Monday at www.musiccitygp.com/tickets.
Reach Mike Organ at 615-259-8021 or on Twitter @MikeOrganWriter.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Music City Grand Prix officials hope to extend contract with city
