Indy 500 fan capacity to be approximately halved
The 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 will see IMS and IndyCar reduce the venue’s fan capacity by approximately 50 percent.
Attendance at what is traditionally a staple of Memorial Day Weekend has seen the event become known as the biggest one-day sporting event. While Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IndyCar remain coy on precise figures for the 500, even the lowest estimate in the last decade years was 225,000, while it is believed 300,000 attended the 100th running in 2016.
This year “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” was postponed from its original date of Sunday, May 24 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was pushed back to Aug. 23. Next week’s second round of the 2020 NTT IndyCar Series, the GMR Grand Prix of Indianapolis on the IMS road course, will not be open to fans.
“We’re committed to running the Indy 500 on Sunday, Aug. 23 and will welcome fans to the world’s greatest racing venue,” IMS president J. Douglas Boles said today.
“We will be limiting attendance to approximately 50 percent of venue capacity, and we are also finalizing a number of additional carefully considered health and safety measures.
“We’ll unveil the specific details of our comprehensive plan in the coming weeks.”
IMS is communicating with existing ticketholders to learn of their intent to use their race tickets. Credits will be available for ticketholders who choose to adjust their order.
Individuals in high-risk groups will be encouraged to consider staying home and returning in 2021.
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