Q. Where do you stand with Baltimore next week? Do you have concerns that perhaps the facility will not be in order?
RANDY BERNARD: No, I think Terry and his team and Tony Cotman, we've had a lot of IndyCar officials out there making sure everything is in order. We're very excited about it.
Right now, our prayers are for the safety of everyone on the East Coast. We know there's going to be a lot of beaches closed next week for sure. We know it's Labor Day weekend. I don't see that as a negative. I think this event, from all indications, should be huge.
Q. Can you say where the China event will be if it gets signed?
RANDY BERNARD: Quindao. It's where they make all the beer. That's why I know.
Q. Can you comment on the ABC contract? Are you happy with that deal?
RANDY BERNARD: Yes, I'm very happy with the deal. You know, when you put it on paper, Curt, Rob, different guys have called me, they say, Hey, it sounds like the same deal. It isn't the same deal. I think there's a lot of areas in this we can grow our sport. Unfortunately, there's a lot of areas we can't talk about. I don't want to come out and promise something we can't deliver. But I think there's opportunities in this contract that we'll see next year that will be very big.
One thing is on our international side. In the past we've had to use ESPN around the world, if there was ESPN there. In our new contract, we're allowed to go out and sell or allow a terrestrial network to actually televise our events. That's big. We should be able to get at least double-digit growth on our international television.
Terry has made a big point that here very shortly we are going to start providing press our international numbers because I think it's staggering when you see how many people watch us outside of the United States.
Q. Randy, in regards to the $5 million challenge, was there any thought by the series brokering a deal to make something happen with another team or maybe fielding yourself with people you'd hire, like Bryan Herta?
RANDY BERNARD: With one of those drivers?
Q. With, say, Kasey Kahne.
RANDY BERNARD: We felt we were the bridge on a lot of that. We were putting Kasey with Penske. I was calling Alex. Of course, he has a great relationship with Chip. I think with Travis, we were doing the same thing. We were putting him with teams.
It was pretty impressive how many sponsors, when Travis said he was going to do it, in that three or four days there, I bet we had at least three sponsors call us asking how they could get involved with Travis. It was very impressive to me. He is a guy that definitely moves the needle.
I guess I was a little naïve on how big he is until you start looking what he's done on Facebook. When we get calls like that from sponsors, it's very impressive.
Q. I know Telemundo has been wanting to broadcast IndyCar races in the States. The existing TV contracts may have precluded that. Is that going to change now with the new deal in any way so the Hispanic market can hear the races in Spanish?
RANDY BERNARD: Actually, that's not true. The way it is, ABC, ESPN, has the international rights around the world, excluding the footprint of North America. Also on cable. So NBC Sports Network, owns their sister channel, Telemundo. There's a deal to be worked there if they want it.
Right now we've had some conversations with Telemundo. We haven't been able to get that far yet to try to get a deal done. But I think they'd be more interested in one-offs. We're not interested in that. We want the whole series if we could.