Faber joining TMS when he did essentially put the finishing touches on the renewal with IndyCar. Since the renewal announcement was made late last September, the track and the racing series have worked together more closely than ever to significantly increase promotion and attention of the event not just in the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex area, but throughout Texas and the Southwest.
“What's really important, probably more so than any other year, is driver participation,” Faber said. “We have drivers that are working through their own verticals, and their own network to offer to their fan base, special hospitality packages for the IndyCar race, which is fantastic. , we're hearing that several hundred people are flying up from Mexico for this race as a part of a package with Pato.
“So, as we come into this weekend, there's a lot of things for people to do. We have the Rangers’ opening weekend, we have Taylor Swift doing three shows at AT&T Stadium, we have the women’s Final Four basketball, the men’s Final Four is in Houston, which is a short drive. So I mean, there's a lot going on, but we like this weekend. We're really excited about this weekend, as far as getting fans out here. We think it'll be a nice warm weather weekend.
However, there is still a significant disparity between crowd turnout at TMS and for F1 and NASCAR events at COTA. Last year, F1 drew a reported 440,000 for race weekend in October.“It's really not apples to apples,” Faber said. “The revenue numbers are not the same. And so when you start with a revenue differential like that, that certainly affords you the opportunity to do some things in one sport that you are unable to do another sport.