INDIANAPOLIS — The decision to run the Indy 500 without fans later this month was felt far beyond the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
As Sarah Ferguson said, "it's not just people coming to the track and Speedway, but also the communities" near the track that feel the impact.
"It trickles down," she said.
Ferguson, a lifelong race fan, lives four blocks from IMS. She also works for Visit Hendricks County.
"When you don't have people staying at hotels, hoteliers don't have enough money to fund employees, nor do they need as many...so that means fewer jobs, the same for restaurants and stores," she said.
Normally, the race would have been run in May and hotels would usually have been booked solid for three-to-four days at premium rates.
Currently, downtown hotels are lucky to get into double-digit occupancy.
The JW Marriott, the city's largest hotel, just re-opened three weeks ago. General manager Phil Ray said since then, occupancy "has ranged from single digits to 80% one weekend." The high point came during an AAU basketball tournament at the Indiana Convention Center.
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Ray said the hotel is operating with just a third of its normal staff. The Indy 500 was something he and others were looking forward to.
"It's just very disappointing" it won't be run with fans, he said, "because we thought it was going to be one of those big milestone events that helps us get back to business and more people working."
Ray said he anticipated bring back up to 30 employees, most hourly, to work race weekend.
"It's just heartbreaking...that all this is a lost opportunity," he said.
It's not just the 500, but all the other big events lost to COVID-19, from the Big Ten men's basketball tournament and NCAA men's regionals to Gen Con and all the other meetings and conventions that fill up hotel rooms and restaurants.
Jade Sharpe, the manager of Kilroy's Downtown, is also "absolutely disappointed" about this year's Indy 500. She, too, hoped to get some of her laid-off employees back on the job.
"It's been cutback after cutback since March. We've been trying to make best of what we can. Everyone is ready to come back to work. People want to work," Sharpe said.
She said the one glimmer of hope for her is that the race is being televised, which is "good for a sports bar."
The race will broadcast live on WTHR on August 23.
Ray and others are already looking ahead to other events on the calendar, including the Big Ten football championship and NBA All-Star Game.
What does the future hold for those blockbuster events? He hopes they're a go, but also knows with the pandemic, it's impossible to count on anything.
