Dark Side of the Sun

TRACKING ECLIPSE: Indianapolis Motor Speedway drew more than 50,000 visitors for a full day of activities revolving around Monday’s solar eclipse. (Getty Images)

Multiple sports and entertainment venues across the country took center stage for Monday’s solar eclipse, drawing tens of thousands of spectators and tons of media exposure, as well as generating ticket sales and concessions revenue.

Indianapolis Motor Speedway; the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, New York; Fair Park in Dallas; and Southern Illinois University’s Saluki Stadium, plus several minor league teams playing games in the Northeast, played host to eclipse watch parties. Texas, Indiana, Illinois and New York were among the 13 states that fell under the eclipse’s path of totality, according to scientific research.

The speedway reported more than 50,000 patrons attended the Total Eclipse Event presented by Purdue University, with a full day of educational programming. The track charged $20 admission, with children 18 and under admitted free with a paying adult. There were visitors from all 50 states and 33 countries around the world.

Doug Boles, IMS president and Suzi Elliott, the track’s spokesperson, did not return direct messages and phone calls to discuss ticket revenue.

The IMS event was one of three official broadcast sites for NASA TV’s coverage of the eclipse. The Weather Channel had crews at the track for live coverage over the course of the day.

Two programs, the technology-driven Sun Track and the Moon Track, customized for kids and families and coordinated by Purdue, NASA and IndyCar, featured a dozen sessions. They included a panel of five astronauts from the Big Ten school talking about their experiences in space and a separate discussion exploring the intersection and innovations between space flights and motorsports.

Prior to the eclipse, three-time Indy 500 pole winner Ed Carpenter completed some demonstration laps around 2.5-mile oval in an IndySeries car. The panels concluded with an autograph session with 11 IndyCar drivers, including Indy 500 winners Will Power (2018), Alexander Rossi (2016) and Tony Kanaan (2013).

At Fair Park, the “Sun and Moon” event at Cotton Bowl Stadium drew 12,000 spectators for the free admission event, according to local reports.

Complimentary eclipse glasses were provided and food was available for purchase. Amateur astronomers from Texas set up telescope viewings during the event and local STEM organizations and schools set up science displays on the stadium concourse.

NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the National Science Foundation sponsored the event with a live performance by the PBS series “Ready, Jet, Go,” a children’s television show discussing astronomy, technology and earth science. Celebrity scientist Neil deGrasse Tyson participated by satellite, said Fair Park spokesman Julian Bowman.

In Carbondale, Illinois, SIU sold $25 tickets to view the eclipse at Saluki Stadium, which drew a reported 13,000, about 2,000 short of capacity. SIU students were admitted free with $5 tickets for K-12 students.

Programming encompassed live music from the Marching Salukis, Eclipse Day Jam Band and SIU Solar Singers, and telescope video of the event were shown on the stadium’s videoboard. 

To commemorate the occasion, an eclipse sculpture created by Jack Nawrot, SIU senior scientist emeritus, was on display near the stadium’s southwest entrance. Raffle tickets to win a replica of the sculpture are being sold with those funds distributed to the SIU School of Art and Design’s metal smithing curriculum and a financial assistance fund.

At Lake Placid, the Olympic Regional Development Authority, established after the 1980 Winter Olympics, oversees four legacy venues: the Olympic Center, the Olympic Jumping Complex, Whiteface Mountain and Mt. Van Hoevenberg. They are year-round facilities open to the public for recreation and competitions. For the eclipse, an estimated 2,500 visitors attended events at multiple venues, including the Olympic Speed Skating Oval.

Because it’s open to the public, there were no tickets sold, but the authority prepped for the eclipse by having food trucks and music throughout Lake Placid. Complex officials worked closely with New York state agencies and the local visitors bureau to coordinate activities.

About 125 people secured lift tickets to reach the top of Little Whiteface and witness the eclipse while at the highest point in the state of New York, said Darcy Norfolk, the authority’s spokesperson.

“We got a foot and a half of snow (last week),” Norfolk said. “The inside of the entire outdoor oval was snow and all the mountains were covered in white essentially. People started streaming in and set up their chairs with their telescopes and cameras all in this big circle. Everyone just found their place. When the totality happened, the hush and then the gasps, just the sounds — everyone was hearing everybody, and it was a pretty cool moment.”

The eclipse occurred in the middle of the Lake Placid Central School District’s spring break, and the authority ensured it had enough staff to work food and beverage and facilitate parking.

“It was pretty special, and we had people from all over with so many out-of-state license plates,” Norfolk said. “We had CBS national news pivot from Rochester the night before chasing the clearer skies. We ended up with an open sky during the totality and the clouds came in after. It worked out well for us.”

Editor’s Note: Staff writer Oscar Areliz contributed to this report, which has been updated.