For the first time in the illustrious century-plus long history of the Indianapolis 500, the race on Sunday was broadcast on Fox. And fans quickly noticed one significant difference on the network compared to broadcasts in past years on NBC: the sheer number of commercials throughout the event.
In some ways, Fox pulled out all the stops in their coverage of the Indy 500, including featuring several prominent former athletes from the network’s NFL coverage. Rob Gronkowski, Michael Strahan, and Tom Brady all made appearances during studio coverage of the event.
However, in terms of the action on the track on Sunday, fans felt that there were far too many cutaways for commercials that took away from key moments and ruined much of the rhythm on the broadcast.
Please never let Fox broadcast the Indy 500 again. WHY ARE WE IN FULL SCREEN COMMERCIALS DURING GREEN FLAG RACING?!?!?!
— eli mcdonald (@eli_mcdonald73) May 25, 2025
Maybe Fox could add commercials to your X videos too. Doesn’t seem like you all can have enough commercial breaks. You are ruining the race for the viewers!!!
— Michael Freel (@mikeefreel) May 25, 2025
we missed a caution because of a commercial break. i can’t stand fox coverage
— gumby league bunter (@meowsinternally) May 25, 2025
The #Indy500 is the only race I watch, is the coverage always this bad or is it just #Fox? Endless commercials during green flag racing, non stop chattering by announcer, randomly showing leaderboard.
— Troy Stiffler (@TroyStiffler) May 25, 2025
In any big event like the Indy 500, there are always going to be commercials. So while the commercial-load is understandably frustrating to have to sit through, they are simply a necessary evil in the world of sports.
Unfortunately for Fox, this was far from the only complaint about the network’s broadcast. Perhaps the biggest complaint of the day came in the most important moment of the race.
In particular, the decision from Fox to cut away from showing Alex Palou, the Indy 500 winner, while he was crossing the finish line on the last lap to show a wreck that had little to no impact on the winner of the race was a decision that wasn’t overly well received.
How TERRIBLE of Fox to cut away from Alex Palou getting ready to cross the finish line to find a crash that had absolutely ZERO impact on the winner crossing the finish line.
Do better @FOXSports #indy500 #IndyCar
— Matt (@obe459) May 25, 2025
FOX has done a terrible job broadcasting the #indy500
Cutting away before Palou crosses the finish line to a wreck that hasn’t been explained at all? Commercial breaks when the yellow comes out? What are we doing??
— Josh Zaleha (@joshzaleha) May 25, 2025
I was just gonna say how great Fox’s coverage was of the 500 and then they miss the checkered flag moment to show the crash in 20th place.
Congrats Alex Palou, too bad we didn’t see it
— Tyler Mgebroff (@TMgebroff) May 25, 2025
Fox, of course, has plenty of experience covering racing given their NASCAR coverage for the past 24 years. But clearly, the network has plenty of work to do to get in the good graces of IndyCar fans after what most considered to be a lackluster broadcast of the 109th annual Indy 500.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.