Most liked posts in thread: F1 Coming to .... TX!!

Nathan · Jun 16, 2011

F1 organizers launch website, ads touting race benefits

Austin Formula One organizers this morning launched a website and television ad touting the benefits of a racetrack under construction southeast of Austin and the races that are scheduled to begin in 2012.

According to austinf1facts.com and the accompanying ads, Formula One will draw thousands of fans from around the world and millions of television viewers. It also says construction of the circuit has and will provide jobs. The website has links to photos, videos and more.

The information comes from a report by Don Hoyte, who promoters hired to do an economic impact study, said Jeff Hahn, spokesman for Austinâ€™s Formula One racing group. Hoyte is a former Texas comptrollerâ€™s office employee who now runs Texas Trust Funds, a private company that helps cities and counties get money from the Texasâ€™ Major Event Trust Fund.

The fund uses â€œextraâ€ tax revenue attributable to fansâ€™ spending to pay incentives to organizers of big-ticket events, such as the Super Bowl and All-Star games.

F1 organizers are asking the Austin City Council to endorse the project, a legal step necessary to qualify for the $25 million annual state subsidy from the trust fund.

The council could vote on endorsing the race as early as June 23.
Critics say organizers have overestimated the economic impact F1 will have on Austin and question attendance and television viewing estimates. They also say public money should not be used to subsidize the private enterprise, especially during a state budget crunch.

The ads began running on local network affiliates and cable channels this morning, Hahn said. Organizers plan to run them through next week, but that may be extended, he said. An ad in the American-Statesman is also planned, he said.

â€œFormula One is a Super Bowl-level event coming to Austin,â€ Hahn said. â€œAs big as it is around the world, itâ€™s not well known in the States. We wanted to give people the facts directly connected to it, give them more information about it and the benefits it will bring to Austin.â€

Source - http://www.statesman.com/blogs/content/shared-gen/blogs/austin/racing/index.html

Alan · Jun 17, 2011

You know, I just have to say that while I agree with the gist of the report that it brings economic benefit to the area that asking tax payers (some who have ZERO interest in F1) to cough up money is total BS.

If the report is true than why aren't these folks financially backing it???

The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce

Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau

Austin Hotel and Lodging Association

Alan

Redbeard · Jun 17, 2011

Alan said: ↑

You know, I just have to say that while I agree with the gist of the report that it brings economic benefit to the area that asking tax payers (some who have ZERO interest in F1) to cough up money is total BS.
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Agreed.

Alan said: ↑

If the report is true than why aren't these folks financially backing it???

The Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce

Austin Convention and Visitors Bureau

Austin Hotel and Lodging Association

Alan
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Because those are all industry associations that have no capital for investment. That's like asking the PTA to pay for the building of new schools.

ScottinBend · Jun 17, 2011

Hey.....this is the same thing cities with a major sport team have been doing since like forever. I do not support basketball or baseball teams but I am req'd to financially support them via the tax credits and incentives that they get. Why is this any different?

Alan · Jun 18, 2011

Dude, please don't use the "We already do stupid stuff, so lets do more stupid stuff" argument.

ScottinBend · Jun 18, 2011

Hey....I agree. I hate it when those big-money team owners hold the home city hostage for tax breaks, a new stadium/venue and such. I would just hate to see this venue lose out while asking for the same thing that the other big sport teams have benefited from for years now.

minimark · Jun 18, 2011

There are good arguments for either side on these debates. While the economic impact of major sports can and often do more than make up for the public investment.....they don't always. My biggest concern about this particular project is the longevity of the event. F1 and Bernie have a history of moving on where the money blows them with little concern or loyalty for whence they came....

If the track in Texas is done right, it can and will have a positive impact on that economy...but to recoup the initial public investment will take more than a few races. It must be a success for a long time. 2cents.

Steve · Jun 20, 2011

I don't understand what this means but it looks like it might be some good news for TX taxpayers...maybe.

New financial proposal for US Grand Prix (gpupdate.net)

Taxpayers in Texas could no longer be obliged to fund the returning Unites States Grand Prix, with a new four-million dollar (Â£2.5m) deal having been proposed between F1 commercial rights holders - Bernie Ecclestoneâ€™s Formula One Management (FOM) - and the Major Events Trust Fund, according to Mayor of Austin.

The brand-new, Hermann Tilke-designed venue - which remains under construction ahead of its F1 debut next year - has been subject to numerous rumours regarding its cost and general upkeep, although Mayor Lee Leffingwell is pleased with the projected agreement.

â€œThis confirms what I've been saying all along â€“ that the city would be contributing no upfront money and that the city would not be at risk (financially),â€ Leffingwell explained to The Austin Chronicle.

â€œFormula 1 has agreed to pay the four-million dollar contribution to the Major Events Trust Fund for the full ten years,â€ added council member Bill Spelman.

Whether or not the deal will go through will be decided in the councilâ€™s next meeting on Thursday.
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Alan · Jun 21, 2011

Definitely a step in the right direction.

The story as of this morning:
Study projects large economic windfall from F1 race

There is nothing like a budget crisis to turn a bunch of state bureaucrats into decent negotiators.

Steve · Jun 21, 2011

Red Bull may bid for US GP naming rights (crash.net)

The news that Red Bull is looking to pull out of NASCAR Sprint Cup operations has led to suggestions that it may be planning to consolidate its sponsorship activities into their far more successful F1 franchise, and that the money may even have a key role in securing the United States F1 Grand Prix's place on the 2012 FIA calendar.

With Sebastian Vettel looking unstoppable for a second consecutive world championship at the Red Bull Racing F1 team, concentrating their sponsorship program on F1 seems to make a lot more sense for the Austrian energy drinks giant rather than continuing to pour money into a NASCAR Cup team that at best has delivered below expectations in its five years of competition.

Red Bull is already the title sponsor for the MotoGP races at Laguna Seca and Indianapolis, and since the news of its pull-out from NASCAR it's been suggested that the company might be looking at a similar race title sponsorship deal for the United States F1 Grand Prix at the Circuit of the Americas in the Texan city of Austin, set to dÃ©but on the F1 calendar on 17 June 2012.

The deal makes sense on the balance books, with the annual cost of up to $40m running a NASCAR Cup team easily covering a title sponsorship for the F1 Grand Prix should it choose to go in that direction and reinvest the money while staying in the US motor sports market.

With annual sales of over a billion units in the United States, the drinks company does not want its withdrawal from stock car racing to harm its North American retail presence. However, it's been clear to analysts for sometime that Red Bull's rivals Coca-Cola and Gatorade seem to get much more exposure for their individual race sponsorship deals in NASCAR - where the winner drinks and sprays the sponsor's product in victory lane in sight of all the TV cameras and photographers - than Red Bull gets for running a mid-league team week-in and week-out.

The F1 angle additionally builds on Red Bull's existing investment in the sport and gains an international dimension lacking from their NASCAR franchise. However, on the other hand F1 has only a fraction of the exposure of NASCAR (or even MotoGP) in the United States and the move would certainly lessen its overall profile in the country.

The suggestion that Red Bull is lining up to act as a Grand Prix title sponsor comes after the US F1 event has been suffering from some financial wrangles in recent weeks that could have seriously threatened the event's chances of going ahead in 2012.

The issue centred on a row between the Austin city council and the local organisers and promoters of the F1 event in the city, Full Throttle Productions, over the payment of a $4m annual payment to the state's Major Events Trust Fund for the ten-year hosting contract. The Austin city council had feared that city taxpayers would end up being landed with the costs, which would have been politically damaging to city officials up for re-election shortly as the region needs to be seen to be 'tightening its belt'.

If Austin's city council had failed to sign on as "endorsing municipality" and take on the liability then the event would have lost the $25m annual state funding earmarked to pay the local organising committee's hosting fees to Formula One Group, meaning that Austin could have been knocked off the FIA F1 calendar altogether. However, Full Throttle Productions has now agreed to pay the $4m contribution for the full ten years in advance to Major Events Trust Fund, which has eased council fears about the city's own financial exposure.

"This confirms what I've been saying all along, that the city would be contributing no upfront money, and that the city would not be at risk," said Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell. That should clear the F1 project for council approval in a meeting later this week, he said.

It's not escaped notice that $40m upfront is a large chunk of change for a sports promotion company to come by - and that by coincidence, Red Bull just happen to have that sort of cash available should they pull out of NASCAR at the end of the current 2011 season as seems highly likely. And one obvious way for Full Throttle Productions to gain access to that sort of funding would be by doing a deal for the race title rights with a company such as Red Bull.

Full Throttle Productions' hand was forced when Council Member Bill Spelman threatened to postpone the meeting scheduled to approve the city's application for the $25m annual state funding. When asked if he thought that the urgent need for this cash was behind Full Throttle's decision to agree to pay up in full in advance, Mayor Leffingwell said: "I think that's a fair assumption."

Asked if he thought this would be enough to get the council vote in support of the US Grand Prix through this week's meeting, Mayor Leffingwell said "I would hope so," adding: "I'm for it." However, further details about who will be responsible for specific city expenses related to staging the event have still to be fully resolved, emphasising once again just what an expensive honour an F1 Grand Prix is for any "lucky" venue to have.
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Steve · Jun 23, 2011

Austin Citizens File Suit Over $25m Payment (speedtv.com)

A lawsuit filed by three Austin citizens could disrupt preparations for the US GP...

Adam Cooper | Posted June 22, 2011 | Balen (BEL)

A lawsuit filed by three Austin citizens who oppose the use of state funding could disrupt preparations for the US GP.

One of the plaintiffs is a teacher, Ewa Siwak, who lost her job in a recent round of spending cutbacks.

A key element of the financial plans for the race is that the sanctioning fee owed to Bernie Ecclestone is due to be taken care of by a $25m grant of public money from the Texas stateâ€™s Major Event Trust Fund.

The suit claims that it seeks to prevent â€œthe unlawful plunder of public funds for promoters of a Formula One race at a time when the State of Texas claims it cannot afford to adequately fund essential services, such as its public education system.â€

The $25m annual payment was guaranteed to Bernie Ecclestone by Texas State Comptroller Susan Combs in a letter of May 10 last year.

In the letter she assured him that the $25m fee for the 2012 race would be paid to Formula One World Championship Limited by July 31 2011, and that a similar amount would be paid for the remaining nine years of the contract, always before the end of July of the previous year.

The legal suit has been filed against Combs, in essence on the basis that the processes related to the Major Event Trust Fund were not correctly followed, and that she was not authorized to guarantee the payment to Ecclestone.
Among the key points cited by the plaintiffs are that there was no â€œhighly competitive selection processâ€ for the event.

They say that â€œoffering public funds after the site selection has been made is an illegal gift for private purpose.â€

Itâ€™s also claimed that the incremental increase in state and local tax income derived from the F1 event â€“ and which justifies the use of the METF funding â€“ has not been properly calculated.
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YesIFit · Jun 23, 2011

As much as I like the scenery, the food, the music and the nightlife, there's an effing reason I don't live in Austin ...

Nathan · Jun 23, 2011

Dutch Mandel the editorial director of Autoweek had the following to say.

As the editorial director of America's largest racing magazine and a guy who has grown up around racing and racers, who has worked for a professional race team and who was weaned on horsepower and Castrol fumes, I have two words for the Austin City Council and its constituents before Thursday's vote to bless the proposed 2012 Austin Grand Prix:

Run away.

I don't say this out of spite or malice. I want a Formula One event in the United States as much as anyone does. But Austin is already what's right in America! It's a city that's, by almost all accounts, vibrant and exciting, filled with great music, people and food. It has extraordinary educational facilities and fantastic surrounding scenery and carries a thoughtful and an eclectic vibe. Austin is comfortable in its own skin, and as a resident of a city--Detroit--that has long yearned to redefine itself and its reputation, I say that if you allow Bernie Ecclestone and his F1 circus to attach themselves remora-like to you, dear Austin, it will be an enormous and very expensive lesson.

If I read correctly, the Austin race organizers are ready to pay $4 million annually to trigger access to a Texas state fund and, later on, access to revenue generated by sales tax attributable directly to the race that will cover the $25 million or so that Ecclestone charges promoters each year to host F1.

Hey, I want that deal. For $40 million I give you, you give me a quarter billion, right?

You council members know to whom the money flows, right? Take a Google gander at Ecclestone, he who holds F1's marketing rights. (You may stumble on recent news accounts of his 22-year-old daughter, Petra, who last week paid $85 million for Candy Spelling's Los Angeles-area mansion . . . to go with her $90 million crib in London. But I digress.)

Know that nothing happens without Bernie's approval and his piece of the take. Nothing. If you want a "green space," he'll get his green, too. The local "Rattlesnake Burgers" sold trackside for $10 a pop? Mr. E probably takes $3 apiece.

The point, gentle people of Austin, is not to be rushed into doing anything you don't want to do. If after sufficient due diligence--surely you've talked with past U.S. F1 organizers and city fathers from, say, Indianapolis, Phoenix, Watkins Glen, Long Beach and Detroit and heard their collective tale of woe. If you want to offer up keys (and every other city part) to F1, that's your choice. But think about this: If the cradle of American motorsports, the home of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing, Indianapolis Motor Speedway, failed to keep F1 in America, what makes Austin--not the promoters, who have a bunch of reasons, maybe quite true, for why they are different--think it can succeed? Again, I'm talking to the fine people of Austin, not the people directly behind the track project.

Remember: Bernie always gets his money. Always.

Again, I like F1. AutoWeek has covered Grand Prix racing for all of our 53 years. I wake early to watch qualifying live from exotic locales such as Monaco and Seoul.

I just don't want to see you hurt. I like your city too much to have that happen.
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Source - Autoweek

ScottinBend · Jun 23, 2011

WOW..........

minimark · Jun 23, 2011

Ouch....Bernie is one major (_O_) ......

Nathan · Jun 30, 2011

Austin City Council Officially Endorses Formula 1United States Grand Prix

Affirmative Vote Advances Race Preparations at Circuit of the Americas

AUSTIN, Texas – June 29, 2011 – Austin’s City Council voted today to officially endorse the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix event in 2012. Council Members deliberated on the issue for more than three weeks leading up to the vote and worked closely with representatives of Circuit of The Americas to craft an environmental agreement that is unprecedented for a world-class sports venue. “We appreciate the Council’s approval of the endorsement,” said Steve Sexton, President of Circuit of The Americas. “Austin is a unique community and the environmental provisions we worked together to craft with Council demonstrate our commitment to produce an event aligned with the values and vision of the City. This is a major step toward our vision of bringing the world to Austin to enjoy one of the most spectacular international events in sports. This partnership sets a new standard that every new sports or entertainment venue around the world can emulate.”

City Council’s official endorsement of the race clears the way for the Local Organizing Committee to utilize a state fund established by the Texas Legislature for the purpose of attracting and producing major events like the Super Bowl, NCAA Men’s Final Four and now the Formula 1 United States Grand Prix. 'I'm proud of the partnership between the City and Circuit of The Americas to develop and build what will be among the greenest, most high-tech sports and entertainment facilities anywhere,' said Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell.

ScottinBend · Jun 30, 2011

:cornut:

:beer

minimark · Jun 30, 2011

See, now all the politicians can say they were against it before they were for it if things go badly and hold their chin high about how smart they were voting for it if it goes well!!!

Plausible..... lol

Steve · Jul 13, 2011

Work On Austin Track Buildings Set To Begin (formula-one.speedtv.com -- Speed staff / GMM newswire)

Organizers of the 2012 US Grand Prix are expected to receive permission to start constructing the pit and paddock buildings this week.

It emerged earlier that although digging and tunnel work has begun at the Austin site, permission for actual building construction is yet to be granted for the Circuit of the Americas project.

But a Travis County official told the Austin American Statesman that developers will imminently get permits "to work on the facility's most complex buildings."

Track officials are also set to meet with the county.

"I'm assuming this is a routine meeting with them. We've had the same types of meetings before," said project attorney Richard Suttle.

Next year's inaugural US Grand Prix in Texas is provisionally scheduled to take place on June 17.

"We hope to have the work done in time for all necessary inspection for having a race (in June), and right now we think we can," added Suttle.

"We're under way. We've got a schedule, and we intend to stick to it."
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Steve · Aug 10, 2011

More on the US GP date switch.

Ecclestone Confirms November Switch For Austin (formula-one.speedtv.com | Speed staff/GMM | GMM newswire)

Bernie Ecclestone has admitted that next year's inaugural US Grand Prix will not be held in June as originally scheduled.

Ostensibly, the move to November is to avoid the hot Texas summer, but cynics have also suggested it will give race organizers more time to build the bespoke circuit in Austin.

But an unintended side-effect of the move is a clause in Texas legislation that means state funding for the event can only be released one year in advance of the event.

That could mean real construction cannot begin until much later this year.

"While we have heard rumors on the date change ... we really aren't going to speculate on the course of action for each possible situation," a spokesman for the comptroller said last week.

According to F1 chief executive Ecclestone, however, the new calendar doing the rounds in the Hungary paddock recently was real.

"Before that there was a draft," he told La Gazzetta dello Sport. "They (the FIA) were the ones who published it as if it was the final one.

"We have, for example, moved Austin to November because it's 40 degrees in the summer (there). We don't want to have the experience of Dallas again."

The Briton was referring to the 1984 event when drivers tackled searing heat and a crumbling track surface.
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