US GP in Austin Discussion and Speculation...

I think what we'll see that will be comparable will be the NASCAR fiasco at the Kentucky Speedway this last year when they hosted a Sprint Cup race for the first time. Look it up if you hadn't heard about it, NASCAR had to end up refunding many tickets because fans never made it to the race.

I see many parallels. Except the F1 race should have more people there.

 

Today, my wife's boss in Mexico, told her he heard that Bernie scrubbed Austin for 2012. He knows I follow F1.

I told her, that can not be correct, possibly Bahrain.

So?

 

Weird because I just got word from Ferrari Club of America they have packages available.

To me, if Bernie pulls the plug without a reason the outrage in Texas would be enormous.

The only reason I can see is a lack of a crowd. If advance ticket sales suck, I can see him not wanting this to be a failure.

 

Let's see, incredibly high prices for tickets that most Europeans, Latinos, not to mention us Gringos would not pay, minimal hotel rooms at outrageous prices, no committment to seating for a race to be held within 9 months, nothing but BS media, etc.

Plenty of reason to cancel the event.

And you think anyone would care about outrage in Texas? I certainly would never blame Texans, only the idiots that are behind COTA.

 

This is just a misplanned event from the start. Sure we would all like to see F1 in the USA, but not under these amatuer conditions. If COTA has not learned from the problems from other venues, why are they even proceeding? I have hotels rooms reserved in Austin for less than $200/night, BUT, then entire weekend sounds like it could be disaster. So why go through that?

 

I'll take your Hotel rooms if you are going to bail...

 

If I have to pay $500 to sit in the grass, I will bail. I did offer the rooms to Andreas, so we'll see.

Speaking of sitting in the grass. Does anyone believe that 100,000 spectators will pay the number I have heard of $500 USD to sit in the grass? And that 20,000 will pay over $1000 each to sit in the grandstands? To watch a 2 hour race?

 

And all the fire ants get to watch for free.....

 

anything over 100 for GA and I'm out

 

I'm a huge F1 fan and I won't go near Austin at those prices. $1000 for general admission tickets. Another $1000 for flights down there once you add in fees, taxes, bags, etc. Plus probably close to $1000 for Wednesday or Thursday through Sunday hotel room. Then let's not forget about food and other expenses such as parking, etc for me and the wife. It looks more than likely a trip to Austin will run some where near $4000 for the weekend. As much as I love F1, it's not worth it.

Even if New Jersey was to cost that much, I'd feel less terrible about spending it in a place I love (Manhattan), the wife would enjoy more, and I'd have a seat rather than sitting on a grassy hill.

Mark

 

That's why this is a one and out event at best.

 

I have free use of a car and house in San Antonio, and I think I am going to pass. Even the temporary street CART race in Denver I went to years ago had seats for everyone, fair prices, website with directions, vendors, bathroom locations, parking plan, maps etc. and a sense of better strategic planning/project management.

This would probably be the first and last time in my life to see and hear an F1 race live and it is very unappealing.

 

A couple of weeks ago my colleagues in our
USGP Austin venture and I received an Email
from COTA to the effect we should expect a
phone call from a ticket sales rep after plunking
down our $100 ticket license fee.

The Email was quite specific about the days
and times to expect the call(s) but the calls
never came.

Did anyone else get this message? Has anyone
received a call from COTA ticket sales?

We're scratching our heads here.

BHW

 

A lot of rumor and conjecture about ticket pricing. I think they are trying to score big with the PSLs but may find they have shot themselves in the foot - or a more tender area. Waiting for official word on seating/pricing before passing judgement. I can't see anyone paying more than a couple hundred bucks for general admission "seats".

This entire venture has been a PR Fuster Cluck for sure.

 

Never heard a word or received an email after putting down $100 deposit.

 

In Texas you can get some of the best views from grassy knolls.

 

....too soon?

 

The reports of people not receiving a call yet (or no appointment at a specified time) is truly baffling. There are plenty of those types of reports popping up on their facebook page, also.

Supposedly they hired Legends Sales & Marketing to handle these sales, but that can't be the case. There is no way the same folks who did the PSL work for Cowboys stadium would be this slow and unresponsive. Makes no sense. And why not use an outsourced call center to actually have a real phone # to call? Even if they aren't PSL experts, they could be at least handling appointments. And it's not like outsourcing those inbound call centers are expensive. It's quite reasonable, even very small entities can afford it.

I guess there is a possibility they are overwhelmed with sales, hence they cannot even handle the leads they have... but that seems HIGHLY unlikely.

So yeah, I guess I don't understand what is going on behind the curtain there.

Regarding the race, if it happens -- my guess is that the stands will be filled regardless of price, inconvenience, etc. Every event in Austin tends to be overcrowded and circus like now. Although the ratio of curiosity-seekers and to real F1 fans will no doubt be skewed compared to other races. That may or may not be a good thing.

 

I, unfortunately, have to disagree. At the prices mentioned, there won't be ANY "curiosity-seekers." No one is going to pay $1k per pair of grass seats for something they don't have an interest in, much less multiple thousands for a pair of normal grandstand seats. Even hardcore F1 fans like myself aren't going to pay those prices so they are further limiting their pool of potential fans by pricing themselves out of the market.

The more I hear about the Austin race, the more I think it's going to be an amazing failure...and that greatly saddens me.


Mark

 

I agree about the hardcore fans. They are being turned off in droves, no doubt about that. But the curiosity seekers don't read F1 message boards or care about what it should cost or what they should be getting for that money. They already come in droves for other events and pay ridiculous amounts for rooms and tickets, put up with horrible traffic, half the city streets closed, packed buses and trains... and then they spend hours standing in line for ANYTHING. I'm completely serious.

Heck, I'll just say it... you'll probably see a lot of hipsters at this race. Especially in GA.

 

Can you please post a link to these $500 seats? Or these multiple thousands of $'s for grandstand seats? If not, please don't spout out random numbers out of thin air. Nobody knows ticket pricing.

 

Err, it would seem you haven't been following this fuster cluck too closely.... From someone who's purchased 4 (!) PSL's;

From this thread; http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/showthread.php?t=360761

Current understanding is if you want a seat, you've gotta buy a PSL.

As for the $500 for a fire-ant infested grassy knoll, I'm not 100% sure where that came from, but am pretty sure someone found it somewhere (discussions with the sales folks?)

Cheers,
Ian

 

pics to get an idea of how big it is getting

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.421173787897172.112937.157330087614878&type=1
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Tickets for Yas Marina in November are $500 seats, $5000 weekend paddock. Tickets for Silverstone this year, $400 seats, $4500 weekend paddock yeaterday when I checked. No wonder the track is surrounded by punter filled grass/mud mounds (as it was 30-40 years ago).

It costs half that to watch all of the world's top rugby countries play in a Rugby Sevens tournament, intense action and atmosphere continually for 8 hours a day all weekend. Motor Racing needs to wake up to try and keep the on-site punters, whether F1, Indy or even NASCRASH.

 

Anyone else find it curious that IndyCar has announced a street race in Houston for 2013?

There were public reports of COTA wanting an Indy race. Obviously COTA needs as many events as possible. So why did IndyCar choose a street race over a "World Class Road Course"?

There are a few possible reasons... COTA's Fee's too high / Houston offered better deal... Indy feels Houston is a better demographic fit than Austin... Concerns about COTA... Could COTA's mgmt be difficult to work with...

I do find it interesting that the most popular open wheel series in the US chose a street race over COTA.

Did COTA aggressively court the Indy series?... or did COTA act like the doorman at a South Beach Club and pretend they had the power to decide if IndyCar was "good enough" for their "club"?

Thoughts?